Color Theory Book

COLOR THEORY+

APPLICATION FOR THE BUILDING ENVIRONMENT. IND 5325

BY DIANA ZAMBRANO

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION

M.1

COLOR + YOU

(4-8)

M.2 COLOR + CULTURE

(9-13)

M.3

COLOR + THEORY

(14)

M4

COLOR + DESIGNER

M.5

COLOR + PERCEPTION + BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE (20)

M6

COLOR + FILM

M.7

COLOR + RHYTHM + BALANCE

M8

COLOR + EMPHASIS +RETAIL

M9

COLOR + HOSPITALITY (34-39)

(21-25)

M10 COLOR + WORKPLACE M11

(15-19)

(26) (27-33)

(40-45)

COLOR + PROPORTION + SCALE + UNITY HARMONY (46)

CONCLUSIONS (47)

INTRODUCTION

In this Color Theory book, we are going to discover how color is used in different ways to create an experience in a space. People’s perception of color, visual effects of how to color mix, match, or contrast with each other, and the use of design elements working together. We are going to analyze countries, movies, architects, retail, hospitality, and workplace to explore how color and design elements connect to people and space.

COLOR

+ YOU

HELLO

I’M DIANA

M1

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE MIAMI DADE COLLEGE Associate in Art FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Master of Interior Architecture G2 Student

Before choosing interior architecture as my passion, I had other studies such as nursing and therapeutic massage. However, it wasn’t until I started traveling that I found my true passion for interior architecture.

I love classical and modern architecture, which always inspires me a lot.

BACKGROUND

BOGOTA - COLOMBIA I was born and raised in Bogota Colombia, I moved to upstate NY at the age of 18 and lived there for six years until I came to Miami to visit a friend, then a year later I was living here! Now it’s been nine years since then, and I still love Miami, and it’s surroundings.

I took five years off from school trying to find my true passion until I visited Europe since then I can’t stop traveling. I didn’t grow up in a very artistic or creative environment, which affects my path in creativity, but I am always willing to learn every day.

TRAVELING After visiting a different country besides my home country, my life changed 360 degrees. Traveling always has something to teach me, and I am so grateful to life and the universe to let me be able to explore new cultures, adventures, and inspirations. I travel whenever I have time and can afford it.

FLORENCE

LONDON

UTAH

COLORADO

LUCERNE - SWITZERLAND

ROME

WYOMING

COLOR

Blue is one of my favorite colors because it represents the sky and sea.

The color blue symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. It is considered beneficial to the mind and body, slows human metabolism, and produces a calming effect. Nevertheless, I am not afraid to use all colors.

HOBBIES Coffee with friends

Hiking

Baking

Dancing

Painting

Reading

Family time

Running

Traveling

Social connection

Skiing

Cycling

COLOR +

CULTURE

M2

COLOMBIA

Traditional dance - Sanjuanero

Seven Color River

Wayuu, Ethnic Group.

Colibri - Birds of Colombia

Coffee land

Sierra Nevada of Colombia

Barranquilla’s Carnival

Flower Festival -Medellin

COLOR

PALETTE

The yellow color represent sunlight and the diverse natural resources found within Colombia, like gold, fertile soil, and productive agriculture.

The blue color on the flag represents the rivers that flow throughout the country and into the surrounding blue ocean. It is also said to represent the clear blue sky seen over Colombia.

The red color represents the difficulties faced by the Colombian people in their quest for independence from Spain, as well as the blood shed during the war.

Colombia is a diverse country with a lot of traditions, rhythms, festivals, and cultures; there are jungles, volcanoes, mountains, mines, and valleys. From colonial cities to the carnivals; from the beaches facing both the Pacific and the Caribbean oceans to the diversity of wildlife that spills out across these lands - all of these things are bold, bright and beautiful. We grow up surrounded by these colors, music, and customs that make us be joyful people.

Graphicmap.com 2018

PERU

I have chosen PERU because, apart from being neighbors, and sharing some of the geographic sites; it is a prosperous country in all senses.

Its ancient architecture such as the Machu Picchu (Inca Empire), its colorful mountains and wildlife, counting the llamas make me visit that country. Peru also is number one in gastronomic culture, which I really love and enjoy very much. And it has a very vivid color palette. All these characteristics make Peru a wonderful country to visit.

The national Flag of Peru consists of three equal vertical stripes of red, white, and red. The red on the flag represents bloodshed while the white represents peace and justice.

