Mag het licht uit? A design research to raise awareness about the beauty and importance of living in harmony with the natural rhythm of day and night.
Mag het licht uit?
A design research to raise awareness about the beauty and importance of living in harmony with the natural rhythm of day and night.
Graduation project Anne van Hamburg | 2026 Master in Landscape Architecture 2026 Acadamy of Architecture | Amsterdam University of the Arts Commission members Brigitta van Weeren | Kim Kool | Ziega van den Berk
na een lange lange dag en zo zie ik ze graag maar nu is het genoeg genoeg gezien vandaag
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Table of contents Title
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Table of contents
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Motivation
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The night
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Project goal
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Location
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The design
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An article in the newspaper Watching the night sky with my grandfather Shifting baseline syndrome Biological clock Night habits Disconnection from the night
The structure Collection of design interventions The design Feel safe Find the way Slow down Feel impressed Learn something
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Design for different moments of the night
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Conclusion
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Sources
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Moving with the sun Twilight Moon eclipse Night sky
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Motivation
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Opa & me
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Motivation Mag het licht uit?: the title of my graduation project. But also the title of the iconic song by De Dijk. Huub van der Lubbe sings with full conviction about how he has seen and heard far too much that day and wonders whether the lights can be turned off. To me, this is a question that is not only about switching off the lamps, but also about a desire for rest and calm after a long, busy day. In my view, the song captures exactly what my graduation project is about; not only a call for less lighting, but above all a call for more stillness and for embracing the calm and beauty of the night. A call to slow down, to pause a little longer at what seems ordinary, but can suddenly become something very special. My graduation project is a design-driven research project aimed at increasing awareness of the beauty and importance of living in harmony with the natural rhythm of day and night. The idea did not arise out of nowhere, but grew out of various experiences and moments I have had over the past few years. At a certain point, these moments came together, and from there my research began. This starting point can be divided into three concrete elements. This project began with reading an article in the newspaper. It stated that a generation of people is growing up in the city who will never again see a rich, star-filled sky. I found this so painful to read that the subject never let go of me. At the same time, my grandfather passed away. With him, I often looked at the stars and the moon, and he told me that he used to be able to see many more stars than we could see at that moment. An image I could not imagine, a memory that existed only in his mind. When he passed away, not only was he gone, but so were all his memories. And something only truly dies out when the memory of it no longer exists. With these thoughts, I also came into contact with the shifting baseline syndrome. Through a changing norm of what is considered normal across different generations, a shift takes place without people noticing it. In this way, nature diminishes without people realizing it. The relationship between humans and their environment has a major influence on the occurrence of the shifting baseline syndrome. These three elements led me to want to create a design in honour of the night. At that point, however, I did not yet know how, where, or exactly why. To find this out, I set out to research the night. What is the night, is the night important, and if so, for whom? Are there specific nocturnal practices, and from when and why has the dark night become increasingly lighter, and how has this changed our relationship with the night? All of this can be read here.
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Shifting baseline syndrome in relation to the night sky.
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Motivation
Amsterdam without light pollution
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The night
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A study of the night, but what is the night?The night is the period between sunset and sunrise, characterised by darkness and rest, during which the sun is below the horizon. It is the opposite of day, although the exact times vary by season and location. That is the night in itself, but the night also influences many other aspects of life, all of which are related to our biological clock. The night is, in fact, crucial for the biological clock. The biological clock The biological clock is an internal system in your brain that regulates your 24-hour rhythm. At night it produces melatonin to make you sleepy, and during the day cortisol to keep you awake. In this way, it controls your sleep– wake cycle, your hormone levels, and even your immune system. The most important time cues that synchronise this clock are light and darkness, and therefore day and night. Not only humans have a biological clock; animals and even plants have one as well. In their case, however, it does not always work in the same way as it does for us, but sometimes quite the opposite. Some animals receive a signal from their biological clock to become active as soon as it gets dark, and to rest once the light returns to the Earth. The biological clock is therefore a very important system and is crucial for all life. It enables us to function, and disruptions to the rhythm of day and night can seriously disturb this system. For example, when you do a lot of night work, or when you stare at a screen late into the evening, this system becomes confused. It is not dark, so no signal is sent to your brain to rest. Over time, this can seriously harm your health (The Biological Clock – Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience – KNAW | Master The Mind, 2025).
