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VIII
THE PROBLEM OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHT
IN all the equipment of the modem house, I think
there is nothing more difficult than the problem
of artificial light. To have the light properly
distributed so that the rooms may be suffused with
just the proper glow, but never a glare; so that the
base outlets for reading-lamps shall be at convenient
angles, so that the wall lights shall be beautifully
balanced,-all this means prodigious thought and care
before the actual placing of the lights is accomplished.
In domestic architecture light is usually provided
for some special function; to dress by, to read by, or
to eat by. If properly considered, there is no reason
why one's lighting fixtures should not be beautiful as
well as utilitarian. However, it is seldom indeed that
one finds lights that serve the purposes of utility and
beauty.
I have rarely, I might say never, gone into a
builder's house (and indeed I might say the same of
many architects' houses) but that the first things to
require changing to make the house amenable to
modem American needs were the openings for light-
ing fixtures. Usually, side openings are placed much
too near the trim of a door or window, so that no self-
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