Design Diary by Chris Radley

light + pigment

design

diary

chris

radley

wsa_v

contents introduction

theoretical approach

primer

programme

site

economics

accommodation

chemistry/colour

network

process

inputs/outputs

precedent

thesis development

paint factory

public/paint

roof

mrf

paint factory

conclusion

bilbliography

ÂŠ terraswarm 2007

introduction This thesis is concerned with the use of colour in cities and buildings. I have found this topic increasingly interesting throughout my design work, and chose it as my thesis so that I could spend more time on a thorough analysis. I think this topic will lead to investigations of a specific place through colour and light, and a building that interacts with that place (complimenting or contrasting) through surface, colour, form and programme. 2

theoretical approach The theoretical approach to colour in this thesis is based on a rejection of simplistic classifications (‘red means anger’), psychological effects (‘blue is calming’) and a dependance on scientific or numerical descriptions; instead relying on physical and personal experiments, trusting in the multiplicity of individual interpretations. This view is the product of the overview of colour provided by John Gage in Colour in Art. The huge differences in attitudes to colour between cultures, artists and individuals that Gage highlights convinced me that I should approach the subject from a personal and pragmatic viewpoint. The aspects of colour that I am interested in pursuing through this thesis are_ _how colour can be specific to a place or time _how colour can order and differentiate _how colour can distort perceptions of form and depth

primer The starting points for my primer were the photo of Liverpool above and the paintings of Josef Albers. I was interested in why there were such varied colours from this view across Canning Dock, when in other areas Liverpool was much more monochromatic. The paintings by Albers explore how colour can be used to create depth and form by changes in hue and darkness. Trying to link these effects to a piece of the city would form the bulk of the work for my primer. 4

Colour is the result of the brainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interpretation of light entering the eye. This sensation can either be produced by light emitted from a source directly entering the eye, where combining light sources creates different colours [additive method], or when a surface absorbs some wavelengths and reflects others [subtractive method]. Mixing pigments creates colours using the subtractive method. There is a lot of science and psychology connected to the creation and perception of colours. I found the idea of a colour space interesting, where colours were described as a point defined by values such as hue, saturation and white-black value. 5

This set of photos was taken approximately every 2 hours on St John Street, Cardiff. Changes occurred due to the angle of the sun, artificial lighting, traffic and reflections. In the last photo, with only parts of the city illuminated, the space felt smaller than earlier in the day when all surfaces had an even illumination. The blue tint at dawn and dusk is due to an effect known as the Purkinje shift, which describes the tendency for the peak luminance sensitivity of the human eye to shift toward the blue end of the colour spectrum at low illumination levels. The effect occurs because the colour-sensitive cones in the retina are most sensitive to yellow light, whereas the rods, which are more light-sensitive (and thus more important in low light) but which do not distinguish colours, respond best to green-blue light. 6

Thinking about developing my primer into a thesis, I decided to move the city I was looking at from Cardiff to Liverpool. This tied in with the starting point for the primer, and also gave a wider scope for sites and programmes. After 4 years at the WSA, the majority of projects have been sited in Cardiff. This, combined with living there, made me feel that it would be easier for me to sustain interest in a project sited in another city. I visited Liverpool to remind myself of the city and to see how it had changed since last I was there, specifically the Liverpool One development. While there I recorded points of colour that I found interesting using acrylic paint to try and achieve a more accurate reproduction than using digital photos. 7

While in Liverpool I thought about what aspects of a city affected the colours within it. 8

_retail

_history

The palette of materials used by recent

The history and wealth of a city, or area within a city, affects the building materials used. Liverpool’s trading past has left many industrial warehouses that have since been renovated.

retail developments such as Liverpool One (steel, glass, polished stone) give much more pronounced and saturated reflections. The effect is increased on one of the many days in the year when it rains in Liverpool.

_trade By 1800 Liverpool was Europe’s largest transatlantic port, with the largest single system of enclosed docks in the world.1 This has the dock areas to be dominated by the colours of the water and sky, with the almost monochromatic buildings becoming secondary.

1 Joseph Sharples, Liverpool

_capital of culture

_the mersey

To promote itself as European Capital of Culture 2008, the city centre contained many purple billboards sometimes containing video displays. These dramatically affected the diffuse colours of the surrounding surfaces

Although the Mersey cannot be seen from everywhere in Liverpool, such a large body of water subtly affects the light quality in the city through irregular reflection from the surface.1 Combined with the reflection back down from the almost constant cloud cover, these site specific effects create a more uniform diffuse light.

