utilizing the light

The British really know what they're doing with their architecture. For all of its reputation for being grey and cloudy here, they use every last ounce of light that they get. The majority of new buildings here (that meaning built in the last 50 years or so) have skylights, large windows, or a combination of the two. 

These pictures are of the church I am attending here. There are only four ceiling lights in the sanctuary and they aren't always kept on. The rest of the light comes in naturally. 

This last picture of the front of my church has nothing to do with interior light; I just wanted to remember that I attended a church with a red telephone booth out front.

This next picture is the English Faculty Library. It's a newer building...I would guess it was built in the seventies based on the concrete slab that it is on the outside. When I first went in, I was horribly disappointed. Why couldn't the English Faculty have the Radcliffe Camera, or a section of the Bodleian? It has grown on me though, especially once I noticed that the entire ceiling is windows. No lights are necessary until about five thirty in the evening. Clicks from the lamp knobs echo among the desks as I get up and head back to the Vines for dinner.

Of course, in the evening we're all using lights, but I don't mind one smidge when I'm opening the back door in the glow of the kitchen window.