Color Beyond the Theory by PerkinsEastman_Living

Color Beyond the Theory elevate DESIGN

HOW COLOR SHAPES

OUR EXPERIENCES

elevate

As architects, planners, interior designers, and thinkers, we are endlessly exploring the ways that space influences the people who inhabit it, and vice versa. Though we may be long established in our careers and within the design of senior living environments, there is significant value in revisiting basic principles of design to inform our practice going forward. Our Elevate Design series will explore core ideas about design and interrogate them through the lens of environments for older adults. We will examine the ways in which the details of design have an outsized impact on the ability to feel invited in and welcomed, to connect with others and support social wellbeing, to emphasize orientation and minimize the ill-effects of dementia, and support the multiple dimensions of wellness to be enjoyed by all. Please join us while we dig deep in order to elevate.

About the Series Key Takeaways

AsGerman-born architect, Mies van der Rohe, often said, “the devil is in the details.” The selection of color within an architectural project may not feel like a detail, but the wrong coat of paint on a wall can have seriously negative effects. In this issue of our Elevate Design series, we delve into the specifics of choosing colors for senior living environments and how those selections are affected by light, texture, contrast, and branding. All of these elements play into how we perceive colors and the values associated with them. Dive deep with us as we explore this fascinating aspect of our projects and the clients who help make them meaningful.

Color Beyond the Theory

HOW COLOR SHAPES

OUR EXPERIENCES

We know that colors evoke in us particular emotional responses, but in senior living communities, the use of color goes far beyond the basics. In designing buildings, whether new construction or renovation of existing spaces, every surface is considered and selected to create a holistic experience for the inhabitant. From the large swaths of exterior materials to the most minute millwork detail, each component contributes to the experience of a space with color playing a huge role.

Guiding Principles of Color Selection

There is a complicated set of parameters in choosing colors for senior living environments. These primary principles guide our material and palette selections through the lens of color and its powerful effect on human psychology.

Storytelling Through Color and Emotion

The ability for color to inspire particular feelings and emotions makes it a powerful tool in creating a story about a space. Based on a space’s program, a color palette comprised of a foundation of carpet and wood tones with contrasting and complementary paint, fabric, and accent colors can create a narrative about what happens in that space and the behaviors that space can inspire.

Trends and Client Messaging and Branding

Color selection doesn’t always start with a blank slate. A client’s perspective, particularly around branding and mission-alignment can lead in a particular direction for a color scheme. Cohesion with an organization’s logo as well as current fashion and design trends often make their way into a design concept in both subtle and overt ways that drive color palettes.

Contrast Creates Clarity

We are never picking just one color for a space. A color palette is a balance of tones, hues, and textures that create a cohesive whole. Within that palette are numerous opportunities to provide visual clarity by using contrasting tones and colors which allow the eye to distinguish various surfaces. For example, dark wood furniture might sit on a lighter toned carpet, or a light wood dining chair would have a darker fabric cushion to clearly define the structure and seating surfaces.

Saturation is the Power Quotient

The characteristic that makes colors powerful in their versatility is their saturation. A deep brown wood tone lightened by 80% for a wall paint can provide a cohesive environment within which other colors can play and mingle. The subtleties of differentiating between a 40% saturated yellow and a 50% saturation of the same tone can mean the difference between a confident, bold accent and an unpleasant tone that inspires negative emotions.

Relating Color, Lighting, and Texture

Colors exist within a larger context and are highly influenced by the type of light available in a space, and the texture upon which the color is applied. A wall painted with a light blue tone will have a different effect on the viewer than a piece of furniture upholstered with the same tone. The difference between the drywall texture (which will reflect some light based on sheen) and the fabric texture (which will absorb most light) needs to be considered as part of the color palette. The position of the space within a building and with access to natural daylight is also an important factor in how color is perceived.

“Based on northern or southern exposure in a room as well as the window sizes and locations, colors will perform wildly differently. For a room that receives primarily northern daylight, I’m going to go with cooler colors, your greens and blues. They conform better under those conditions of natural light and exposure. Warmer colors — your reds, oranges, yellows — feel much better in artificial light because they reflect more light and appear brighter.”

—Leah

Johnson, interior designer

As humans, our relationship to color theory goes back thousands of years to Aristotle, but an understanding of our emotional responses to varied hues arose during the Renaissance. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, best known as a poet and writer, developed the first widely known theory of the physiological effects of color. Since then, we have continued to associate colors with particular feelings, emotions, and ideas, including as they relate to aging populations and how we design spaces for older adults.

