A penthouse above the water at Lugano, glazed on three sides. Through the day the lake does the lighting; after dark the rooms had to keep that same softness without arguing with the view. What we were asked for was low light, no glare, and nothing that announces itself.

The lamps we used

The Ledram discs lie flat against the stone walls of the living room, thin as a drawn line until they are switched on, and then they simply hold a warm circle there. Over the long table we set the PostCrissi pleats: hand-folded shades that comb the light into ribs, so the ceiling carries the pattern and the table below stays clear. Through the bedroom and the corridor the Golden Lights discs turn their faces away, laying leaf-lit washes on the plaster in a colour close to the last of the sun on water.

Every circuit is dimmed on the same curve, so the apartment slips from evening into night without a single step. Oak, stone and bronze stay where they were. The lamps were chosen to vanish into them, and to be noticed afterwards, as light.

The lake gives the day. We gave the rest.