Forms & Elements: Dark secrets

Mysteries are magical. They fire our imagination, arouse our hopes and raise questions but never give answers. They remain ambiguous and do not shed light on reality. Mysteries are always associated with the dark, they would not be mysterious or secretive if that was otherwise. And so darkness itself has taken on the guise of mystery and promise. In the dark, we often believe that our perception is heightened and we can see what is true, unfathomable or inconceivable. But in the deepest obscurity, what we tend to experience is a mere reflection of our own imagination and fantasy, triggered by the dark.
Indeed, the greatest mysteries of our time are literally in the dark. The absence of light in the depths of our oceans, for example, makes them one of the last unknown regions on our planet. And dark matter might well hold fundamental answers about our universe. Linguistically, too, dark is unquestionably linked to mystery: The black box is so called because it keeps the processes in its interior secret. Currently, algorithms used in artificial intelligence constitute the biggest black box and are the principal man-made mystery: how responsibly, well and rapidly do they process information? And what role will human beings play in the future? We also speak of the dark night of the soul when it comes to the secrets kept by humans in the darkest recesses of their being. But darkness is not only something to be feared: dark is interesting. It is appealing and compelling because its solemn gravity promises more relevance, depth, and style than anything bright or pale, and because it is always more mysterious than lighter hues. That is why dark colours have a permanent place in design, regardless of zeitgeist and location. So we now can delve into the dark, mysterious side of ALUCOBOND®. Let us look at façades which mysteriously expose much more than their actual physical image when the individual onlooker’s imagination is engaged.

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