Our new building is a jewel box of light and shadow. Especially shadow. There are dramatic shadows like those on our indoor stage; more subtle ones along the ramp or cast across a colorful balcony fence and onto a long classroom floor . . . they are as powerful and evocative as poetry or dance and will, I believe, move our students subtly and mysteriously.
Whether it is conscious or not, our kids will register with wonder and curiosity the way light moves and plays, how it marks the passing of time, feels different in different seasons and, like their own shadows, accompanies them everywhere.
Like temples, mosques and churches, secular buildings can also evoke feelings of awe and a sense of worlds beyond just what we see. Every time I go to our building site, I feel my mind expanding. Every time I walk throught the corridors, stand on the balconies or gaze down the perfect stairways, I am imagining possibilities, transcending the everyday and welcoming the light and shade that lives in every room and every soul.
It’s all so good.