Senior living communities are complex organisms, acting as home, recreational outlets, social gathering opportunities, relaxation supports, and places for lifelong learning and exploring one’s “third act.” Considered as a collective, these spaces want to feel both varied and cohesive. Each individual space should inspire a unique and special set of emotions and behaviors to align with the purpose and intent of the space. Simply applying the well-known understanding that red and orange energize or agitate us while blue and green hues calm us down can be too simplistic an approach when considered within a larger set of concerns.

The Biology of Color

The most significant influence on the selection of color in senior living communities is our understanding of the biological changes that can start to affect older adults. Due to a variety of causes, some older adults experience a yellowing of eyesight due to cataracts or other eye condition. Macular degeneration is a common condition with aging eyes that causes vision loss in the center of one’s vision. Often this loss

The color wheel is a classic illustration of the variety of tones and hues visible to the human eye but only gives us a two dimensional understanding of the ways colors are employed and interact with one another.

of ability to distinguish colors is accompanied by a blurriness or fading of vision, further exacerbating the perception of objects and their distinct shapes, outlines, and colors. Choosing appropriate colors for paint, wallcoverings, and furnishings must be considered within the environment itself, the quality of lighting both daylight and artificial light and contrasts that can compensate for vision challenges.

With many eye conditions, certain colors are perceived differently. White takes on a yellow hue, and blues and greens become less distinct. Yellow itself may take on a sickly or

unpleasant tone. As interior designer Leah Johnson explains, “Yellow is not a color we often use. It can be an aggravating color in senior living spaces, which is interesting because in color psychology it’s always considered bright and fun and welcoming. But to the aging population it may not be. You may have gold accents, but an overwhelming amount of yellow can be overstimulating and aggravating.”

Using Color to Ease Transitions

Moving into a community for older adults may not always be a joyful time in a resident’s life. Often, a precipitating event has hastened the move to a senior living community, such as the loss of a spouse or physical decline that requires a more supportive environment. Newcomers to a community may feel anxious or depressed at this change in their life and lifestyle, and may be experiencing significant feelings of loss. The initial impression of a community is essential to providing a sense of welcome and well-being, while also often communicating specific information about a community such as the vibrancy of possibility within the social sphere or a particular religious or cultural affiliation.

The common spaces in particular should be light, bright, welcoming, and inspire positive emotions. The colors selected to evoke these feelings will vary by community and become part of the larger story of providing a supportive, embracing place to age in community. The design of the 2Life Opus— Newton campus (detailed on pages 15–16) tells the story of this community through color as soon as you approach the buildings.

Red Isn’t Always Angry

Within a US-based context, we have particular cultural associations with color. Red is connected to love and passion, but also to the flip side of those intense feelings: anger and rage. Yellow may be associated with sunshine and happiness yet also cowardice, caution, or sickness. Green often evokes nature, but the wrong shade can inspire jealousy or nausea. Myriad shades of blue satisfy everything in the American mind from cloudless skies to ocean depths, from calmness and serenity to depression and coldness.

As the demographics of senior living consumers change and diversify, starting with the Baby Boomer generation in a significant way, so too will color associations change. Racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity are on the rise. Individual responses to reds, oranges, blues, and greens vary to some extent, especially when considered within a cultural context. Trends, branding, cultural background, and regional or geographic location all play a part in our reactions to particular colors.

The color red is highly valued in Chinese, Indian subcontinent, and some African cultures and is associated with luck, prosperity, purity, bravery, and protection. However, we see very little red in American senior living communities based on cultural associations with blood, mourning, and anger. As our aging population becomes more diverse, we are beginning to see gradually more use of bolder colors to reflect varied cultural traditions and their influence on spatial design.

BEFORE: Living/Dining Room at Aldersley

AFTER: The Living/Dining Room at Aldersley Retirement Community: Rosenborg in San Rafael, California, was transformed through the use of brighter white on the ceiling that reflects incoming daylight and maintains the integrity of the color, a soft earth tone wall paint that warms up the light, and dark wood tones that provide contrast and visual cues for those with vision conditions.

A Focus on Color in Memory Care Environments

The same guiding principles that we use to shape color and material selections for a community apply in memory care environments, but here they are even more critical to resident comfort, sense of security, and safety. For residents with vision, the eyes are the primary ways of taking in information. The dementia-affected brain will process that information differently and therefore needs to be considered when making material selections, particularly regarding color.

Contrast

The most critical design consideration for memory care environments is a clear and stark contrast between light and dark colors. This helps residents distinguish between objects to prevent bumping into obstacles or help in finding furniture and other objects. Within a memory care environment, we will develop a palette of materials that includes dark wood toned furniture on lighter flooring, or vice versa, with accent walls and wallcoverings providing an additional contrast on the walls.

