COLOUR IN ARCHITECTURE
CERTIFICATE
It is certified that the work contained in this B.Arch dissertation entitled “COLOUR IN ARCHITECTURE”, by “ISHITA PANJA”, for the award of BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE from APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, has been carried out under my supervision at ITM School of Architecture & Town Planning, N.H.-24, Bakshi Ka Talab, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and that this work has not been submitted elsewhere for a degree.
(Signature) AR. SUNIL KUMAR SRIVASTAVA (Guide)
Date:
Department Of Architecture ITM SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & TOWN PLANNING, N.H.-24, BAKSHI KA TALAB, LUCKNOW, UTTAR PRADESH
I hereby recommend that the project under my supervision by ISHITA PANJA titled “COLOUR IN ARCHITECTURE” be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Architecture.
Ar. VIKRAM SINGH (HEAD OF DEPARTMENT)
Ar. SUNIL KUMAR SRIVASTAVA (DIRECTOR)
Ar. SUNIL KUMAR SRIVASTAVA (GUIDE)
(EXTERNAL EXAMINER)
(EXTERNAL EXAMINER)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The journey which started 4 months ago does not end here As I shall complete this study as the part of my interest after the submission. There are quite a few people who helped me to reach my lead me towards my goal, which is, this research paper. The first and foremost gratitude towards almighty GOD for his blessings. Who bestowed upon me the courage , patience and strength to embark this work and carried it to its completion.
It is a good fortune and a matter of pride and privilege for me to have the esteemed supervision of Ar. Sunil Kumar Srivastava as my guide, who has inculcated in me the interest and inspiration to undertake the dissertation of �COLOUR IN ARCHITECTURE�. I would also like to thank Ar. Vikram Singh (Head of Department) and Ar. Shalini Diwaker (Asst. prof.) for their encouragement, worthwhile suggestions and constructive criticism throughout project work. - ISHITA PANJA
LIST OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
I
LIST OF TABLES
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CHAPTER 1
WHY COLOUR?
1
CHAPTER 2
TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH COLOUR
3
• • • •
CHAPTER 3
THEORIES ON COLOUR • • • • • •
CHAPTER 4
Creating colour schemes Qualities of colour How the eye sees colour Colour systems
13
Newton Philipp Otto Runge (1807) Goethe colour theory (1810) Munsell colour theory (1905) Oswald’s colour harmony (1916) Itten’s theory
AFFECT OF COLOUR ON PSYCHOLOGY
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• Cultural Aspects • Skin colouration induced stimuli • Symbolism of colours in Hinduism
CHAPTER 5
CHROMOTHERAPY
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• Wright Theory
CHAPTER 6
HISTORY OF COLOUR IN ARCHITECTURE
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CHAPTER 7
COLOUR IN BUILT SPACES
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a) b) c) d)
Colour and texture Colour and Light Colour application techniques Colour as Idea: The Conceptual Basis for Using Colour in Architecture and Urban Design
CHAPTER 8
SIGNIFICANCE OF COLOUR IN DESIGN
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CHAPTER 9
ASSOCIATION OF COLOUR WITH BUILT SPACES
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a) Literature review - Cardiac unit of Shands Hospital, Florida - Childcare centre in Denmark by CEBRA - Older people and aged care home, CEBRA - Role of colour in urban design b) Interface between colour and human response
CHAPTER 10
CONCLUSION
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REFERENCE
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 1
Primary colours: Red, Yellow, blue
3
FIGURE 2
Secondary colours: Violet, Green, Orange
3
FIGURE 3
Tertiary colours: Red-Purple, Blue-Green, Red-Orange
3
FIGURE 4
Monochromatic range for the colour Blue
4
FIGURE 5
Colour wheel showing analogous colour scheme
4
FIGURE 6
Colour wheel showing complementary colour scheme
4
FIGURE 7
Colour wheel showing split complementary colour scheme
5
FIGURE 8
Colour wheel showing triadic colour scheme
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FIGURE 9
Colour wheel showing tetradic colour scheme
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FIGURE 10
Examples of Hue, Value and Saturation
6
FIGURE 11
Spectrum of colour showing shade and tints of a specific hue
6
FIGURE 12
Example showing expressions of light and dark
7
FIGURE 13
Warm colours and Cool Colours
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FIGURE 14
How our eye sees colour
8
FIGURE 15
(a) Parts of our eye, (b) Arrangement of rods and cones on the outer edge, (c) Types of cones
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FIGURE 16
(a) Wavelength range for each type of cone, (b) Combined wavelengths
9
FIGURE 17
Colour perception mechanism
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FIGURE 18
Colour spectrum for normal people and colour blind people
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FIGURE 19
(a) High contrast combination, (b) Moderate contrast combination, (c) Low contrast combination
10
FIGURE 20
To understand the role of Luminance channel in distinguishing three-dimensional objects (a) black and white version of this illustration of Yosemite, (b) yellow and blue version of illustration of Yosemite, (c) least comprehensive red and green version of this illustration of Yosemite
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FIGURE 21
(a) Primary colour for RGB system, (b)Colour wheel for RGB colour system
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FIGURE 22
Pixels as seen on a computer screen from close which looks absolutely packed from a distance.