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The night
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Insects burrow under the light of a street lamp
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The night
People stay on, even when they need rest.
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The night
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The Nebra sky disc
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The night This disruption does not only apply to humans. Excessive use of light also interferes with the biological clock of animals. Birds continue singing throughout the night, become confused about the seasons, or are drawn so strongly to light that they become exhausted because they no longer rest. Excessive light is therefore the main culprit. As mentioned earlier, this includes light from our screens, but above all the lighting in public space, on and around buildings, and in large greenhouse areas where lights remain on day and night. At present, the Netherlands is the most light-polluted country in the world, and one could therefore conclude that this has a significant impact on the biological clock of both people and animals living here. The night in history Another aspect of the night that I have studied is the history of the night. How long has the night played a role in human life? Over thousands of centuries, a great deal has changed on Earth: the Earth itself, the species that inhabit it, and the ways in which humans live, act, and think. But one thing that has always served as a faithful backdrop to our planet is the star-filled night sky. It has always been the stable factor in an ever-changing world. That the night has played a role in human life for all this time is clearly visible throughout history. Tens of thousands of years ago, our distant ancestors must already have marvelled at the dazzling sight of the night sky, the changing shapes of the moon, and the unshakable regularity of day and night, and of summer and winter. It was a wondrous world above them. There was order and regularity: the sun never failed to appear, and after every Full Moon, a New Moon would inevitably follow. There seemed to be an incomprehensible permanence: year after year, the constellations showed the same forms, and it never appeared that even a single faint star was added or disappeared. The word cosmos in Greek does not mean ‘order’ for nothing. The ancient Egyptians based their calendar and religious beliefs on the stars. The star Sirius, for example, was associated with the flooding of the Nile, a crucial moment for their agriculture. The Greeks gave the constellations the names and mythologies we still use today. The constellation Leo, for instance, is linked to the mythical lion from the stories of Hercules. More recently in our history, stars were used to navigate the world, and even today we still like to let our future depend on the position of the stars and the moon (Van Dijk, 2024). Another indication of how deeply humanity has been connected to the night and the stars for centuries is the discovery of the Nebra Sky Disc. This disc was found in Germany in 1999 and contains a depiction of the night sky. It is believed that the disc was made during the Bronze Age and functioned as a kind of calendar, indicating, for example, when to sow and harvest (Meller, 2024).
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The night
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The beauty of twilight
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The night
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The invention of electric lighting
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The night Those who explore the night in more recent history will discover that until not so long ago, people practised schemeren, twilight sitting. This is a custom that has now completely disappeared from daily life, but which many people used to practise every day around dusk. When the day came to an end and the night slowly made its entrance, it was twilight. This was a moment in the day when people came to rest, closed off their day, and spent some time simply sitting in the twilight. Nothing special was done; people would just sit and wait for it to slowly become dark. This often happened alone, with housemates, or with neighbours, often on a bench, or simply in the doorway of the house. People watched the colours in the sky slowly change, saw bats waking up, and clouds drifting by (Van Heemstra, 2025). Another practice that was entirely normal until about two hundred years ago is biphasic sleep. Today, most people go to bed hoping for a long and uninterrupted night’s sleep. But it was not always this way. Eight hours of uninterrupted sleep is a recent invention. Since the Middle Ages, and perhaps even earlier, people all over the world divided their night’s rest into two parts. There was no electric light, so it was natural for people to go to bed when it got dark and to get up again at sunrise. However, they also woke up in the middle of the night to stay awake for a few hours before going back to sleep. Sources from that time tell us that the two sleep periods were called the ‘first sleep’ and the ‘second sleep’. The period in between had no fixed name. The duration of the first and second sleep depended on the season and could vary from person to person. Most people went to bed around 9 p.m. and slept until 11 p.m. They then stayed awake until about 1 a.m., after which they slept again until dawn (Christensen, 2024). This waking period was used for all kinds of activities: adding wood to the fire, taking a short walk, or making love. This biphasic sleep ritual was entirely normal for centuries, until the industrialisation of society put an end to it. The pocket watch was invented, electric light emerged, and the first factories were established. Society shifted from an agricultural society to an industrial one, in which long days had to be worked in factories. People were no longer dependent on daylight and increasingly began to live by the clock rather than by sunrise and sunset. It was no longer efficient to sleep twice a night; the two sleeps were replaced by one uninterrupted, efficient sleep. This marked the end of biphasic sleep, but also the beginning of the end of the connection between humans and the night.