Depth Perception

Memory care residents may also struggle with depth perception. In addition to contrast in colors, we will select flooring materials that are more muted in tone with a pattern that subtly implies direction and movement. In furnishing we keep surfaces clear and prioritize simplicity with accent colors such as bright oranges and blues providing ways to orient within a space.

Color Associations

With dementia, a person’s learned biases and associations can become more prominent as short-term memory becomes less reliable. In America, the use of bright reds, oranges, and yellows can cause anxiety and agitation in memory care residents and are used sparingly, if at all.

Behavior

In memory care environments, the need to encourage particular behaviors directly affects the design of space, including color selection. Creating a more stimulating environment in art and dining spaces will inspire a slightly bolder set of colors but must be used sparingly and selected carefully as not to create feelings of anxiety or agitation. Quiet rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms often employ more muted tones and “calm” colors such as blues and greens.

“For aging eyes, we talk a lot about contrast, especially in memory care. If we decide to

go with lighter flooring material, the upholstery on the chair sitting on that floor will most likely have a darker hue. This will create that contrast between what people see on the floor, versus the furniture. This is especially important with our table and chair selections. What material finishes we ultimately select for those pieces are foundational when it comes to the color tones we promote in the space. They often set the direction for the whole room and the intentionality of the design.”

—Leah

Johnson, interior designer

At Abe’s Garden: Alzheimer’s and Memory Care Center of Excellence, teal accent walls find a calming balance of blue-green tones while providing orientation and wayfinding within the residential environment’s common spaces.

The kitchen and dining area at Abe’s Garden is accented in yellow, a color that can stimulate the appetite and encourage residents who may lose interest in food or forget to eat find a healthy balance at mealtimes.

Cross Keys Village

DEVELOPING MEANINGFUL PLACES THROUGH STORYTELLING

Cross Keys Village, nestled in Pennsylvania’s rolling hills, is undergoing a transformative redevelopment project centered on rejuvenating the campus with modern residences, cuttingedge healthcare, enhanced wellness, and sustainability, all while preserving the natural surroundings.

A new three-story structure will house 96 apartments licensed for personal care. This new series of spaces provided the opportunity to better connect residents to the “village life” model that embodies the Cross Keys ethos. The goal was to create a community within the community at the personal care building, to layer in wellness and provide a variety of characters that each contributed to the story of Cross Keys.

Our interior designers and architects explored this concept by creating room palettes that often toned down color and focused on connecting to the outdoors. Color became less about wayfinding and more about underscoring the story of a space and its relationship to the room’s program and a particular interpretation of wellness. Intellectual, emotional, and social wellness manifest throughout the building in art and gardening rooms, a salon, a clinic, physical therapy facilities, fitness areas, and a versatile gathering and worship space. Each of these spaces has a distinctive character that tells a piece of the story, with a cohesive attitude towards color that provides a sophisticated, elevated experience.

A Dining Room that Invites the Outdoors In

The personal care building includes three dining rooms, one for each residential floor. This dining room illustrates a modern take on “country,” the space relating back to the Pennsylvania countryside without becoming kitschy. It is a twist on a more traditional design but with a pop of color. The use of soft undertones of green and blue throughout this space provide a sense of stability. Soft blue-green wall paint radiates the calmness of blue, the balance of green, and the vitality of yellow, each of those colors showing up in the wallcovering in varying tones and hues that compliment the overall concept.

An

Extension of the Outdoors at the Front Door

The lobby palette below is paired with the custom mural to the right. The lobby is open with a pitched roof wood-paneled ceiling creating a grand welcome that seamlessly draws the visitor in from the outdoors. This destination space contains a soft stone fireplace, comfortable seating, and a grand piano. Earth tones enhance the connection to nature and an overall lodge concept. Natural woods, stone, hues of green, and organic textiles, create cohesion while celebrating the outdoors through the stunning views.

LOBBY

SNACKS

VILLAGE TOPOGRAPHY

MODERN LODGE

AMPLE LIGHTING

A Salon That Elevates

The salon design welcomes all residents. Its sophisticated palette of colors and materials evoke a grandiosity of style while remaining grounded. The gender-neutral colors invite all residents to participate in the variety of services offered. The dark green accent wall on tambour wood adds both a depth of color and texture to the backdrop. Patterned wallcovering in the restroom in neutral tones, complementary decorative tile at the salon stations, and gold accents in the door hardware and light fixtures round out the sumptuous palette and allow the tambour wall to pop. The deep-rooted hue of dark green, inspired by nature, invites visitors to feel balanced and grounded. Darker shades of green are known to encourage new beginnings.

