Color Theory Angelo Garcia Juez
Table of Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
M.1 Who Are You? M.2 Color + Theory M.3 Color + Designers M.4 Color + Psychology M.5 Color + Balance M.6 Color + Your Camera M.7 Color + Rhythm M.8 Color + Emphasis M.9 Color + [proportion + scale] + [unity + harmony] M.10 Color + Rendering M.11 Color + Hospitality M.12 Color + Workspace M.13 Color + Culture Conclusion Sources
3 4 5 14 21 22 23 24 31 32 35 41 48 54 55
M.1 Who are you? Hello my name is Angelo Garcia Juez and I’m an artist. I was born in Havana, Cuba but at the age of six relocated to Miami, Florida where I have lived since. Not long ago I started to pursue a masters in interior architecture. I hope to develop skills when it comes to sustainable design, hospitality design, and retail design. Some of my hobbies include traveling, going to concerts, and visiting galleries/museums. 3
M.2 Color + Theory • Properties of light: Reflection, Diffraction, Refraction • Additive Color: primary-light colors red, green, and blue are mixed. • Subtractive color: applies to paint, dyes, colorants, and inks, where blue, red, and yellow are identified as the primary colors; in photography: cyan, magenta, and yellow. • Light Reflectance Value (LRV): refers to the percentage of light that is reflected from a colored surface back into the interior space.
4
M.3 Color + Designers
5
Renzo Piano
Renzo Piano was born in Genoa Italy in 1937. He was born in to a family of builders and contractors. He strayed away from that and studied architecture at The Milan Polytechnic Architecture School in 1964. Following his graduation Piano went on to work with the likes of Louis Kahn and Z.S. Mackowsky. In 1981 Piano founded the Renzo Piano Building Workshop; it has gone on to have a staff of 150 people with locations in Genoa, Paris, and New York. He has had a long time partnership with the Engineer Peter Rice. Richard Rogers was another of Renzo Piano’s collaborators; they are responsible for creating the Centre Pompidou in Paris France. The creation of the Centre Pompidou is what birthed the careers of both Piano and Rogers. The Centre Pompidou was the first major work by Piano in which he explores technology and modern solutions for architectural problems. Renzo Piano has gone on to win awards like the Royal Gold Medal at the RIBA in London (1989) and the Pritzker Architecture Prize at the White House in Washington (1998).
Richard Rogers Richard Rogers was born in Florence Italy in 1933 to British parents. Rogers studied at the Architectural Association School from 1953 to 1959. After that he attended Yale School of Architecture on a Fulbright scholarship where he received his Master’s degree in 1962. Rogers went on to form a partnership with Norman Foster, Wendy Foster and Su Rogers. They called themselves Team 4 (London, 1963-1967). Rogers also collaborated with Renzo Piano and Peter Rice. After working with Paino Rogers established The Richard Rogers Partnership in 1977; today it is known as Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. Rhichard Rogers received the Royal Gold Medal in 1985 and Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2007.
Name: Centre Georges Pompidou Location: Paris, France Date of Completion: 1977
“As well as the big entrance Forum, the main, upper-level gallery spaces and the vast library – the Bibliothèque publique d’information, found on the first, second and third levels of the main building – the site also houses other departments, including the Atelier Brancusi and the IRCAM – the institute for music/acoustic research and coordination.” – rpbw.com
Renzo and Rogers bring the infrastructure of the building to the exterior. This allows for vast open spaces which require no internal support. The spaces are made larger since the escalators and elevators are on the front of the building. The pipes on the building are color coded based on their functionality. The blue pipes are for air, green for water, yellow for electricity, and red for vertical circulation.
The architects uses the triad of primaries colors plus one secondary color from the subtractive color wheel to emphasize the exterior structure of the building. All the four colors are pure hues which emphasize the boldness of the pipes. The combination of it’s exoskeleton and bright hues further the idea of the building being a modern high tech machine. The colors that have the most contrast are red and green since they are compliments.