1 Swirnoff, The Color of Cities p. 23

I concluded that it would be more interesting and rewarding to develop my investigations through lighting models instead of through photographs. This would allow me to experiment with changes and additions in colour and light. To try and reproduce some of the lighting effects I had observed in Cardiff and Liverpool, I developed the earlier models into a machine which I hoped could produce a large variety of lighting colours. The final device involved 3 light sources with adjustable

colour and intensity, directed at a space in which surfaces and objects could be placed to observe the effect of changing light conditions.

The colour machine was designed to receive slides. The initial set I produced experimented with_ _brighter colours than those I had typically found in the cities I visited _interpretations of the paintings that I did in Liverpool, to speculate how introducing different light sources to these places might influence the perception of the space _shadows from coloured lights onto coloured surfaces _subverting the perception of form by grading the darkness of a colour Although my primer resulted in a series of studies, the common theme running through them was the interaction between light sources and pigmented surfaces. This gave me a greater understanding of how colours are produced and perceived. The final device allowed me to experiment with these effects, demonstrating and reinforcing how fragile and subjective they are The aims for my thesis are to continue to experiment with pigments and light sources, and to choose a suitable site and programme to allow this.

programme I felt that the programme for my thesis should create colours that were specific to the site, however local or regional. The interaction of light and pigment led me to consider a paint factory, combined with artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; studios or laboratories that could examine and test how pigments performed under different lighting conditions. Through my primer I examined what aspects of Liverpool created and affected colour, during my research into paint factories, I found that it is possible to create pigments from certain recycled materials. A paint factory in Liverpool that functioned as part of the Mersey Waste network would tie these ideas together, creating colours from the specific by-products of the area.

residential

industrial railway viaduct Leeds & Liverpool canal

site

commercial centre

site The site chosen is on the boundary between the industrial docks, and the larger residential area to the east. This is an appropriate position for the programme, which uses industrial processes to create a home-use product from household waste. The division between industrial and residential is reinforced by a railway viaduct which only allows glimpses of the opposing neighbourhoods. This division is apparent in building use, scale, age and density. The viaduct conveniently blocks Liverpoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s now failing industrial past from the new housing estates, keen to develop the canal as a landscape water feature instead of the industrial use for which it was intended. The site has direct access to road, rail and water transport. The programme makes use of this, adding to and adapting the Mersey Waste network to provide a materials recycling facility (mrf) and paint factory with their necessary raw materials. 15

03 04

01 02

01_stanley dock warehouse 02_stanley dock 03_approach to site from Great Howard Street 04_division between canal and dock systems 05_lock 06_lock machinery 07_boat building The industrial fabric surrounding the site is in a state of decay, many of the buildings vacated and falling apart. The material palette consists of brick, granite blocks, timber and iron machinery, corrugated metal cladding and the dark reflectance of the canal and dock waters. This contrasts with the residential side of the viaduct where the bright bricks and plastic fascias of a barely finished housing estate gleam through the arches. 17

economics The client for the mrf/paint factory development would be Liverpool City Council. Liverpool aims to increase the amount of household waste recycled to 44% in 2020. By 2010 landfill tax will be £48 per tonne. The council is actively pursuing new infrastructure to allow this increase, and has been granted Neighbourhood Renewal Funding ‘to support education and awareness [of recycling] and is committed to provide a wide range of activities aimed at changing behaviour.’1 The council’s report into its recycling concluded that: Key Recommendation 10: All new waste management facilities shall be well designed and where practicable be in keeping with local character, and where appropriate have visitor centres and/or open days as part of the education and awareness raising plan for municipal waste management (and its environmental implications.2 The paint factory would provide the public education and awareness element, having a more memorable impact than tours of the mrf. Specialist paint company Farrow & Ball would be brought in to operate and provide the necessary production knowledge for the paint factory. The council estimates that a new mrf with sufficient capacity would cost £12-15 million. Although this is a necessary investment, the recycled products and paint would provide a steady income.