Worldatlas.com 2018

CONCLUSIONS Both countries are amazing, even if I am from COLOMBIA, I still need to visit other parts of my own country and PERU is on my bucket list that hopefully, I can visit soon.

COLOR +

THEORY

CMYK

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW K=BLACK

Primary colors that apply to paints, dyes, colorants, and inks.

They are subtractive colors, which means colors get darker as you mix them.

RGB

RED GREEN BLUE

Primary colors of light.

They are additive colors that, when mixed, white light is the result, and the absence of all color is BLACK.

LIGHT REFLECTANCE VALUE (LRV) Percentage of light that is reflected from a colored surface. It is a scale that determines the quantity of visible light reflected and all wavelengths when a material or color is illuminated.

In other words, this scale is used to identify how much light a color reflects or absorbs.

Ceilings LRV 60 and 90%

M3

Walls LRV 30 and 60%

Floors LRV 15 and 35%

COLOR+ DESIGNERS

All architecture, which does not express serenity, fails in its spiritual mission. Thus, it has been a mistake to abandon the shelter of walls for the inclemency of large areas of glass.

Luis Barragan House and Studio Mexico city, Mexico.

M4

DESIGNER Luis Barragán (19021988) was born in Guadalajara, Mexico.

He got an engineering degree at the age of twenty-three, but his architectural skills were self-taught. He also got his knowledge when he traveled extensively in France and Spain, and later lived in Paris for a while, attending Le Corbusier’s lectures.

His work has been called minimalist, but it is still rich in color and texture.

His compositional elements are the walls of stucco, adobe, timber, or even water, all interacting with Nature.

(pritzkerprize, 2020)

Barragán was very religious man, and his work has been described as “mystical” as well as serene. The chapel for the Capuchinas Sacramentarias, another of his work, shows both qualities. (pritzkerprize, 2020)

PROJECT Luis Barragan House and Studio Luis Barragan House and Studio, also refered to as Casa Luis Barragan, is the former residence of architect Luis Barragan in Miguel Hidalgo district, Mexico City.

Located in the west of Mexico City, the residence was built- in 1948 after the Second World War. The house represents an integration of modern and traditional architectural styles, which has since been influential, especially in the design of gardens, plazas and landscapes. The levels of the floors are not regular and rooms have different heights.

(Triposo, 2020)

The facade of this house is very simple and ordinary, which is what makes this house more fascinated because the interior is another world.

It is well illuminated by natural daylight and accents colors withs white planes.

Connection to nature and bright colors were essential to Barragan.

COLOR The color was another design element in which the color scheme refers to the brilliant hues of indigenous buildings in Mexico. He uses bold pink and yellow to highlight white planes around the house.

These colors build a strong contrast to the green trees and plants.

He also played with daylight and shadows using trees and windows structures.

The combination of mystery and serenity was one he considered vitally important in his works. (archdaily, 2018)

CONCLUSIONS The usage of color and light in Luis Barragan’s architecture played an important factor in his minimalistic and modern style. His intention in integrating cultural colors was used to defined spaces to interact with nature.

The use of lighting and shadows to generate different experiences throughout the day.

PERCEPTION + BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE

SPRING/SUMMER 2020 New color originates from the Fashion industry and slowly trickles down into home decor. Color trend last 7 yrs: First 2 yrs with fashion, 3 to 5 yr of period color trend is seen as popular, and it is available in textile and decorative items. The last 6 to 7 yr period color begins to lose consumer interest, and it is replaced.

M5

COLOR TRENDS

COLOR +

It is an optical effect in which part of color is replaced by a new color, creating a color interaction that changes the overall impression of the design. Color may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colors. It happens when small areas of color are interspersed. (wikipidia, 2019)

POWER STRENGTH

WEIGHTLESSNESS THOUGHT

RELAXATION CELESTIAL QUALITIES

COLOR + SHAPE KNOWLEDGE CREATIVITY TRUST

WISDOM MYSTERY INTUITION

BEZOLD EFFECT

NATURE GROWTH LIFE

COLOR + ENVIRONMENT Release date: November 21, 2012 (USA) Director: Ang Lee Awards: Academy Award for Best Life of Pi is a film about a young guy that survived a terrible storm that sank the ship where he, his family, and zoo animals were on board on the way to Canada for a better life. However, Pi was not alone; a fearsome Bengal tiger had also found refuge aboard the lifeboat. As days turned into weeks and weeks dragged into months, Pi and the tiger learned to trust each other if both wanted to survive.