Conclusion When it comes to achieving a modern building Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers succeeded. This modern aesthetic of the Centre Pompidou is elevated by the surrounding older architecture. The building is as if we were looking into a human body with different veins, arteries, and capillaries. The architects have made people aware of the function of the building which in most buildings goes unnoticed. Instead of subtly hinting at the exterior they use bright hues to make the building standout. In my opinion the color use of the ductwork is the most successful part of the project. The color seems to hint what the building is used for.
M.4 Color + Psychology
14
FILM SUMMARY Her tells the story of Theodore Twombly, a writer focusing on writing personal letters for people. Unlike his career involving romance, joy and sometimes nostalgia Theodore is trying to get over his divorce. Due to this tragedy he has pulled back from the world. The movie takes place in a futuristic Los Angeles where operating systems (OS) are combined with artificial intelligence. Theodore’s life takes a turn when he meets his new OS Samantha. Over time Theodore and Samantha develop a bond that starts off platonic but ends up being romantic. The movie follows the twist and turns of this relationship as well as the affect it has on Theodore and Samantha.
SCENE ANALYSIS-1
The scene is made up of muted beige, greens, blue-grays, and beigegreens. In this scene Theodore is on his way home from work and we get a better understanding of him. The colors in his environment reflect the emotion on his face. Even though there is liveliness in the people around him it seems bogged down by the dull colors. The irony is that he is wearing a red jacket since red may be associated with love and passion. In this case we can tell by his expression and the color of the environment that he lacks both.
COLOR PALETTE
SCENE ANALYSIS-2
In this scene Theodore’s OS (Samantha) is being created. The colors in the scene are warm colors like reds, oranges, and browns. This may be seen as a foreshadowing to the interaction between Samantha and Theodore (i.e. love, excitement, eroticism, etc.) . The red warm color palette contributes to Samantha’s humanity even though she is an artificial intelligent operating system.
COLOR PALETTE
SCENE ANALYSIS-3
After the creation of Samantha Theodore goes a blind date with a woman who is intelligent, funny and charismatic. The yellows, beige, and brown colors very much describe the rollercoaster of emotions of their date. There is a certain joie de vivre portrayed by the yellows but at the same time play with the negative connotation of caution and nervousness. The browns give the sense of comfort in certain instances but end up pointing towards gloom.
COLOR PALETTE
SCENE ANALYSIS-4
This is the scene with most color variation in the movie also one of the happiest scenes as well. This is the peak of Theodore’s and Samantha’s relationship. They spend the day at the beach talking while Samantha is composing a song to describe the way she feels. Even though the colors are different they are all tints. The blue color plays to the notion of calmness and relaxation. The red tint once again points to love and passion. Green goes with the a sense or renewal and growth; in this case his renewed ability to love again. Finally yellow in this case represents cheerfulness, hope, optimism and self-esteem.
COLOR PALETTE
SCENE ANALYSIS-5
Unlike the beach scene this is the foil to that color palette and events. In this scene meets up with his wife to finalize their divorce and sign the papers. This is where he goes on to tell her that he is in a relationship with his OS Samantha which she does not take positively. These tones of purple tint of a pinkish peach color created a muted palette. This in a sense speaks to where their non romantic relationships stands. The purple implies mourning and gloom, in this case being their marriage and the current situation at hand.
COLOR PALETTE
M.5 Color + Balance • Balance: refers to the relationship of different hues to one another when each is perceived to be equal in perceived visual weight. • Types of Color Balance: I. Value Contrast (Light/Dark) II. Hue Balance (Complements) III. Intensity Contrast ( Bright/ Dull) IV. Size of Color Area (Large Small)
21
M.6 Color + Your Camera
22
M.7 Color + Rhythm • Rhythm: Is a natural evolu5onary trait in nature that can be transferred to interior spaces and can be further emphasized with color. • Types of Rhythm: I. Repe55on II. Altera5on III. Progression IV. Con5nua5on V. Radia5on
23
M.8 Color + Emphasis
24
I decided to focus on a retail store that dealt with the built environment. The Jonathan Adler store in Midtown displayed their products in a showroom manor. Each individual space had an area rug, sofa with ends tables, chandeliers, etc. I focused on various areas that captured my eye when it came to the various forms of contrast.