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The night
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The night Disconnection from the night Not only did the night gradually become lighter due to the rise of artificial lighting, people also became less and less dependent on the rhythm of day and night in their daily lives. This development has continued up to the present moment. As humans, we have forgotten that we are part of a larger whole. When you look at a night-time map of Europe, you see that it hardly gets dark anywhere anymore. We have physically disconnected ourselves from the night and live our lives under a shield of light. Within this shield, we focus on economic growth and efficiency, on speed and progress, and we prefer to fill every moment of our day with activity. Moments of doing nothing have become rare; even when we are free, we are always switched on. Office workers work overtime, the lights in greenhouses burn day and night, and when we finally lie in bed after a long day, we pick up our smartphone to delay our night’s rest just a little longer. The night, the moment when darkness falls and a blanket of calm descends over the Earth, has completely disappeared. We have become physically and mentally detached from the night and all its beauty.
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Social safety We have now even reached a point where we see the night as the cause of insecurity. We argue that, in order to ensure safety at night, more lighting is needed. We assume that light gives us security and that more light makes the world safer (Van Heemstra, 2025). In reality, the opposite is often true. Light makes us insecure and vulnerable outdoors; it blinds us and cuts us off from our surroundings. On a small scale, bright lighting enlarges your world: everything within the light is visible in sharp detail. On a larger scale, however, lighting makes your world smaller. You see everything in the light, but due to the strong contrast with the surrounding darkness, you see nothing beyond it. You can be watched without having any idea of what is happening around you—and that creates fear. Fear of the night, which in reality is not so dark. In response, the amount of lighting used is only increased. Step by step, we try to erase the night. While this fear could easily be reduced by dimming the lights instead. When contrasts are smaller, you can see much further. Moreover, human eyes adapt to the absence of light after fifteen minutes, allowing us to gradually see more in the dark. But instead of doing this, we continue to erase the night (Ex, 2025).
The blinding effect of regular street lighting
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The night
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Project goal
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Conclusion analysis We’ve slowly erased the night. Nocturnal customs have been lost, we know less about the night, we’re afraid of the dark, and we no longer allow ourselves to be amazed by the wonders of the night. We ignore the natural rhythms and we live according to our own invented pace, based on economic growth, efficiency, and by the clock. We live in a hyperreality, in which we attempt to improve reality. Nature doesn’t provide enough; we want to improve it and eliminate unwanted elements. We don’t want nighttime, stillness, or rest; we want an optimal outcome. We can make nature better and better, more and more efficient, until we’ve organized it away. And then we’ll have no ground left to stand on. This must change.
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Project goal
Project goal This brings us to the goal of this project. The goal of this project is to raise awareness of the beauty and importance of living in harmony with natural cycles, especially the rhythm of day and night, in order to counteract the shifting baseline syndrome of the night. This will be achieved through a spatial design that serves as an inspirational starting point for a movement to reintroduce and disseminate the natural nocturnal rhythm across other places in the city, the country, and the world. A collection of design interventions supports this movement, offering transferable strategies that can be applied elsewhere to help the movement grow.
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Location
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Light pollution in Europe.
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Location
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Location In order to develop my design in a specific place, it is of course important to find a suitable location. The Netherlands is the most light-polluted country in Europe, with the Randstad as its brightest core. True darkness can still be experienced in the east and north of the country. But do people living in the city not have a right to the night? It is precisely here that an intervention is needed. This is where many people live, and where it is necessary to address the problem. That is why the design is situated in Amsterdam. The design interventions take place in the middle of everyday life, in the heart of the city, because this is where we spend most of our time. They are places where moments are created that break through the boundary between our fast, overlit world and the natural world outside. Moments that make us aware of natural cycles and allow us to embrace darkness in the world. Because the aim of the design is to encourage the embrace of darkness everywhere, the design I create must be able to work everywhere. With the knowledge I have gained on this subject, a design for greater darkness should be applicable anywhere. That is why the design takes place in the Rivierenbuurt, in and around the Martin Luther King Park. It is a place in the city that contains elements you can encounter everywhere in an urban environment. It has streets, small squares, a residential neighbourhood, a somewhat busier road, the River Amstel flowing through the area, and therefore also a park. It is thus a good representation of an ordinary place in a city. In addition, the location is situated at the tip of the Amstelscheg, where the green scheg meets the edges of the city. These scheggen are well suited to becoming darker; slowing down comes naturally here. They function as darkness reserves. This particular tip is an important hinge point: it is the boundary between light and dark. And it is precisely this boundary that must be broken. It is the point where one can gradually begin to embrace more darkness and regain the awareness that humans are part of a larger whole. Here, the dome of artificial lighting can be pierced. But how?