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FIGURE 23
(a) Primary colour for CMY system, (b)Colour wheel for CMY colour system
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FIGURE 24
The CMYK colour system (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) used for printing
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Dissertation 2019-2020 FIGURE 25
White light passing through a prism split into seven
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FIGURE 26
Newton’s Colour Wheel
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FIGURE 27
Wavelengths of lights
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FIGURE 28
Colour temperature
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FIGURE 29
Colour wheel (as proposed by Runge)
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FIGURE 30
Goethe’s colour wheel constituting 6 colours
15
FIGURE 31
Munsell’s colour chart
16
FIGURE 32
Munsell’s colour system
16
FIGURE 33
Munsell’s colour sphere
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FIGURE 34
Ostwald’s colour solid sketch
17
FIGURE 35
Ostwald’s colour solid
17
FIGURE 36
Ostwald’s colour solid concept
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FIGURE 37
Ostwald’s colour solid section
17
FIGURE 38
Itten’s colour sphere
18
FIGURE 39
(a) The Contrast of Saturation, (b) The Contrast of Light and Dark, (c) The Contrast of Extension, (d) The Contrast of Complements, (e) Simultaneous Contrast, (f) The Contrast of Hue, (g) The Contrast of Primaries, (h) The Contrast of Warm and cool
18
FIGURE 40
Pantone colour guide
19
FIGURE 41
Timeline of Pantone Matching System
19
FIGURE 42
Sensory input in the Cerebral Cortex
21
FIGURE 43
Cross-over between Sensory pathways
21
FIGURE 44
Functions of various lobes of brain
21
FIGURE 45
The colour Experience Pyramid by Mahnke
22
FIGURE 46
Psychology of colour
27
FIGURE 47
The seven chakras and their meanings
30
FIGURE 48
The four personality types based on the Wright theory (a) Morning light, (b) Dream Light, (c) Fire Light, (d) Star Light
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FIGURE 49
Red hot air balloons rising up
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FIGURE 50
Clear blue sky
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FIGURE 51
Yellow sunflowers
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FIGURE 52
Nature
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Dissertation 2019-2020 FIGURE 53
Ancient Roman royal Toga
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FIGURE 54
Sunset
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FIGURE 55
Pink Roses
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FIGURE 56
Grey Sky
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FIGURE 57
A pair of black boots
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FIGURE 58
Snow covered land
35
FIGURE 59
Dirt Road, Mud House, barn
35
FIGURE 60
Morning light colour family
36
FIGURE 61
Morning light colour applications
36
FIGURE 62
Dream light colour family
37
FIGURE 63
Dream light colour applications
37
FIGURE 64
Fire light colour family
38
FIGURE 65
Fire light colour applications
38
FIGURE 66
Star light colour family
39
FIGURE 67
Star light colour applications
39
FIGURE 68
Jacques-Ignace Hittorff (1792–1867), the front page of the first edition of Restitution de Temple d’Empedocle a Selinonte (Paris, 1851) and the chromatic reconstruction of the Greek temple
40
FIGURE 69
Owen Jones (1809–1874), one of the plates from The Grammar of Ornament and a view of the Crystal Palace
41
FIGURE 70
Euge`ne-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879) and his chromatic reconstructionsof the interiors of an Egyptian house, a Roman palace, a Greek house, and a feudal castle
41
FIGURE 71
Le Corbusier: page on polychromy and coloured reproduction of the Pavilion of the New Times
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FIGURE 72
Walter Gropius (1883–1969) and the Bauhaus: the building in Dessau, a poster, and the divisions of the curricula, where colour studies occupy 1/7 part of the total
42
FIGURE 73
Bruno Taut (1880–1938) and some of his colourful houses.
43
FIGURE 74
Park Guell. Gaudi. Barcelona
44
FIGURE 75
colourful houses, as a part of a colourful urban fabric
44
FIGURE 76
St. Coletta School in Washington D.C., by Michael Graves
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FIGURE 77
Figural use of colour
48
FIGURE 78
Elemental use of colour
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Tectonic use of colour
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FIGURE 80
Monochromatic use of colour
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FIGURE 81
Salk Meeting House; plan and analytical diagrams showing an organizational strategy
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FIGURE 82
Salk Meeting House; colour dynamics in analytical diagrams
50
FIGURE 83
Defining structure and detail with colour contrast
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FIGURE 84
Colour used to deconstruct form
51
FIGURE 85
Light/dark contrast obscuring form
51
FIGURE 86
Bold red walls
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FIGURE 87
Stimulating pair of orange staircase
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FIGURE 88
Focal points on plain white exterior
53
FIGURE 89
Relaxing green mesh
53
FIGURE 90
Relaxing and celestial blue walls
54
FIGURE 91
Magical and elegant purple glasses
54
FIGURE 92
Delicate pink interior
54
FIGURE 93
Secure and reliable wooden structure
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FIGURE 94
Soothing white facade
55
FIGURE 95
Neutral grey walls
55
FIGURE 96
Powerful black exterior
55
FIGURE 97
Floor plan of the fifth-floor cardiac care unit at Shands Hospital.
57
FIGURE 98
A Diagram of colour selection of the existing experiment
57
FIGURE 99
Floor plan of Childcare centre
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FIGURE 100
Private room of patient
58
FIGURE 101
Corridor of main building
58
FIGURE 102
Existing landuse plan, Alambagh (Lucknow)
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FIGURE 103
Top Shopping Zones, as seen in Virgin City Guide for New York City
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FIGURE 104
Night Time Hot Spots, as seen in Virgin City Guide for New York City
60
FIGURE 105
The Old City of Jaipur- Red sandstone gives the city its identity
60
FIGURE 106
Old City of Jaisalmer-Yellow sandstone gives the city a sense of collective belonging
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Dissertation 2019-2020 FIGURE 107
Moroccan city Chefchaouen- The city is painted blue for the apparent theories of either keeping mosquitoes away or as a symbol of freedom from Hitler
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FIGURE 108
Too much of visual clutter
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FIGURE 109
Eased contrast and similar tonal value
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FIGURE 110
RIBA Offices, London, Theis + Khan (2015) & LEGO’s offices, Rosan Bosch & Rune Fjord (2010)
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FIGURE 111
Google’s Dublin office (2013) by Camenzind and Facebook Menlo Park (2014) by Gensler
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FIGURE 112
Moo’s London offices by Trifle Creative (2014) and Microsoft office by Perkins + Will (2014)
63
FIGURE 113
Chichu Art Museum (2004) in Naoshima And Church of the Light (1989) in Osaka
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FIGURE 114
Colour-coding in parking stations
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FIGURE 115
Polychromy makes the facade look smaller
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FIGURE 116
Public pool in NYC
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FIGURE 117
Spiegel Publishing House by Verner Panton
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FIGURE 118
Pixel by Studio 505 (Landmark building)
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LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1
Differences between the findings of Newton and Goethe
15
TABLE 2
Comparison of Meanings of Colour in Western European, Japanese, Brazilian and English Culture
23
TABLE 3
Modern American colour Associations
24
TABLE 4
Comparison of Meanings of Colour in Indian, Chinese, North American and Caribbean Culture
25
TABLE 5
Findings from Research on colour and psychological functioning.
