This article examines how the phenomenon of sound-and-light shows fulfills the purposes of preaching and, as such, can be perceived as a form of public proclamation. Originating in France but now offered all over the world, these shows use large-scale video projection to display images on the facades of historic buildings, many of which are religious in nature, set to sound effects and music. The author begins by addressing three purposes of preaching that arise within homiletical discourse: testimony of God’s story, empowering transformation, and engendering encounters with God. Drawing from recent qualitative research into spectators’ experiences at sound-and-light shows, the author then examines how three specific shows serve as case studies that demonstrate that, while not sermons, they can indeed fulfill each of the purposes of preaching. As such, these spectacles can be seen as a vibrant form of proclamation amidst contemporary public settings.

This is a project-based thesis focusing on the investigation of topics related to human newborns and the factors found in their surrounding environment that need to be assessed so as to provide them with a feeling comfort. The objective is to boost their emotional development by the means of light in a close relation to sound so as to provide them with a type of intelligence allowing them to normally interact within a society during their adult life, reassuring social equality and eliminating potential social exclusion due to unexpected behaviours. After researching topics to have a better understanding of the newborn baby and its enclosing environment, a luminaire design solution -functioning with a reactive scheme performed with integrated sound sensors- provided further results to the main topic investigation. The conceptual scheme for the product development was inspired by the connection between the newborn and their life-giver, closely linked to the cross-modality of sensory development before and after birth. Additional results were obtained with light measurement assessments and a parent survey targeting both the intended light quality subjective evaluations and the marketing strength of the designed product. This survey was used -along with other means- as a design evaluation tool at the final stage of the design process. Potential further improvements as well as considerations for a distinct spatial application are discussed in the final part of the thesis. The sustainability aspect covered within this degree project is closely linked to good physical and mental health aspects, clean energy use and efficiency achieved by the integration of input sound sensors and controls, and conscious production and consumption by the proposal of low global footprint materials for the luminaire design. In the conclusions, an overall summary of the thesis outcomes is presented and further research is proposed regarding both the main topic investigation as well as a greater user category that can be related to the light metric assessments that were carried out for this research.

Atmospheres, events, feelings, every sensation has its own music. And the human being has been highly educated to feel the glamour of them through the hearing sense. We know how a terrifying situation sounds like; what would be the musical accompaniment for a warzone scenario or what is the perfect piece for getting into a state of relaxation. Thanks to music design it has been possible to immerse the spectator into a deeper sensorial perception experience. Users close their eyes, and feel. What if we close our ears, and feel? This thesis aims to transport the qualities of sound that produces feelings into people, to visual values communicated by an approach to architectural lighting design into architectural spaces. A music example is chosen according to the intended emotion to be transposed. It is analysed, evaluated and related to a series of theoretical fundamentals based on visual psychology, human experience, multisensorial connections and lighting design. Laws of correlation are stablished and applied to a case study which ends as a theoretical concept design of an architectural lighting design installation. Closing the document, a statement of guidelines for the conversion of subjective emotional qualities perceived from musical examples is stablished and discussed the use of it in architecture.