Light pollution in Amsterdam
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The amount of street lights around the Martin Luther Kingpark in de Rivierenbuurt
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Location
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Rijnstraat
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Location
Eemsstraat
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Boterdiepstraat
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Location
President Kennedylaan
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Martin Luther Kingpark
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Location
Amsteldijk
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Martin Luther Kingpark
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Location
Amsteldijk
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The design
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The design structure The goal of this project is to raise awareness of the beauty and importance of living in harmony with natural cycles, especially the rhythm of day and night, in order to counteract the shifting baseline syndrome of the night. To achieve this goal, design interventions are necessary. Based on all analyses, site visits, and research, I have concluded that the ingredients needed to reach this goal can be divided into five themes. These themes complement and reinforce one another and ultimately lead to the creation of awareness of the beauty and importance of the night. The themes belong together and are all essential, but they also follow a specific order. Some interventions are required before others can take place and have an effect. For this reason, the themes are shaped in the form of a pyramid. The following themes can be distinguished. First of all, creating social safety is essential. When the lights are turned off, people must first feel safe. Only then can other effects related to embracing the night be achieved. It is a misconception that more light leads to more safety and less light to insecurity. But how do you create a sense of safety? A number of interventions have been developed to address this. When the lights are off and people feel safe, they must be able to orient themselves. What are alternative ways, other than lighting, to orient oneself in the dark? Walking in the dark allows you to see your surroundings and your own role within them from a completely different perspective. Because your vision is more limited in the dark, your other senses become more alert. You become much more aware of the sounds and smells around you. During the day, this is less noticeable because your eyes usually do most of the work, but in the dark you experience everything in a very different way. In addition, it is important to slow down the pace of contemporary society. Not everything is about growth, progress, and efficiency. When you slow down, you can open yourself up to things you did not notice before. They may not generate value in terms of money, but they are valuable in and of themselves. Next, people need to be given tools to allow themselves to feel wonder. Conditions must be created that allow people to be overwhelmed by the beauty of the night. In this way, they automatically become more connected to the night, discovering and learning to appreciate its beauty and complexity. Finally, if people are to commit themselves to the night, it is important that they become aware of the importance of a dark night and gain knowledge about the different elements of the night. In this way, the movement can continue to spread throughout the city and the country. When rules are imposed from the top down, they do not always receive public support. Change must come from society itself. When people want change, support for designs that embrace darkness emerges. That is why it is important to implement interventions that increase people’s knowledge about the importance of living in harmony with the natural rhythm of day and night, in order to grow the movement and counteract the shifting baseline syndrome.
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The design
existing elements on the site
implement design interventions
effect
Which elements are already there that have potention, which ones are the absolute oposite
which design tools are needed to change the place, so it will reach the desired effect
which effect is reached
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Collection of design interventions Within these five themes, a large number of design interventions is brought together that can be used to make the night darker and to strengthen people’s connection with the night. They can help people feel safe in a place, support orientation, encourage slowing down, create moments of wonder, and convey knowledge about the wonders of the night, all contributing to a deeper connection with the natural rhythms of day and night. These interventions are presented in the booklet Collection of Design Interventions.
