Throughout the history of western architecture oriels were used to funnel as much sunlight as possible into a room.Ether Oriels are model units of sealed space that are visually accessible through their reactivity to light. Luminiferous ether, an 18th-19th century theory, was postulated to explain light’s capacity to propagate through apparently empty space. The subtle optical implications of transparency, transmission and shadow seem akin to postulations on ether and how an invisible substance can carry light.