(Google, 2012)

M6

HAPPINESS

In the film, scenes were expressing positive feelings in different color palettes such as ORANGES, GREENS, and REDS. These colors represent happiness, cheerfulness, renewal, eternal life, and courage.

HOPE + SADNESS

In these scenes, the color GREEN represents many feelings of tragedy when PI loses his family but also hope and spirituality when Pi and the tiger found the island as a signal of God’s existence, and renewal by accepting everything that happened to Pi and moved on in life.

COURAGE

Throughout the film, the were many scenes of danger represented by pale greens, blues, and yellows. The negative effect of these colors represents loneliness, nervousness, and danger; however, on the other hand, the positive side of these colors plus orange represents courage and strength in difficult times as Pi had in his journey on his survival with Richard Parker (tiger).

CONCLUSIONS

The overall color of “Life of Pi� is orange, which represents hope and survival throughout the movie.

It is an interesting color since it gives emotional strength at difficult times.

Doing this analysis was very interesting, to do not only because of its theme but because it has changed the way that I am going to watch movies from now on and the emotional effects that color has the films.

COLOR + RHYTHM + BALANCE WARM/LIGHT

Value Contrast COOL/HEAVY

Intensity Contrast

The lightness or darkness of a color refers to the perceived color weight of an object. Darker objects appear to be visually heavier than lighter.

Hue Balance

Complementary colors are place next to each other to intensify the other hue, making each to appear brighter.

RHYTHM

The relative brightness or dullness of color is established by adding the complementary color to a particular hue or with the addition of gray.

Size of Color Area BIO-INSPIRED COLOR PALETTES

M7

The larger the amount of color used, the lighter it will appears; the smaller the amount of color used, the darker it appears.

BALANCE. RHYTHM. REPETITION

COLOR AND LINE AS RHYTHM

COLOR

+ EMPHASIS OIAM

OIAM STYLING AGENCY BOUTIQUE STORE

Designer Firm: NONG STUDIO Design: Neal Zhu, Luca Lanotte Italy, Maple Jiao Location; No.370 Wukang Rd, Shanghai, China.

Completed in 2015

M8

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTRAST OF : • HUES • VALUES • DESIGN FIXTURE • TEXTURE • FOCAL POINT

CONTRAST OF HUE + VALUE

NONG STUDIO used the contrasting hue of GREEN (Biophillic wall) on the color wheel, which is RED using the color at full intensity, creating an attractive focal point, the sofa.

The Value contrast (light/dark) in this image, we can notice that the GREEN color is in its dark tones, which help to emphasize the brighter RED color of the sofa.

CONTRAST OF DESIGN FIXTURE

In this retail store, there are different design fixtures that we can notice. In the first image, NONG STUDIO created a wall partition covered with enlarged WHITE flowers in the entire wall calling the client’s eye attention to it.

In the second image, there’s a light fixture with a famous image (Creation of Adam by Michelangelo) in black and white, making it another important design fixture.

CONTRAST OF TEXTURE

Once again, in this wall partition, the designers created a contrasting texture in the environment. The ambiance has darker tones in which the enlarged WHITE flowers in the entire wall create dramatic emphasis within the space.

FOCAL POINT

At OIAM retail store, the focal point is the mannequins, they are not used for clothing but as pieces of art. They are arranged in different positions and layouts, creating a symmetrical balance that attracts the client’s attention to walk towards the focal point.

CONCLUSIONS

NONG STUDIO used contrast of hues and values to create an attractive focal point. it is also interesting how they designed design fixtures, texture walls and partitions, into the space to create a interesting path.

In this retail analysis was interesting to learn how color, its values, design fixtures, and even texture make part of a great experience to the employees and for the customers.

COLOR

+ VARIETY

FAENA MIAMI BEACH HOTEL Designed by former-fashion-designerturned-visionary-hotelier Alan Faena

M9

VARIETY +

INTEREST

With the helped of the director/producer Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet Baz Luhrmann) and Oscar-winning costume designer Catherine Martin, they created the perfect essence and set the mood of the hotel with Faena. The color palette in different sets of the hotel brings variety into the design, giving character to spaces and elements that create interest. The design uses the color RED and its harmonious scheme giving a balance into the variety.