Contrast of Hue When walking into the stores you are confronted by color. I was able to find the greatest contrast of hue on the second floor in the sales section. What stood out was the fact that these colors were compliments and how the objects balance themselves out. The two larger pieces being the mustard colored sofa and the orange chair balanced by the smaller cool teal accessories.
Contrast of Value The level contrast of value was in the living set up with the charcoal almost black wall color which is also used in the shades of the chandelier and graphic art on the wall. This is all off set by the off white furniture. To tie in the design dark accent pillows were used on the white faux leather sofa.
Contrast of a Design Feature When most walls were painted, this specific set up used a gray graphic pattern. The pattern was made to resemble slices of amethyst stones. Even though the wall paper stands a prominent feature the geometric lines on the wood furniture ties in the rhythmic repetition seen on the wallpaper pattern.
Contrast of Texture In this bedroom setup there is various textures in fabric, the main contrast in texture is seen between the splattered paint wall and the circular piece above the head board. The flat surface of the wall is offset by the flaky feathered texture of the circular sculpture.
Focal Point This images shows how they display their merchandise. In this particular set up the chandelier serves as the focal point. Its multi level sculptural design attracts the viewers eye directly to it.
M.9 Color + Proportion + Scale/ Color + Unity + Harmony
• Proportion vs. Scale: Proportion is defined as the size relationships between elements (parts) and the visual composition or space (whole). Scale refers to the size of a shape in relation to a given known, in most cases, the human body and its position within space. • Proportions in Nature: I. Chambered Nautilus Shell II. Pine cone growth pattern III. Scales on butterfly wings to create pattern
• Unity: is defined as the repetition of color to achieve a unified whole. • Harmony: is the result of a perfect balance between individual color relationships. • The Seven Color Harmonies: I. Monochromatic II. Complimentary III. Split complimentary & Double Complimentary IV. Analogous V. Triadic & Tetrad VI. Multi –hue VII. Achromatic 31
M.10 Color + Render
Accent 2
Accent 1
Dominant
Secondary
Accent 3 32
The colors from the palette are gathered from the yellow autumn leafs and the blue Background which they sit against. Dominant Color: Serves as the background for the others. Secondary Color: The color used to balance the dominant color/ second largest amount of color used. Accents: The colors which create variety within the space while maintaining balance.
The color palette here is a complimentary one. At first I was attracted to the cool green- blue color but soon realized how dark and overpowering it could be. Luckily the warm beige and yellow orange color helped balance out the darkness and coolness of the blue green and other colors.
PROJECT:Conrad Miami DESIGNER: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC (KPF) LOCATION: 1395 Brickell Avenue, Miami, Florida, 33131
M.11 Color + Hospitality 35
VARIETY is a principle of design that is concerned with
the combination of one or more color elements that use line, shape, texture, and/or pattern to create diversity and contrast in an interior space.
Lobby
IMAGE for analysis
Discussion
Once you enter the lobby at the Conrad hotel you are greeted by warm color palette. Throughout the space rectangular shapes create a sense of variety but unison at the same time. The main square shape is seen at he lobby desk. Its size and choice of material draws your eye to it. The use of granite are used create a set of lines which anchor the desk. The use of the sharp granite lines establishes the dominance of the desk. The sharp lines of the space are broken up by the arc line that is created by the ceiling. The use of pattern is introduced through the artwork and vases of the plants which all stick to the color palette. The variety of texture is brought in with the fabrics of the furniture. This can be seen in the change from sleek tile floor to a dark soft rug which is used to define the boundaries of a seating area.
PALLETTE
Pool Area
Discussion
The pool area at the Conrad uses a mix of cool, warm, and neutral colors. The two dominant colors are green and orange, which are used as accent colors. The lines defined by the vertical columns around the bar and gazebos creates a sense of height. On the other hand the ceiling around the bar emphasizes the width of the space, this is also achieved through the repeating shape of the gazebos. As sense of texture is brought in through the use of various palm trees which also contribute to a sense of height in the space. The change in texture can be seen in the bar from a rough stone tile used around the base contrasted against the teal/ aqua tile used on the counter top.
