Winter Retreat in Aspen, CO Photographer: Tim Williams Interior Design: Brad Krefman Interior Design Architect: Backen, Gillam & Kroeger Architects
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D E T A I L T H E O F A R T T H E • D E T A I L T H E O F A R T T H E • D E T A I L O F A R T T H E
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into any detail. If you’re creating a vertical cove detail, but the wall going into the cove is a slab of highly polished marble, you are effectively adding a mirror into the detail’s hidden guts of the detail. An easy fix would be to request that the slab be honed or leathered to eliminate the reflecting specular component. That works sometimes, but there are other factors to consider, some as simple as the homeowner liking the polished look. If the goal is to have hidden lighting within the details, the source can’t be revealed, or it’s akin to the magician who shows you the trick—you can’t unsee it.
designing lighting
With shiny surfaces, there can be visible reflections of the electrical feeds, wire nuts, and all of the inside-sausage that you never intended for someone to see. Knowing that specular reflections have an angle of incidence that equals the angle of reflection is fundamental to killing a reflection and hiding a source when flanked by shiny things. All that is needed within a lighting detail is a single matte surface and it can kill a reflection and bring back that beautiful hidden effect. It's not unusual to be in a situation where you’re asked to do a lighting detail that you’ve never done before. Maybe it’s backlighting a semi-transparent