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CHAPTER 1 Why COLOUR? AIM • The aim is to study the psychological affects of the colours in the field of architecture. Colours have many effects on the behaviour of humans since anyone visiting diverse range of colours, feels unique and different in his conscience. Architects try to reach that aim by using colours, because colours have immediate and long-term effects on human emotions psychologically and with regard to creating comfort. • To understand the importance of colour in humans life, and how it is related and important to many vital activities of the human being.
OBJECTIVE • To study and analyse the significance of colours with respect to various cultures. • To study the effect colours have on a person’s minds and their lives and all that they do. • To understand the effect of colour on a built space. SCOPE OF STUDY • • • • •
To understand how we perceive colour. To thoroughly study the colour theories. To compare colour theories of varied cultures. To understand the cognitive and behavioural responses based on existing papers. To understand the way colour can create or transform a certain environment.
LIMITATIONS • Study would be related to the available research papers and case studies. • Study will be based on primary & secondary sources of information and visual survey, which may have limitations regarding accuracy. • The focus of theoretical work in this area is either extremely specific or extremely general. • colour has three basic properties: hue, lightness, and chroma. Yet only hue is considered in most theorizing (most likely because it is the most salient colour property) • Theorizing to date has focused primarily on main effects, with only a bit of attention allocated to the low-key responses.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 METHODOLOGY • To read various research papers dealing with the concerned topic to provide in depth information on the topic. • To study and understand the theory of colours. • To understand the role of colour in architecture and the effect it has on its inhabitants. • To deduce inferences based on literature studies dealing with use of colour in architecture CONCLUSION
• Colour plays an important role in each individual’s life. Colour is considered as an integral element of our environment, not only represented in the living organisms of the natural environment but also in the man-made various environments. • This research paper intends to bring out a concoction of various cultures to enhance the experience of the inhabitant using a particular built space.
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CHAPTER 2 TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH COLOUR “Colour is the visual effect that is caused by the spectral composition of the light emitted, transmitted, or reflected by objects.“ Primary Colours The three primary colours are Red, Blue and Yellow and in theory the three colours can be mixed to make all the other colours and by mixing all three primary colours it produces Black.
PRIMARY COLOURS
FIGURE 1 – Primary colours: Red, Yellow, blue
Secondary Colours By mixing two of the primary colours you then create a secondary colour and there are three secondary colours which are Green (Blue and Yellow mixed), Purple which is (Blue and Red mixed) and Orange which is (Red and Yellow mixed)
SECONDARY COLOURS
FIGURE 2 – Secondary colours: Violet, Green, Orange
Tertiary Colours The third and final set of colours are known as tertiary colours and they are formed by mixing adjacent primary and secondary colours, these are Yellow/Green, Blue/Green, Blue/Purple, Red/Purple, Red/Orange, and finally Yellow/Orange.
TERTIARY COLOURS
FIGURE 3 – Tertiary colours: Red-Purple, Blue-Green, Red-Orange
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CREATING COLOUR SCHEMES Monochromatic • Simplest formula of harmony is Monochromatic this is because it actually only uses one hue (colour). To create a monochromatic colour palette all you need to do is to select a spot on the colour wheel and use saturation and value to create the colour variations.
FIGURE 4 – Monochromatic range for the colour Blue
Analogous • The analogous colour scheme uses the colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel as shown on the image below such as blues and greens and oranges and reds.
FIGURE 5 – Colour wheel showing analogous colour scheme
Complementary • A set of complementary colours are opposite to each other on the colour wheel but complement each other well such as blue and orange and the classic Christmas colours red and green.
FIGURE 6 – Colour wheel showing complementary colour scheme
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Split Complementary • Complementary colour palettes use colours that are on either side of the complement colour as shown in the below image. This gives the exact same level of contrast as the complementary colour palette but with more colours to work with giving you more colour results.
FIGURE 7 – Colour wheel showing split complementary colour scheme
Triadic • The triadic colour scheme uses the three colours that are equally spaced this forms a perfect triangle on the colour wheel. These combinations can be quite attractive and eyecatching, especially when you mix primary and secondary colours, be careful when using them in your designs.
FIGURE 8 – Colour wheel showing triadic colour scheme
Tetradic • The tetradic colour scheme forms a rectangle on the colour wheel using two complementary colour parings. This formula works extremely well if you let one colour dominate and the others act as an accent.
FIGURE 9 – Colour wheel showing tetradic colour scheme
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Dissertation 2019-2020 QUALITIES OF COLOUR 1. Hue: Hue is somewhat synonymous to what we usually refer to as "colours". Red, green, blue, yellow, and orange are a few examples of different hues. The different hues have different wavelengths in the spectrum. 2. Value: Intensity of tone. The value is a measurement of the brightness of a colour. The brighter a colour is, the higher is its value and the more light it emits. For instance, a vivid yellow is brighter than dark blue, therefore its value is higher than that of the blue.
3. Saturation (Chroma): Purity of the colour. Saturation can also be called a colour's intensity. It is a measurement of how different from pure grey the colour is. Saturation is not really a matter of light and dark, but rather how pale or strong the colour is. The perceived saturation of a colour is not constant, but it varies depending on the surroundings and what light the colour is seen in.