PALLETTE
Critique The Conrad has many positive design attributes but, after my visit I noticed minor things that could be changed. The round mirror by the elevators in the lobby is dwarfed in sized by the massive volume of furniture around it. The shape itself is fine which is great to break up the repeating pattern on rectangular shapes but it is simply to dainty. A circular mirror that has more of presence would make the overall design more cohesive. When it comes to the pool area the vertical columns around the bar area blend in with the neutral color of the stone tile on the floor. In order to give columns life and create a sense of height a color should be applied to it. Like the orange color used as an accent.
PROJECT: Macquarie Group DESIGNER: Clive Wilkinson LOCATION: Sydney, Australia
41
M.12 Color + Workspace
COLOR PALETTE + FLOOR PLANS
LINE When entering the building one is directed to the front desk. The importance of the front desk is highlighted by the use of the Macquarie logo and the repetition of black and white horizontal lines. The color choice emphasizes the graphic qualities of the lines. The length of these lines is framed by the receptionists who sit in front of them as well as the length of the desk itself.
SHAPE Within the building one of the major shapes that is repeated is the square. The pod like structure of the rooms is carried out through the seating areas. The shape of this seating area gives privacy in what may be a more communal space. The choice of color may be used to create a relaxed environment.
TEXTURE The sleek glass surfaces of the pod like structure within the building are interrupted by the large numbers on them. These numbers not only creature texture on the glass surface but create a sense of organization in the building and allows for the circulation of people to be much smoother. At the same time the white color doesn't’t detract from the overall design.
PATTERN In this space the column is given tree bark pattern to accentuate its vertical nature. That idea of a wood structure is carried out through the repetition of the geometric shapes created by the wooden frame. The wooden structure creates a sense of division in space but still maintaining the open flow of the work place.
CONCLUSION AND EXPERIENCE After researching this project and all the other workspaces showed me what good design is. More importantly to consider the people who work there as well as the visitors. The one thing I noticed was the way color and numbers were used to create an organizational scheme and guide the people within the building.
M.13 Color + Culture
48
Cuba & Cambodia My culture and country is Cuba and I have chosen Cambodia to learn about their culture and how they use color. I chose to focus on Cambodia after learning about the Angkor Wat temple in history of architecture. I also wanted to focus on a culture I Knew little to nothing about and that was completely opposite of mine.
Cuba
Cuba Cuba is one of many islands in the Caribbean; it may be known as one of the most mysterious island of the Caribbean due to its political standing with the United states. Yet it is a country full of culture and history. The island’s architecture is mainly Spanish colonial. The use of arches and domes combined with bright colors is the norm for these buildings. The bright colors of the buildings are reflected in the automotive vehicles from the seventies. The flag is made up by blue and white stripes with and horizontal triangle on the left side with a white star at the center. “…the blue stripes refer to the three old divisions of the island; and the two white stripes represent the strength of the independent ideal. The red triangle symbolizes equality, fraternity and freedom, as well as the blood shed in the island's struggle for independence. Finally, the white star symbolizes the absolute freedom among the Cuban people.”
Cambodia
Cambodia Cambodia is rich in history with a major Buddhist influence. Cambodia is mainly recognized for is architecture of Angkor Wat. The only major city is the capital Phom Penh which is small but over time has grown in population. The main dishes are fish and fish and dining is based on the class system. When it comes to color Cambodian architecture uses a warm color palette of oranges, reds, and yellows. Even when it comes to traditional costumes and dresses the same color palette is used. The flag is made up of red, white and blue. Blue is used to represent the country’s royalty. White is for the nation and white for the religion. The use of the temple represents the structure of the universe.
Conclusion After completing the course I have gained a new perspective on color and how important it is. Some of the highlights for me were analyzing film in color and color in the workspace. Analyzing color in film made me feel a deeper appreciation for the film Her which I already loved. Color in the workplace showed me what good color use is and how to have good design even in an office building. I look forward to applying the new skills I learned in this course to my own work in the future.
54
Sources All material for the modules based on quizzes are directly quoted from the following: Reed, Ron. Color Design: Transforming Interior Space. New York: Fairchild, 2010. Print.
55