The five themes are also reflected in the design for the specific location. First of all, a number of interventions have been implemented on the site to increase social safety in the area after dark. It is important to significantly reduce the amount of light. The remaining light sources gradually decrease when moving from the neighbourhood towards the park. These light sources are placed low to the ground, directed downward, emit soft, warm yellow light, and are asymmetrically distributed throughout the area. In this way, a clear overview of the space is maintained. A clear hierarchy of streets and paths is established. Feel safe First, President Kennedylaan is scaled down into a slow-traffic park boulevard. This strengthens the connection between the surrounding streets and the park, literally removing a barrier that previously prevented people from entering darkness. In addition, a clear path network has been designed within the park that visitors can follow. This network always leads back to a larger street connected to Amsterdam’s urban street system. Extremely tall and impenetrable vegetation is reduced in certain places, or openings are created within dense vegetation structures, for example along the Amstel. In locations where these interventions are not possible, spaces are created for social nocturnal activities. In this way, the proximity of social activity provides a sense of safety. Find the way
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In addition, several interventions have been implemented on the site to improve user orientation. The lighting strategy described above provides clarity and therefore better orientation. There is no glare; instead, people can gradually adapt to the low light levels and navigate more confidently through the darkness. The scaling down of President Kennedylaan also helps to strengthen the connection between the residential neighbourhood and the park, making it easier to navigate towards the park. The previously described path structure ensures that visitors will never become lost in the dark. The path material is light-coloured and semi-permeable, allowing both colour and sound to guide users through the area. As mentioned earlier, several openings have been created in the
The design vegetation along the Amstel to establish sightlines and maintain visual clarity. Finally, a number of recognisable tree species within the design area contribute to spatial recognition. In the centre of the park stands a group of large poplar trees, whose rustling sound in the wind forms a clear auditory landmark. The lindens along President Kennedylaan emit a distinctive scent in summer, providing another form of spatial recognition. Lastly, a group of Caucasian wingnut trees forms a dense canopy, creating yet another identifiable point within the area. Slow down Beyond social safety and orientation, it is essential to encourage users of the area to slow down. Only then can the night be fully experienced and appreciated. To achieve this sense of slowing down, several interventions have been introduced. Once again, the street and path network plays a key role. The scaling down of President Kennedylaan results in a literal physical deceleration, while the paths within the park are all winding rather than straight. These paths do not encourage moving as quickly as possible from A to B, but instead invite slow wandering through the landscape, with a new discovery waiting around every bend. The semi-permeable path material also contributes to this sense of slowing down. The presence of natural elements such as water, the rustling of trees, and herb-rich grass has a calming effect on users. Finally, subtle changes in elevation within the park create moments of delay, giving the impression of entering a new space that must be rediscovered and experienced anew. Feel impressed In addition to slowing down, it is important to allow users to be impressed by the night and all its beauty. Several interventions within the park are designed to achieve this effect. First, the outdoor pool and sunbathing lawn of the De Mirandabad have been transformed into a nocturnal natural swimming pool with a star meadow. Here, visitors can take a night-time swim and experience the night from a surprising perspective. After a refreshing dip, they can rest in the star meadow. Instead of drying off under the sun’s rays, visitors can lie in the grass and gaze endlessly at the stars. Furthermore, architectural additions have been made to several existing buildings to enhance the experience of the night. These additions form part of the Amsterdam Observatory, which is also located within the park, and each offers a different type of view of the night. They act as frames through which people can observe the night sky, leaving them deeply impressed by the beauty and uniqueness of what can be seen above. Finally, four specific locations within the park have been designed, each dedicated to a particular element or phenomenon of the night. These places draw special attention to their respective themes and leave park users with a sense of wonder. These locations are further explained in the following chapter. Learn something Lastly, it is important to introduce elements that enable people to learn about the night. These include both physical additions within the park and non-physical interventions. First and foremost is the establishment of the Amsterdam Observatory within the park. The organisation will be housed in the boathouse café along the Amstel and will appoint a spokesperson for the dark night. This person will safeguard the darkness of the area and advocate for all forms of life that benefit from a dark night. In addition, the organisation will host stargazing evenings, give lectures, and organise guided night-time walks through the park. They will also provide various forms of education and public outreach. In this way, awareness of the importance of a dark night will continue to grow. Furthermore, various nocturnal events will take place in the park and will be announced through posters and advertisements throughout the city. An astronomical activity calendar will inform people about upcoming special nocturnal events, increasing awareness and anticipation. Finally, a night route runs through the park, introducing visitors in a clear and educational way to the wonders of the night. Four places in the design have been further elaborated and each focuses on a specific part of the phenomenon of the night. 61
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The design Feel safe
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Eye height view to show how to implement interventions to feel safe
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The design Feel safe
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The design Find the way
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Eye height view to show how to implement interventions to find the way
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The design Find the way
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The design Slow down
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Eye height view to show how to implement interventions to slow down
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The design Slow down
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The design Feel impressed
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The design Learn something
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Posters with night activities to activate people to go out and enjoy the night!