FIGURE 10 – Examples of Hue, Value and Saturation
Shades
Hue
4. Tint and Shade-These are terms to describe how a colour varies from its original hue. If white is added, the lighter version of the colour is called a tint of the colour. On the other hand, if black is added the, darker version of the colour is called a shade of the colour.
FIGURE 11 – Spectrum of colour showing shade and tints of a specific hue
5. Contrast- is a difference in lightness, brightness or hue o two colours that makes them more or less distinguishable.
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Variation of Contrast: 1) • • • • • • •
Hue Contrast Undiluted colours in their most intense luminosity. Extreme instance of contrast of hue: red/yellow/blue (effect: tonic, vigorous, and decided). The intensity of contrast of hue diminishes as the hue moves away from primaries, secondary colours are weaker in character, tertiary colours are still less distinct. When the single colours are separated by black or white lines, their individual characters emerge more sharply. White weakens the luminosity of adjacent hues and darkens them; black causes them to seem lighter. Significance: The interplay of primordial luminous forces; indigenous cosmic magnificence and concrete actuality. Contrast of hue found in folk art, embroidery, costume, and pottery testifies to primitive delight in colourful and decorative effects.
2) Value Contrast (brilliance, brightness & darkness, intensity of tone) • Strongest expressions of light and dark are white/black, and yellow/violet. • Tonal differences: Low key -- Intermediate -- High Key • Significance: sharpen one’s sensitivity to shading; develop the feeling for proportion; be aware of the relationship between positive & negative forms. • Equality of light or dark relates colours to each other.
FIGURE 12 – Example showing expressions of light and dark
3) Cold & Warm Contrast • Sensation of temperature related to the visual realm of colour sensation. • The two poles of cold-‐warm contrast: Red-‐orange is the warmest, and blue-‐green, or manganese oxide, is the coldest. • The hues intermediate between them in the colour circle may be either cold or warm according to their relationship with warmer or colder tones. • Cold: shadow, transparent, sedative, rare, airy, far, light, wet • Warm: sun, opaque, stimulant, dense, earthy, near, heavy, dry
FIGURE 13 – Warm colours and Cool Colours
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Dissertation 2019-2020 HOW THE EYE SEES COLOUR Colour originates in light. Sunlight, as we perceive it, is colourless. In reality, a rainbow is testimony to the fact that all the colours of the spectrum are present in white light. As illustrated in the diagram below, light goes from the source (the sun) to the object (the apple), and finally to the detector (the eye and brain).
FIGURE 14 – How our eye sees colour
1. All the "invisible" colours of sunlight shine on the apple. 2. The surface of a red apple absorbs all the coloured light rays, except for those corresponding to red, and reflects this colour to the human eye. 3. The eye receives the reflected red light and sends a message to the brain. Inside the Eye The light falling on the retina is received by Rods and Cones. These are the photoreceptors found in the eye. Rods have rod-like structure and are present on the outer edge of the retina (120 mn cells are present). These provide twilight vision. While cones are of the cone shape, concentrated in the fovea of retina and are fewer in number (6 mn) and provides the vision in the day or bright light.
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 15 – (a) Parts of our eye, (b) Arrangement of rods and cones on the outer edge, (c) Types of cones
The visual acuity of cone cells is higher than rod cells. The damage to cone cells cause legal blindness. Humans have three kinds of colour receptor cells - or “cones” - in their eyes. Each type of cone contains a different visual pigment. These three cone types are called "red", "green" and "blue." Therefore we are “trichromats” (tri = 3, chroma = colour). All hues can be produced by mixing red, green and blue light. This is how a colour television set works; a mixture of these three wavelengths of colour produces several million visible colours.) Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Current understanding is that the 6 to 7 million cones can be divided into "red" cones (64%), "green" cones (32%), and "blue" cones (2%) based on measured response curves. They provide the eye's colour sensitivity. The green and red cones are concentrated in the fovea centralis. The "blue" cones have the highest sensitivity and are mostly found outside the fovea, leading to some distinctions in the eye's blue perception. Different wavelengths of light excite different combinations of cones to varying levels, which generates our perception of colour.
FIGURE 16 – (a) Wavelength range for each type of cone, (b) Combined wavelengths
The outer layer of cone contains a violet pigment called iodopsin. There are three different types of iodopsin pigments that respond differently to the different wavelengths of lights (Red, Green and Blue). To see red or green, the brain finds the difference between the levels of excitement in your red and green cones. This is the red-green channel. To get “brightness,” the brain combines the excitement of the red and green cones. This creates the luminance, or black-white, channel. To see yellow or blue, the brain then finds the difference between this luminance signal and the excitement of the blue cones. This is the yellow-blue channel. Seeing yellow is what happens when BOTH the green AND red cones are highly excited near their peak sensitivity. This is the biggest collective excitement that your cones ever have, aside from seeing pure white. This is why yellow appears to be the brightest colour in the spectrum, making it a unique and useful colour. Yellow is also colourblind-safe. About 8 percent of males can’t distinguish between signals from red cones and green cones, which means that they don’t have the red-green channel. This makes it obvious that using purple/blue, and yellow/orange allows for colourblind-safe design.
Colour in Architecture
FIGURE 17 – Colour perception mechanism
NORMAL PEOPLE COLOURBLIND FIGURE 18 – Colour spectrum for normal people and colour blind people
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Dissertation 2019-2020 The goal of colour selection is to create elements—such as words or shapes—that are quickly and clearly distinguishable from the background and from surrounding elements. Because the yellow-blue channel is closely related to the luminance (“brightness”) channel, it provides nearly as much luminance contrast as black-white. Contrast is a good thing. Blue, when used with green or red provides moderate contrast. Because the red-green channel is used by the brain only for difference in colour, but not brightness, the contrast between red and green is less distinct. One might even feel a bit funny or cross-eyed when looking at the red-green boxes.
