46|PROTAGONISTA W hat is the relationship between lighting an architecture? I believe that one of the most beautiful classes that I ever heard from Enric Miralles, when we were in love and I went to listen to him and everything was wonderful, was a class on light were he clearly explained that if light has no object, it does not exist, because light needs to be supported by something. Then you realize that light is reality and it is architecture. Architecture is important inasmuch as it can play with light. This is fantastic, architects always take this into account and so do illuminators. In your study Miralles-Tagliabue EMBT, do you work with Lighting Designers or do you have personnel specialized in this area? We definitely work with Lighting Designers and, many times, the lamp manufacturers that work with us – because now we design lamps for a couple of companies – help us on this topic. We have always tried to have the know-how of someone from outside and many times this comes from the manufacturers that work with us. Of all the projects you have done, which one was the most challenging when it came time to plot the lighting and why? Natural or artificial lighting? Both... For example, I had many doubts on the lighting of the Santa Caterina Market, in Barcelona, because I was not sure if we should open skylights. At the end we did not open them; we let the natural light in indirectly. I believe it was a good choice because it is a place where light can be almost harmful and there is food, nobody wants direct light. Many times we have had our doubts about how to approach the lighting and we have moved by intuition or we have ordered specific studies on the topic. In your opinion, what is the ideal balance between technical and natural lighting? As I was saying, we have an intuition that comes from studying good architecture and it tells us that it is perfect to place artificial light in the same spot from were natural light is streaming. For example, at the Palafolls Academia de L’Oréal. Barcelona. Foto de Pedro Pegenaute.