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The design Learn something
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Design for different moments of the night
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Twilight
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Design for different moments of the night Moving with the sun
Night sky
Moon eclipse
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Moving with the sun
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The first location is dedicated to the sun. At first, one might not directly associate the sun with the night, but without the sun, the night would not exist. The rising and setting of the sun allow the day to slowly transition into night, and it is through the absence of the sun that darkness emerges. Humans move and live in rhythm with the sun; the sun is our guide through life. The tilt of the Earth and its position relative to the sun give us the four seasons and determine the length of our days and nights. Today, we rarely stop to reflect on this, believing instead that we can follow our own rhythm, completely disconnected from these natural cycles. This place allows the beauty and precision of the sun to be fully experienced. In the northeast of the design area, three riverbanks come together around the Amstel. At this location, a circular wooden deck has been constructed at the water’s edge. At different moments of the day, different parts of the deck will be used, as people move along with the sun. In the morning, the western side of the deck is used to watch the sun slowly rise in the east. During the day, people gradually move towards the northern side, allowing them to sit facing the sun when it stands high in the southern sky. In the evening, visitors can enjoy the sunset from the eastern deck, making them aware of the sun’s movement throughout the day. In addition to these daily movements, three specific points on the deck are marked. These consist of raised seating elements that align precisely with the sunrise or sunset during the summer or winter solstice. The changing of the seasons may sometimes appear random, but is in fact closely and precisely linked to these solstices. The planting behind these marked points corresponds to the season that begins at each specific solstice. In this way as well, visitors are made aware of the power of the sun.
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Moving with the sun
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Moving with the sun Plan drawing
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Moving with the sun Section
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Bird view of the place, during the day. People are concentrated in the north part of the boardwalk, enjoying the sun
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Moving with the sun Bird view
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Detail of the summer solstice bench
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Moving with the sun Details
The planting behind these marked points corresponds to the season that begins at each specific solstice.
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Twilight
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At the end of the day, the sun sets and the day slowly transitions into night: the moment of twilight. The day gradually shifts into the golden hour, which then fades into the blue hour, and finally into the dark night. This place is about finding calm within a busy day: taking the time to look, to wait, and to feel how the world changes without you having to do anything. From such moments of attention, a renewed connection with the natural cycle of day and night emerges. The location of the twilight place has been deliberately chosen at the end of the street. It is very accessible to pause here for a moment; it requires almost no effort, yet offers a beautiful experience in return. This is precisely what the design is about: seeing the extraordinary within the ordinary. It takes very little time to notice it, but if you do not take that time, you will simply walk past it. At this place, several elements have been added to allow visitors to fully experience twilight. A slowing, winding path leads the user towards a circular bench, a circular form that allows your gaze and other senses to turn outward and take in the surroundings. Planting has been selected that only opens at dusk, or begins to release its scent once darkness falls. Much of the vegetation also attracts nocturnal insects, which in turn allow you to enjoy the sight of hunting bats circling back and forth above your head. A place not far from home, a place to come to rest after a long day.
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Twilight
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Twilight skies
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Twilight
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Twilight skies
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Twilight
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Twilight skies
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Twilight
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Twilight Plan drawing
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Twilight Section
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Twilight Eye height
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Detail of the ecological benefits for non-humans in the twilight zone
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Twilight Details
Plants that fit twilight. They open at this time, spread intense smells or are beneficial for night biodiversity
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Moon eclipse
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After twilight, night falls. It becomes truly dark, and the moon can appear in the sky. The next spot is dedicated to the lunar eclipse. The moon is a connector. It is a clearly recognizable point in the sky, no matter where you are on Earth or how little you know of the night, the moon is always there for everyone. This place is therefore about seeking and finding that connection. The inspiration for the design for the full moon eclipse came after the lunar eclipse in the summer of 2025. I knew the eclipse would occur that evening, and I was out on the street looking for a good spot to watch it. The fun part was that I encountered more people who were also searching for a place to look at the moon. We were all looking for something, and eventually, someone found the moon and a good vantage point to watch it. Together with a group of random people, we stood there for about an hour, gazing at the moon. It was such a beautiful and connecting moment that I wanted to design a place for it. In a densely built city like Amsterdam, it is quite difficult to find a spot with a wide view of the sky, and a lunar eclipse deserves such a place. There may be hundreds of days when visitors to the park won’t fully understand the significance of this spot, but on that one day of the lunar eclipse, everything will fall into place, this is the place to be, naturally! The place is designed so that a beautiful frame is created to view the full moon eclipse. A full moon eclipse always rises in the east, which is why vegetation is concentrated on the western side, leaving an open view to the east. Additionally, the western side of the spot is elevated, creating a kind of amphitheater, an amphitheater especially for the moon, an amphitheater to connect people with each other and with the moon.