(b)
(a)
(c)
FIGURE 19 – (a) High contrast combination, (b) Moderate contrast combination, (c) Low contrast combination
The luminance channel is used to gather information about depth, shape, and shadows— necessary for seeing three-dimensional objects. For this reason, the black and white version of this illustration of Yosemite is a landscape with crests and valleys. The yellow-blue version is a bit less clear, but 3D perception is not entirely destroyed. However, no shape information comes from red-green, so this version appears not as a landscape, but a random pattern of colour information. The smaller an object, the more contrast required to distinguish it from the background and surrounding objects. Yellow and dark blue are a great place to start for high contrast
(a)
(b) FIGURE 20 – To understand the role of Luminance channel in distinguishing three-dimensional objects (a) black and white version of this illustration of Yosemite, (b) yellow and blue version of illustration of Yosemite, (c) least comprehensive red and green version of this illustration of Yosemite
(c)
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COLOUR SYSTEMS It's important to define the two different kinds of colour that we see in the world as the first step in understanding colour systems. First, there's the colour we can touch, such as the skin of an apple or a painted wall. These colours are part of the surface of an object. Next, there's the colour we can't touch, such as a beam of red light and the colours produced by the computer monitor. colours generated by light are part of one colour system. The tangible colours which are on the surface of objects or on the printed page are another colour system.
Additive colour System: Red - Green - Blue (RGB) Combining two pure additive primaries produces a subtractive primary. When combined, red and green light rays produce yellow, blue and green produce cyan, red and blue produce magenta. Red, green and blue mix to create white (light). Televisions, mobile phones, tabletsand computer monitors use the additive colour system because they are emissive devices. They start with darkness and add red, green, and blue light to create the spectrum of colours. The colour rendering methods used by these devices are based directly on our response to stimuli of red, green, and blue light. For example, a computer monitor blends varying intensities of red, green, and blue light at each of its tiny pixels. These pixels are so small and tightly packed that the eye’s RGB response is “fooled” into the perception of many different colours when really there are only three. Green and blue dots of light are creating the image. Where red and green overlap, you'll see yellow. This system applies only to devices employing light, such as computer monitors and television sets.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 21 – (a) Primary colour for RGB system, (b)Colour wheel for RGB colour system
Colour in Architecture
FIGURE 22 – Pixels as seen on a computer screen from close which looks absolutely packed from a distance.
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Subtractive colour System: Red - Yellow – Blue When we mix colours using paint, or through the printing process, we are using the subtractive colour method. Subtractive colour mixing means that one begins with white and ends with black; as one adds colour, the result gets darker and tends to black. When two subtractive primaries overlap, an additive primary is produced. Most artists recognize red, yellow and blue as the 3 basic primary colours. These primaries are the pure colours which can not be created by mixing any other colours. Secondary hues are the result of mixing any of the two primaries. Tertiary colours result from mixing the secondary hues. In subtractive colour printing, a fourth colour, black (K, which stands for key) is added to make four-colour printing (CMYK). If we only used cyan, magenta and yellow to make black, we would get a brownish colour due to impurities in those ink colours. The black ink helps neutralize images and graphics and adds density to the shadows.
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 23 – (a) Primary colour for CMY system, (b)Colour wheel for CMY colour system
FIGURE 24 – The CMYK colour system (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) used for printing
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CHAPTER 3 THEORIES ON COLOUR One needs to understand the emotions and intuition in strong moments expressed by colours. All great master colourists possessed a science of colour which helped them create masterpieces because colour is a strong means of communication. Personal expression with colour should be supported by adequate knowledge. colour theory is a term used to describe the collection of rules and guidelines regarding the use of colour in art and design, as developed since their early days. colour theory informs the design of colour schemes, aiming at aesthetic appeal and the effective communication of a design message on both the visual level and the psychological level. NEWTON (1704) Modern colour theory is heavily based on Isaac Newton’s colour wheel. The first colour wheel was designed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666. After Newton had used a prism to separate daylight and counted seven individual colours. He ascribed the acronym ROYGBIV to the colours, it appeared to him that, when considering colour-hue, this was a closed system. By taking the violet end of the spectrum and linking it to the red start-point, he created a convincing circle of colours.Newton split the rainbow into seven sections intentionally to mirror the seven notes of the musical scale.Newton also attempted to create a music-colour wheel. Each wedge is assigned a colour and the note preceding each wedge corresponds to the colour. The design of this wheel was entirely arbitrary.
FIGURE 25- White light passing through a prism split into seven
FIGURE 26- Newton’s Colour Wheel
The colour wheel consists of three primary colours (red, yellow, blue), three secondary colours (colours created when primary colours are mixed: green, orange, purple) and six tertiary colours (colours made from primary and secondary colours, such as blue-green or red-violet). Visible light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, with a frequency (wavelength) that determines its colour. The frequency of. light in the visible spectrum is between 390nm – 700nm (Refer Fig. 1). Each hue (colour) can be accurately defined by specifying its wavelength of frequency.