1 Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Merseyside 2008, p. 4 2 Ibid., p. 29

accommodation paint factory

mrf sorting vehicle depot plastic recycling metal sorting glass recycling

production

raw material storage

210m2

cleaning and grinding

300m2

mixing and dispersing

500m2

paint storage

280m2

mixing

140m2

packaging

150m2

delivery

350m2

administration

reception

70m2

offices

70m2

kitchen/breakout

75m2

WCs/shower

18m2

public

gallery/education

200m2

paint shop

170m2

total (including circulation and plant)

3730m2

paper and card recycling chemical refinement water treatment sludge boiler

chemistry/colour group

colour

chemical name

source

process

Clay

Ochres

Hydrated iron oxide

Mersey clay dredging

Washed to remove sand

Scrap metal

Dissolve iron in sulphuric acid, distil water and collect solid ferric sulphate hepta hydrate

Plastics

Rust

[Dependant on colour of plastic]

Cardinal Purple

Haematite iron oxide

Grinding

Dried

Calcine the ferric sulphate hepta hydrate in 2 stages up to 650째C Grind, wash and classify product particles

Lead

Venetian Red

Iron (III) oxide

Scrap iron

Naples Yellow

Lead (II) antimonate (Toxic)

Lead from scrap car batteries

[Process gives off sulphur trioxide gas, which must be scrubbed from the atmosphere with a water scrubber] Same as above, but calcine in the absence of air

Dissolve lead in nitric acid and evaporate water React the lead nitrate with potassium antimonite Evaporate water then filter solid produced

Red Lead

Chromium

Chrome Green

Lead tetroxide

Chromium (III) oxide

Dry and grind product

Lead from scrap car batteries

Melt lead and blow air through molten lead at 450-500째C

Stainless steel

Start with FeO.Cr2O3 (chromite, a mineral)

Cool and grind product

Heat to 700째C, separate precipitated product Grind

Chrome Yellow

Lead (II) chromate

Batteries

Dissolve lead in chromic acid, evaporate water and collect crystals Filter, dry, then grind

group

Cadmium

colour

Cadmium Yellow

chemical name

Cadmium sulfide

source

Batteries

process

Dissolve metal in acid (eg sulphuric) Sparge with precipitate

Copper

hydrogen

sulphide.

The

product

will

Filter, dry and grind

Cadmium Red

Cadmium selenide

Batteries

As above but sparge with hydrogen selenide (or add Na2Se)

Cadmium Orange

Cadmium sulfoselenide

Batteries

Same as above using H2S and H2Se

Emerald Green

Copper (II) acetoarsenite

Scrap copper

From copper heat in air to make CuO Dissolve CuO in acetic acid with arsenic trihydroxide Product precipitates, filter dry and grind

Verdigris

Carbon

Carbon Black

Zinc

Zinc White

Copper (II) acetate

Scrap copper

As above, omit arsenic trihydroxide

Charring wood

Zinc oxide

Scrap metal, mill slimes, furnace slag

Take Zinc ore and heat with air (1200) ZnO particles distil out and are collected in a series of collectors Classify and grind

network The programme involves the creation of a new node in the Mersey Waste network that would collect household and other recyclable waste from surrounding waste transfer stations Paper and card, plastics, glass and metals would be handled by the materials recycling facility. The majority of this would be refined and sold on as raw materials. Some plastics and metals would be further refined to be used in the paint factory. The canal and dock system would be used to collect other specific materials for the paint factory, such as mersey clay or batteries. The recycling processes would require a large amount of power and water. A water treatment plant would be incorporated into the facility allowing the water use to be a closed-loop system. A sludge boiler would use waste products from the paper recycling process to provide a significant amount of the total power for the facility. 23

process waste delivered to mrf

separated

recycled products sold

processed

pigments

chemical laboratory refinement

water treatment

grinding

mixing

Colormec typical paint production layout

resin

dispersing

storage in vats

colour mixing

packaging

grinder 24

disperser

agitator

storage vat

paint shop

transport

inputs _household and other waste from mersey waste recycling network to mrf _clay from mersey estuary _water and refined pigments from mrf to paint factory _resin and specialist paint ingredients _art produced using paint and other recycled materials _sunlight

outputs _paint _other materials for local artists _recycled materials

precedent Precedent studies for this project involved looking at buildings from opposite ends of the Architectural spectrum - from functionalist factories to expressive churches. The aesthetic and tectonic approach of the paint factory lies somewhere inbetween, being concerned with an efficient and functional use of materials to provide an expression of the factory processes and of the productsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; potential.