ORGANIC AND RICH

GENDER-NEUTRAL

A Game Room with Energy

The game room was designed to be fun, vibrant and have notes of mountain-getaway lodge. The carpet is a distinguishing factor in the design and allows for an element of transition from traditional to more modern with a slightly retro vibe. The selections are playful and inviting for all users to feel welcome and inspire a sense of joy and social wellness. The variety of colors underscores that playful undertone, keeping them all on the light and bright spectrum. The balance of warm to cool colors allows for a vibrancy associated with this type of activity room, channeling the energy of playfulness and enjoyment.

2Life Opus | Newton

COMBINING REGIONAL CONTEXT WITH BRAND IDENTITY

Color and the ways it can resonate are not just contained to interior spaces. Building exteriors and the materials used can have an impact on the user experience. At the 2Life Opus campus in Newton, MA, our architectural team found inspiration in the seasonal fall foliage of the forest surrounding the site, as well as the existing Coleman House apartment building colocated here.

The new apartment building sits across a courtyard from Coleman House, a multi-story brick structure. Playing off of the brick, we used a variety of red and yellow fiber-cement panels running vertically to play off of the neighboring building’s horizontality and blend with the varying tones in the brick without matching. A solid brown siding grounds the rest of the color palette and ties the three colors together.

The window frames on the new building are dark gray, and we ended up replacing all of the windows and window frames on Coleman House to match.

The dark gray brings a more modern feel to the buildings and blends more naturally with the brick, red, and brown tones.

Nestled between the two buildings, the Connector provides some visual relief from the large colorful masses. The dark gray and brown siding colors relate to each building without competing with them. Large expanses of glass at the Connector front door invite visitors and guests to have a preview of the interior space where the Opus story continues with a different translation of this rich, colorful palette.

At the front entrance, the facade of the new Opus apartment building provides a colorful backdrop to the arrival experience. The variety of tones within the large color blocks provide visual relief from the large masses and recall the foliage of leaves on the trees in autumn.

Color Tells the Story

Inside the Connector, the 2Life and Opus brands are everywhere on display, yet the brand logos are nowhere to be found. Working with the client team, our interior designers developed deep, rich palettes for these gathering spaces that iterate on the blues of the client’s brand, a connection to their Jewish heritage, and translate that color into an anchor for the spaces. A deep navy blue slides behind the lighter wood wallcoverings, inching up and across the ceiling so that the entire space is enveloped without feeling oppressed. Lighter wood and fabric tones balance the blue with pops of light green coming from natural plant materials and views to the outdoors. Ochre and golden tones in various hues balance the deep blue, reflecting 2Life and its commitment to boldness, vibrancy, and warmth.

COLOR STORY COLOR STORY

GATHER SPACE 1| LEVEL A CONNECTOR

GATHER SPACE 2 | LEVEL A CONNECTOR

GATHER SPACE 3 | LEVEL A CONNECTOR

Holistic Gathering

The primary spaces in the Connector are Gather 1, 2, and 3, a series of connected but distinct lounge, dining, and living rooms that flow into one another. These three palettes illustrate how the spaces are defined and distinguished by their finishes and furnishings, but are held together through a singular color palette.

Color is but one component of design, but it’s a critical one.

Our emotional connections to different colors can have a profound effect on our behaviors in various spaces. This is particularly important when living in community with others and social, emotional, physiological, and spiritual wellness may become more present than ever before. Particularly for those suffering from dementia, contrast and depth within certain color ranges can positively impact a person’s mental health, or, if not chosen thoughtfully, have a deleterious effect. Relating the story of a community through color can underscore the mission and values of an organization and enhance the brand intent. While each room or space will have its own story to tell and set of emotional responses, each contributes to the larger narrative of what it means to live in community.

What does it feel like when you walk through your community’s front door? What do your customers experience? Do they feel embraced and welcomed?

We know that color plays a crucial role in an organization’s branding as it conveys emotions, strengthens experience, communicates values, and enhances recognition. For multi-campus organizations, brand should be recognizable no matter which community you visit. For example, consider Tiffany & Co.’s iconic “Tiffany Blue”—it’s instantly recognizable as luxury, elegance, romance and trust no matter which store you visit.

Our approach to executing a brand strategy specific to your organization includes: 1) space planning and programming; 2) first impressions; and 3) the quality level of furniture, fixtures, and furnishings. Decisions related to the desired tone and emotional experience are made with the organization’s leadership and the designers that ensure there is a cohesive, consistent, and familiar aesthetic throughout.