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Moon eclipse
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Moon eclipse Plan drawing
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Moon eclipse Section
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Moon eclipse How to use the place
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Moon eclipse Eye height
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Plants that fit well in the night. They open at night, spread intense smells or are beneficial for night biodiversity
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Moon eclipse Detail
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Night sky
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Night is naturally dark, and the night sky is naturally filled with stars, but not in our current society, nor in today’s Amsterdam. This place is designed with an eye on, and hope for, the future. Through this design, I hope to initiate a change in which our attitude toward the night gradually shifts. I hope that, over time, nights will become darker and people will take more time and find more peace to experience the night and see thousands of stars in the sky. At the moment, an average of only 20 to 30 stars are visible at night in Amsterdam. To be truly awed by the night sky, 450 stars are needed, and under optimal conditions, up to 2,000 stars can be seen in a single night. This is why this place was designed, to be able to look up and enjoy an overwhelming starry sky. The place features dense vegetation, with several small paths weaving through it, guiding visitors toward an open, circular space. The round shape helps direct the visitor’s gaze upward. In the center of the space sits a bench. On this bench, you can lie down and gaze at the stars. The bench is made of recycled terrazzo, a speckled material that resonates with the night sky. When you sit on the bench, you can see the stars. You may see many stars if society has already begun to change its attitude toward the night, or you may see few stars, a sign that this change is still needed. In any case, this place will make clear the importance of creating and protecting a dark night.
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Night sky
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Night sky Plan drawing
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Night sky Section
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Night sky Eye height
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Materialisation, usage and dimensions of the bench. The slightly hollow shape makes it comfortable to lie on and the recycled terrazzo reminds the user of the stars that shine above.
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Night sky Details
Plants that fit well in the night. They open at night, spread intense smells or are beneficial for night biodiversity
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With my design, I hope to have set something in motion: an awareness of how we relate to our environment. By creating spatial interventions that help people feel safe at night, navigate in the dark, marvel at, and learn about the night, I aim to reconnect people with darkness. When people experience the beauty and significance of living in harmony with the natural rhythm of day and night, they also begin to realize that this rhythm is something worth protecting. Hopefully, this can contribute to a positive shift in the shifting baseline syndrome, so that one day we might be able to see the stars again. I know that my design and project cannot fully solve the problem of light pollution or humanity’s disconnection from its environment. Large-scale, decisive measures and policies are needed for that. But to create support for such changes, a mental shift is first required, a shift that cannot come solely from above, but must arise from the people themselves. People need to recognize that the way we live now, in a constant state of illumination and hyperreality, is unsustainable, and that change is both necessary and possible. By allowing people to experience the beauty of the night, offering moments of calm, and sharing knowledge about the importance and wonder of darkness, I hope that they will once again recognize the value of the night and learn to appreciate it as part of our natural heritage. The night sky is magnificent and overwhelming; being able to see it connects us to the greater universe and reminds us of our place within it. If we lose the night, we also lose connection to something far larger than ourselves. Applying the concept of the shifting baseline syndrome to the visibility of stars confirms what Daniel Pauly demonstrated in 1995 within fisheries: each generation accepts a new normal without realizing what has been lost. The night suffers from the same phenomenon. Yet humans can influence this process and with that comes the potential to turn the tide. This realization offers hope for the future. Fortunately, the stars have never truly disappeared; we simply need to make some effort to see them. In the field of landscape architecture, this topic has long been overlooked. I hope my project will encourage other designers to recognize darkness as a spatial quality and to incorporate it into their design processes. Embracing the night calls for a new perspective on design, one in which darkness is no longer fought against, but cherished and used to create valuable spaces for all life.
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Conclusion
The future of Amsterdam’s night sky, more and more stars are becoming visible for us!
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