FIGURE 27- Wavelengths of lights
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Light generates the colour: colours are the children of light, and light is their mother. The light waves are not in themselves colour. Colour arises in the human eye and brain. Each spectral hue is the complement of the mixture of all the other spectral hues. A red painted surface will absorb all wavelengths of light except the colour red, red light is reflected, and our eyes detect the light which is registered by our brain as red. A white surface, however, is not selective: it reflects the full spectrum of wavelengths of any light falling on it equally. Colour Temperature: The colour temperature of a light source is the temperature of an ideal black-body radiator that radiates light of comparable hue to that of the light source. (refer Fig. 2)
FIGURE 28- Colour temperature
PHILIPP OTTO RUNGE (1807) In 1810 he published Farben-Kugel(ColourSphere), the last year of his young life, painter Philipp Otto Runge devised his colour Sphere, one of the first attempts to depict a comprehensive colour system in three dimensions. Runge was a correspondent of Goethe, who was also interested in colour theory. Runge complains “that artists have been abandoned by scientists because scientists ignored those effects of colour not explained merely by the refraction of the ray of light.” His colour system, once described in an encyclopedia as “a blend of scientificmathematical knowledge, mystical-magical combinations and symbolic interpretations”, represented the sum total of his endeavours. Symmetrical shape with six parallels and 12 meridians. Illustrates all fundamental relationships among colours, and between FIGURE 29- Colour wheel (as proposed by Runge) chromatic colours and black and white. The colour-sphere has the pure colours around the equator, starting with the three primary colours of red, yellow and blue. Three mixed colours take their place in each of the equal intermediate spaces between the primaries, while white and black form the sphere’s poles. Runge wished to capture the harmony of colours - not the proportions of mixtures. He wished to bring a sense order to the totality of all possible colours, and sought an ideal colour-solid. Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 GOETHE COLOUR THEORY (1810) Goethe, a German writer, politician and a painter, reformulated the topic of colour in an entirely new way. Newton had viewed colour as a physical problem, involving light striking objects and entering our eyes. Goethe realized that the sensations of colour reaching our brain are also shaped by our perception. Therefore, according to Goethe, what we see of an object depends upon the object, the lighting and our perception. Scientifically, Newton was right. But Goethe's theories were more art and philosophy than pure science. In a way, it was pigments, or colours in paint, that led to Goethe's colour experiments, so it's not surprising his ideas differed from those of Newton. Goethe created his version of a colour wheel and arranged the colours according to what he called their natural order. “When the eye sees a colour it is immediately excited and it is its nature, spontaneously and of necessity, at once to produce another, which with the original colour, comprehends the whole chromatic scale.” (Goethe, Theory of Colours-1810) "For Newton, only spectral colours could count as fundamental. By contrast, Goethe's more empirical approach led him to recognize the essential role of magenta in a complete colour circle, a role that it still has in all modern colour systems.“ (Ewald Hering on Theory FIGURE 30- Goethe’s colour wheel constituting 6 of Colours).. colours
Qualities of Light
Newton (1704)
Goethe (1810)
Homogeneity
White light is composed of coloured elements (heterogeneous).
Light is the simplest most undivided most homogenous thing (homogeneous).
Darkness
Darkness is the absence of light.
Darkness is polar to, and interacts with light.
Spectrum
Colours are fanned out of light according to their refrangibility (primary phenomenon).
Coloured edges which arise at light-dark borders overlap to form a spectrum (compound phenomenon).
Prism
The prism is immaterial to the existence of colour.
As a turbid medium, the prism plays a role in the arising of colour.
Role of refraction
Light becomes decomposed through refraction, inflection, and reflection.
Refraction, inflection, and reflection can exist without the appearance of colour.
Analysis
White light decomposes into a spectrum of all colours.
There are only two pure colours—blue and yellow; the rest are degrees of these. Citation: (Theory of Colours, Volume 3, Paragraph 208/209)
Synthesis
Just as white light can be decomposed, it can be put back together.1.2
Colours recombine to shades of grey.
Particle or wave?
Particle
Neither, since they are inferences and not observed with the senses.
Colour wheel
Asymmetric, 7 colours
Symmetric, 6 colours
TABLE 1: Differences between the findings of Newton and Goethe
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Dissertation 2019-2020 MUNSELL COLOUR THEORY (1905) The Munsell colour system is a colour system that specifies colours based on three colour dimensions, hue, value, and chroma (difference from gray at a given hue and lightness). Professor Albert H. Munsell, an artist, wanted to create a "rational way to describe colour" based on the principle of "perceived equidistance", and that would use decimal notation instead of colour names (which he felt were "foolish" and "misleading"). He first started work on the system in 1898 and published it in full form in colour Notation in 1905. The newer Munsell Book of colour continues to be used today. Munsell constructed his system around a circle with ten segments, arranging its colours at equal distances and selecting them in such a way that opposing pairs would result in an achromatic mixture. The system consists of an irregular cylinder with the value axis (light/dark) running up and down through it, as does the axis of the earth. Dark colours are at the bottom of the tree and light at the top, measured from 1 (dark) to 10 (light). Each horizontal "slice" of the cylinder across the axis is a hue circle, which he divided into five principal hues: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple, five intermediates, yellow-red, green-yellow, blue-green, purple-blue, and red-purple. Munsell hue is specified by selecting one of these ten hues, and then referring to the angle inside them from 1 to 10. Chroma is represented radially from the center of the colour model outward. ATLAS
Chart C
Colour Chart
ATLAS
Colour Chart
ATLAS
Chart 60
Chart R
Colour Chart
ATLAS
ATLAS
Chart 50
Colour Chart
ATLAS
Chart H
ATLAS
Chart Y
ATLAS
Chart G
Colour Chart
FIGURE 32- Munsell’s colour system
Colour Chart
Chart B
Colour Chart
Colour Chart
FIGURE 31- Munsell’s colour chart
Colour in Architecture
FIGURE 33- Munsell’s colour sphere
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Dissertation 2019-2020 OSTWALD’S COLOUR HARMONY (1916) Ostwald was a German chemist born in Latvia in 1853 who received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1909. Also a keen amateur painter, he combined his knowledge of chemistry to study pigments and the stability of painting materials. After a meeting with Albert H. Munsell and the Munsell’s ‘colour atlas’, Ostwald pursued colour theory and was inspired to develop his own colour classification system which he compiled in his Die Farbenfibel (The Colour Primer) in 1916/17. According to Ostwald there were three groups or classes of colours. The first group consisted of neutral colours; those which do not contain colour and are made only from black and white. The second group are pure ‘full colours’, and which contain no black or white. The third group contain mixed colours, combinations of colours with black and/or white. The Ostwald system creates a colour space based on dominant wavelength, purity, and luminance, mapping the values of hue, saturation and brightness.