To learn more about our approach to interior design—whether you’re looking to renew, refresh, revitalize or build new—download our Refresh Toolkit and consider how you might evolve the resident, visitor, and staff experience in your community.

Discussion Starters

Has my organization infused our brand throughout our community? We want our brand to be consistent from one campus to another, but don’t want to look corporate or like McDonald’s. How do we achieve this?

Color is a great tool to start with by weaving in the color(s) of your brand into different materials, fabrics, wallcoverings, and furniture. Color can be a subtle tool for creating cohesive, consistent environments without plastering a logo on every wall.

How do we decide which colors to choose for specific spaces? With so many colors to choose from, where do we start? Do all of our activity rooms need to be bright, bold colors?

Choices start with the narrative of the space. What programs are happening in this space and what emotional reaction do you want a person to have when they walk into that space? The answer may start with a particular color that can be an emotional trigger but will lead to a fuller palette that creates the full picture.

If the same color principles apply to senior care environments, particularly to memory support, how do we prevent looking like everyone else?

Color is just one piece of the equation. Lighting, texture, room organization, and artwork all play a role in creating unique spaces. Though many communities will start from the same set of questions, the answers will lead to numerous distinctive answers.

How do we prevent being too trendy with our color selection?

Aligning with particular architectural and interior design movements is an important part of responding to market demands and consumer interests. The key is to blend a color trend such as jewel tones with your brand colors and classic earth tone or black and white palettes. Pops of color in furniture, accessories, and wall paint are relatively easily traded out once trends have moved on.

How can a Color Assessment help to identify change that might make our community more appealing and joyful?

A Color Assessment will take a holistic look at each room in the community (or select rooms, if you prefer) to identify where your brand is being successfully communicated through color, texture, light, and overall design, and where there may be opportunities to intervene with a more comprehensive and coordinated expression of a palette of colors throughout the spaces to tell the story of your community.

Authors

Leah Johnson

Interior Designer

Pittsburgh +1 412 894 8330

l.johnson@perkinseastman.com

Emily Pierson-Brown AIA

Associate Principal

Pittsburgh +1 412 894 8323

e.pierson@perkinseastman.com

Resources

Color | Bauhaus (getty.edu)

2024 Color Trends for Senior Living & How to Use Them | Direct Supply Color Psychology: Does It Affect How You Feel? (verywellmind.com)

A guide to color meaning | Adobe

Color Theory - Understanding the 7 fundamentals of color (99designs.com)

Senior Living Color Palette (ppgpaints.com)

Psychological Effects of Color for Seniors | Wentworth Senior Living Blog

How Specific Colours Affect Your Loved One With Dementia | Rittenhouse Village (rittenhousevillages.com) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/26/style/what-is-brat-green.html https://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year/2024

https://www.fastcompany.com/90992590/pantones-2024-color-of-the-year-is-everything-2023-was-not https://www.dezeen.com/2023/12/14/pantone-peach-fuzz-colour-of-the-year-michelle-ogundehin-opinion/ https://www.dailydot.com/irl/pantone-peach-fuzz/https://www.directsupply.com/blog/color-trends-for-senior-living/ https://www.directsupply.com/blog/color-trends-for-senior-living/

https://www.directsupply.com/blog/7-tips-for-creating-standout-memory-care-spaces/ https://wentworthseniorliving.org/blog/how-color-helps-seniors/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_theory

https://fortune.com/2023/07/21/what-is-barbie-pink-history-of-color-fashion-mattel-trademark/

Image Credits

Page 20: top © Perkins Eastman; Boston © George Kuznetsov / Adobe Stock; Sailboat © Clinton / Adobe Stock; Chickadee © Aline / Adobe Stock; Branch © Irina / Adobe Stock; Rocks © Artem Zakharov / Adobe Stock; Lighthouse © dmsphoto / Adobe Stock

PRODUCT IMAGES ON PAGES 14, 15, 16, 17, AND 21 COURTESY OF MANUFACTURERS

THE MOOD BOARDS PRESENTED ARE SOLELY FOR INSPIRATIONAL PURPOSES AND SHOWCASE A COLLECTION OF DESIGN ELEMENTS GATHERED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED. COPYRIGHT BELONGS TO THE ORIGINAL CREATORS OF THE FEATURED IMAGES.

+1 203 251 7435 a.giraldo@perkinseastman.com

+1 412 894 8366

e.chmielewski@perkinse astman.com