Apartment Therapy, 2019

ELEMENTS

The Faena hotel has a diversity of design elements that keep the interest of users of the space. The variety of shapes, lines, patterns, and textures breaks up the monotony and gives the viewers an array of visual stimuli.

TEXTURE TIERRA SANTA SPA

In another area of the hotel, there is the Tierra Santa Spa, with lighter tones and an Art Deco style we can see visual and tactile texture characteristics. Textures such as wood floor finish, colorful rug, wall coverings, and velvet fabrics.

The intention of the use of these colorful materials and finishes at the spa and other areas is to provide the sensory and visual contrast needed to make the space more appealing.

SHAPE

The Faena hotel has a variety of shapes such as circular, linear, and organic structures that add rhythm and movement to space, as we can observe at the left picture in one of its restaurants with circular booth seating and ceiling.

In the left image, we notice linear elements in one of its focal point of the woolly-mammoth coated in 24-karat gold sealed in a glass coffin, and placed on the waterfront.

A variety of shapes, textures, and forms, can stimulate the senses and create an environment.

CONCLUSIONS

The Faena Hotel used a harmonious RED color scheme to bring character to different spaces and elements as if it was in the movie.

Faena used elements that have a variety of shapes that helps to break up the monotony and, at the same time, give a balance to the viewers’ eyes.

This analysis helped me to understand more about how color schemes and elements can manipulate emotions in every space and how creative space can be.

COLOR

+ VARIETY

PANDORA MEDIA INC. NEW YORK, NY Designed by ABA STUDIO

M10

VARIETY +

INTEREST

FOCUS PODS

WAY-FINDING Pandora media inc, located in midtown Manhattan, New York, is a double-height space that is connected by a large staircase. This office interior space offers a variety of color schemes that enhance the visual effect in the workplace.

It is interesting how each color represents different areas, but they are used as a visual weight without saturating the space and as a way-finding.

LINEAR, POINT + PLANES

The different planes used make the space more impressive, using the grand staircase for circulation and a seating area. Since Pandora Radio connects music with people, ABA studio represented very well with linear elements on the walls with some of music biggest icons, what a great way to express music and space. Another aspect that is an interesting visual effect is the blue translucent circular discs that are about 25 feet tall.

TEXTURE Wood, concrete, and glass are textures that enhance smoothness and roughness, adding character in the workplace. Wood is used throughout each level, adding warmth and works as a bridge to other surfaces. The beams, columns, and floors are in their natural state, expressing a richness of textures and tectonics. And glass is peppered with a dot-matrix graphic pattern that helps define the surface of the volume and also provides different degrees of visual privacy.

Archdaily.com, 2014

Glass

Concrete

Wood

SHAPE

Pandora Media Inc workspace uses different shapes to define areas.

Shapes are represented with the blue translucent circular discs adding rhythm and movement to the design. And with the regular intervals, wood slats, carefully shaped, reduces each image to vertical stripes of binary information and presents different visual effects depending on the viewer’s perspective and distance.

Archdaily.com, 2014

CONCLUSIONS

Pandora Media Inc office space used different color schemes for a visual effect and as way-finding; different elements and planes to break up the monotony of the space; a variety of textures and materials to bring more richness and character to the areas. All of these varieties of content have created a workspace more enjoyable and unique.

It was fascinating to learn different ways to use color and its values in different spaces.

COLOR + PROPORTION + SCALE

Golden Ratio determines a proportion between the whole and its two parts, the ratio between the smaller and the larger is the same as, the larger and the whole.

Scale= relative size of one object to another

M11

Dominant

Dominant

Sub-Dominant

Sub-Dominant

Accent

Accent

The various proportions of a given color will determine the physical sensation or perception. This color scheme in different portions of the grid will have a visual impact. The bright color will dominate an interior; therefore, it is better to use it in small areas.

Proportion= relative size of parts of a whole

Scale refers to the size of a shape in the relation of the human body and its position within space. Proportion is the size relationships between elements (parts) and the visual composition or space (whole).

High contrast and separation of visual elements result in the perception of larger space. It’s essential to use the order of valuedarker values should be placed toward the bottom of the interior, middle values at the center, and lighter values at the top.

CONCLUSIONS

After finishing this book, I learned how color has a significant impact in many ways in any space, creating emotional experiences to human eyes. Also, it was exciting and essential to understand that a designer cannot work independently without taking other variables into consideration, such as the principles and design elements. For now on, I am more encouraged, more than ever, to explore and to take risks using colors in my designs.

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