FIGURE 34- Ostwald’s colour solid sketch
FIGURE 35- Ostwald’s colour solid
Ostwald identified that all of these groups had at their core four basic hues: yellow, red, blue and sea green. Four further hues - when placed in between the core hues - created orange (between yellow and red), purple (between red and blue), turquoise (between blue and sea green), and leaf green (between sea green and yellow). Finally, two further hues between these colours, created a circle of 24 evenly spaced colours. Ostwald recommended a systematic arrangement of colours and a standardization of colours used. Ostwald believed colours should only be used and selected from a finite collection. He acknowledged that his system left out some intermediate colours between the ones he selected, but he did not work to include them in his colour space.
FIGURE 36- Ostwald’s colour solid concept
Colour in Architecture
FIGURE 37- Ostwald’s colour solid section
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Dissertation 2019-2020 ITTEN’S THEORY Johannes Itten, a Swiss-born abstract painter taught using a colour sphere of the 12 hues, and he developed ideas about seven different methods of colour contrast. The influence of psychoanalysis is apparent in Itten’s colour theory, as he was one of the first to associate different colours with specific emotions and study the impact of colour on our moods. Itten taught that there were seven different methods of contrast: contrast of saturation, of light and dark, of extension, complementary contrast, simultaneous contrast, contrast of hue, and contrast between warm and cool colours.
FIGURE 38- Itten’s colour sphere
1. The contrast of saturation - The contrast is formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values and their relative saturation. 2. The contrast of light and dark - The contrast is formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values. This could be a monochromatic composition. 3. The contrast of extension - Also known as the contrast of proportion. The contrast is formed by assigning proportional field sizes in relation to the visual weight of a colour. 4. The contrast of complements - The contrast is formed by the juxtaposition of colour wheel or perceptual opposites. 5. Simultaneous contrast - The contrast is formed when the boundaries between colours perceptually vibrate. Some interesting illusions are accomplished with this contrast. 6. The contrast of hue - The contrast is formed by the juxtaposition of different hues. The greater the distance between hues on a colour wheel, the greater the contrast. 7. The contrast of hue – primaries - The contrast is formed by the juxtaposition of primary hues. 8. The contrast of warm and cool - The contrast is formed by the juxtaposition of hues considered 'warm' or 'cool’.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
FIGURE 39- (a) The Contrast of Saturation, (b) The Contrast of Light and Dark, (c) The Contrast of Extension, (d) The Contrast of Complements, (e) Simultaneous Contrast, (f) The Contrast of Hue, (g) The Contrast of Primaries, (h) The Contrast of Warm and cool
(f)
Colour in Architecture
(g)
(h)
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Dissertation 2019-2020 PANTONE SYSTEM In 1963, Pantone revolutionized the printing industry with the colourful PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM (PMS), a proprietary colour space used in a variety of industries notably graphic design, fashion design, product design, printing and manufacturing and supporting the management of colour from design to production, in physical and digital formats, among coated and uncoated materials, cotton, polyester, nylon and plastics. The Pantone colour Matching System is largely a standardized colour reproduction system. By standardizing the colours, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colours match without direct contact with one another. The tool organizes colour standards through a proprietary numbering system and chip format, which have since become iconic to the Pantone brand. The Pantone colour Institute™ is a consulting service within Pantone that forecasts global colour trends and advises companies on colour in brand identity and product development, for the application and integration of colour as a strategic asset. FIGURE 40- Pantone colour guide
FIGURE 41- Timeline of Pantone Matching System
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CHAPTER 4 AFFECT OF COLOUR ON PSYCHOLOGY Colour has fascinated scholars for millennia. Theorizing on colour and psychological functioning has been present since Goethe (1810) penned his Theory of colours, in which he linked colour categories (e.g. the “plus” colours of yellow, red–yellow, yellow–red) to emotional responding (e.g., warmth, excitement). Goldstein (1942) expanded on Goethe’s intuitions, positing that certain colours (e.g., red, yellow) produce systematic physiological reactions manifest in emotional experience (e.g., negative arousal), cognitive orientation (e.g., outward focus), and overt action (e.g., forceful behaviour). Subsequent theorizing derived from Goldstein’s ideas has focused on wavelength, positing that longer wavelength colours feel arousing or warm, whereas shorter wavelength colours feel relaxing or cool (Nakashian,1964; Crowley, 1993). Other conceptual statements about colour and psychological functioning have focused on general associations that people have to colours and their corresponding influence on downstream affect, cognition, and behaviour (e.g., black is associated with aggression and elicits aggressive behaviour. Colours are a dominating force in every aspect of human life; so much so that we today cannot imagine a world without colours. Colour coordination has become the buzzword in all kinds of professional fields let alone human lives fashion technology, interior designing, publishing, (both traditional and net based) and in a host of other domain. “Colours are the mother tongue of the subconscious,” commented the founding father of psychology, Carl Jung (1875-1961). “Colours represent an insidious kind of communication. Carefully chosen, they can help get a message across that would otherwise be difficult to express-and perhaps appear less credible in words alone” (Fraser and Banks, 2004). It has been shown that on a biological level, colours tend to affect the mechanisms of the human eye. Muscles either relax or tense up; pupils expand or contract when exposed to different colours. The physical effects are considered by authorities to be the result of photochemical action on the glandular system. On a psychological level, colours tend to reinforce and enhance (or negate) the message being delivered. The overall colour design tends to either create a pleasant visual harmony, which appeals to the aesthetic senses, or it ends up creating a cluttered chaotic experience, which generates negative feelings. For example - with respect to sight, taste and smell - seeing a colour may evoke any number of other sensations. Green may be evocative of the smell of grass, lemon yellow may evoke a sour taste. This is best understood by the fact that each sense has a pathway to the brain. These paths are parallel to each other. However, in some situations, a cross over from one pathway to the other occurs. Seeing the colour yellow-green may evoke taste sensations of sourness; pink may evoke sweetness. Seeing the colour grey may evoke olefactory (smell) sensations of smokiness. It has been known for long that colour and visual patterns affect the cortex (It is the superficial or the uppermost layer of the brain) along with the Central Nervous System (the Brain and the Colour in Architecture
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FIGURE 42- Sensory input in the Cerebral Cortex
FIGURE 43 – Cross-over between Sensory pathways
Backbone constitute the CNS). In addition, it has been found that when colour is transmitted through the human eye, the brain releases certain hormones, which affects our moods, mental clarity and energy levels. Anatomy of brain1)CEREBRUM • Frontal lobe • Temporal lobe • Parietal lobe • Occipital lobe 2) CEREBELLUM 3)MEDULLA (brain stem)
FIGURE 44: Functions of various lobes of brain
Some have identified gender as the underlying cause believing that women are more sensitive to the colour spectrum (Guilford and Smith, 1959) while other believe that the aging process is responsible for the change in preference of colour choice. They believe that younger people prefer brighter colour and as one matures, the colour choices turn more subdued (Biggs, 1956).