01_la tourette - le corbusier 02_bagsvaerd church - jĂ¸rn utzon 03_kimbell art museum - louis kahn 04_jean prouvĂŠ 05_carpenter center - le corbusier

paint factory The design developed from an initial idea of contrasting even north light with specific, directional coloured light achieved through â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;light conesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This allowed for the industrial processes but created changing points of interest for the workers and public. The massing followed surrounding industrial buildings which maximise their plots with a single storey rectangular building. This developed into a 3 level building with the public entrance and paint storage at the towpath level, the factory floor level with the access road to the north, and the paint shop on the top level to give views over the recycling facility and industrial/residential landscape. Large north-south walls give structural support to the roof and divide the space into functional areas. The smaller scale west bay houses offices and administration. The roof structure is oversized here to increase regularity of building components and to reference the larger space and function of the factory. A continuous ramp from the towpath to the paint shop gives the public views over every stage of the paint making process and contrasts with the rectilinear organisation of the building. This is expressed on the south elevation, along with the north-south walls which reflect the division of the viaduct.

public/paint The public route passes between the vats where colours wait to be mixed and packaged. The vats are suspended below the factory floor in a cave-like basement where north light filters down and mixes with directed coloured light and the liquid paint to produce a variety of lighting effects. Due to the nature of the supply of pigments to the paint factory, there will be varying numbers of colours and quantities of paint. A variety of vat sizes will be arranged and as the liquid level rises or falls, changing amounts of coloured light reflect off the surface. This space would act as a built recreation of the colour machine that concluded my primer. Its function in the programme would be to provide a memorable and inspirational illustration of the potential of recycled materials. The varying combinations of colours represent the changing nature of reuse and recycling. 31

roof The roof gives even north light to the factory floor which is essential for the accurate creation of pigments and mixing of colours. The roof spans 40m across the central area to give an unobstructed and adaptable space for the paint making process. Different paint types will require slightly different, or duplicated, processes so a linear fixed arrangement would not be practical. The roof is constructed from precast, post-tensioned concrete sections 5m wide x 3m deep. The construction process would be similar to a highway bridge where the pieces are craned into position on a temporary steel scaffold, cemented together and tensioned. One row would be constructed at a time, and the steel members would be re-used to construct the frame for the cladding on the south elevation. The concrete structure could last for over 200 years,1 and the clear span means the building would be adaptable to a variety of uses in the future.

1 ‘Carbon Profiling’, The Architects’ Journal, 229.11 (2009), 41-42 (p. 42)

mrf

paint factory

roof

light cones air handling system

structural walls

public route

conveyor delivery

paint storage

In elevation, the building responds to the shifting scales of its surroundings and the stepping of the canal. The ramp and paint shop are expressed on the elevation with a functional geometry. Materials from the mrf will travel along a conveyor over the canal, giving glimpses of the raw ingredients from the towpath. The material palette of brick and corrugated steel reflects the industrial location, whereas the zinc shingle roof will create a distinctive waypoint for the rail passengers on the viaduct above. The steel cladding will weather over a period of months, changing colour from dull grey to orange-red. Rust runoff will wash down over the brickwork. Contaminants in the air will affect the patina providing dark spots and streaks. This reflects the use of metals in the paint factoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pigments and the chemical change needed to create them. The zinc will weather much less noticeably, becoming an even, dull grey. Openings in the faĂ§ade will be of an industrial scale and adaptable, rolled steel shutters over the gallery glazing for example. 39

This section shows the integration of the primer, programme, site with the building fabric. The circulation routes overlap and surround each other. People, materials and light are given equal priority.

conclusion 42

bilbliography Baltanás, José, Walking Through Le Corbusier: A Tour of His Masterworks (London: Thames & Hudson, 2005) Industrial Spaces: Volume 1, ed. by Robyn Beaver (Victoria: The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd, 2003) Kimbell Art Museum, Phaidon, 1992)

ed.

Michael

Brawne

(London:

Concerning Archigram..., ed. by Dennis Crompton (London: Archigram Archives, 1999) Darley, Gillian, Factory (London: Reaktion Books Ltd, 2003) Eliade, Mircea, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964) Gage, John, Colour in Art (London: Thames & Hudson, 2006) Manning, Peter, Design of Roofs for Factories (Liverpool: Department of Building Science, University of Liverpool, 1962) Pennells, Ernest, Concrete Bridge Designer’s (London: Viewpoint Publications, 1978)

Manual

Smout Allen, Augmented Landscapes, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007) Swirnoff, Lois, The Color of Cities (New York: McGrawHill, 2000) Swirnoff, Lois, Dimensional Color (Basel: Birkhäuser, 1988) Wang, Wilfried, Herzog & de Meuron (Basel: Birkhäuser, 1998) Zahner, William L., Architectural Metal Surfaces, (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2005)