CULTURAL ASPECTS However colour are extremely sensitive to cultural aspects and the meaning or interpretation of colour does not remain static across cultures. Colour has been studied in many fields with different perspectives. It is not surprising that colours have cultural connotations and have been differently interpreted by different cultures. It is generally believed that perception regarding colours differ in various cultures. However it should be noted that the colour association may be completely individual (due to extremely personalized experiences) or they may be spread across a whole spectrum (because of political, religious and racial origins). The lack of available literature in this particular area forces us to rely on information available on the internet for drawing up the colour psychology for various countries. Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Colour, in Chinese culture are singularly linked with the Chinese elements of Wood, Fire, Earth Metal and Water with green, red, yellow, white and black being the respective representative colour of the associated elements. In the Indian culture – which similar to Chinese is a mix of varied culture – colours are associated with various religious aspects and also weather but are not so interlinked with life philosophy. Cultures as vast as India and China cannot have dichotomous colour connotation and it is obvious that there is a huge amount of local element in the colour psychology. For example, In the Chinese culture the mix of black and white is considered to be auspicious and balancing. Similarly combination of green and blue connotes the onset of spring and fertility. In the Indian context, the colour “saffron” or “ochre” has a peculiar connotation. Saffron represents the colour of fire which in turn is assumed to reflect the Supreme Being. The connotation being that as fire cannot be corrupted so a person who has renounced the world cannot be corrupted by worldly offerings. The saffron colour, also auspicious to the Sikhs, the Buddhists and the Jains, seems to have obtained religious significance much before these religions came into being. While Sikhs regard it as a militant colour, Buddhist monks and Hindu saints wear robes of this colour as a mark of renunciation of material life. The effects of colour, caused by psychological reactions, are due to symbolic references as well. colours represent some abstract ideas, as in the red and the colour of blood. While colour affects the psychology, vice versa, psychology affects the colour applications. Sharpe describes the Victorian Period as ‘a time of hypocrisy,’ which is most ‘depressing in terms of individual expression’. The principal colours of that period were murky shades of brown, red, lavender and purple. During the World War I, people chose to wear khaki, tans, greyish and olive greens (Sharpe, 1975). In the 1920s, caused by the emotional let-down after the war, European preferred beige, grey and medium Nordic blue.
Figure 45- The colour Experience Pyramid by Mahnke
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COMPARISONS BETWEEN MEANINGS OF COLOURS IN DIFFERENT CULTURES
Colour
Western European countries
Japan
Red
romance, optimism, vigour, strength, caution
self-sacrifice, strength, passion, blood
Yellow
increase visibility, indicate quality, hazards
sunshine, nature, warmth
Green
nature, confidence, inexperience, jealousy, fertility
Blue
sky, truth, emotion, serenity, reliability, responsibility, fidelity
Black
elegance, formality, mourning, death, evil
anger, non-being, mystery
White
purity, surrender peace, good, cleanliness, neutral, bleak, empty
Death, mourning
Grey
ambiguity, wisdom, smoke, concrete, fog
Brazil
England
vibrancy, visibility
authority, power, temper, government precautions,
environment , a national symbol of the rainforest
environment, quality, Vitality, Prosperity, Catholicism tranquillity, decorum, dignity
sophistication, religion, authority, and formality and is common in religious, formal, and widow’s clothing.
death, mourning, dignity
Peace, leisure
elegance, strength, sophistication, taste, traditions
Table 2: Comparison of Meanings of Colour in Western European, Japanese, Brazilian and English Culture
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Table 3: Modern American colour Associations
SKIN COLOURATION INDUCED STIMULI In humans in aggressive encounters, a testosterone surge produces visible reddening on the face and fear leads to pallor. Hill and Barton posited that the parallel between humans and non-humans present at the physiological level may extend to artificial stimuli, such that wearing red in sport contests may convey dominance and lead to a competitive advantage. noted that in many non-human animals, including primate species, dominance in aggressive encounters (i.e., superior physical condition) is signalled by the bright red of oxygenated blood visible on highly vascularized bare skin. Changizi contend that trichromatic vision evolved to enable primates, including humans, to detect subtle changes in blood flow beneath the skin that carry important information about the emotional state of the conspecific. Increased red can convey anger, embarrassment, or sexual arousal, whereas increased bluish or greenish tint can convey illness or poor physiological condition. Thus, visual sensitivity to these colour modulations facilitates various forms of social interaction. . Fink and Matts suggest that the homogeneity of skin colouration is an important factor in evaluating the age, attractiveness, and health of faces. The way colour is perceived is thought to influence its meaning and, accordingly, responses to it. Thus, blue on a ribbon is positive (indicating first place), but blue on a piece of meat is negative (indicating rotten). A red shirt may enhance the attractiveness of a potential mate (red = sex/romance), but not of a person evaluating one’s competence (red = failure/danger). Meier and Robinson have posited a conceptual metaphor theory of colour. From this perspective, people talk and think about abstract concepts in concrete terms grounded in perceptual experience (i.e., they use metaphors) to help them understand and navigate their social world. Thus, anger entails reddening of the face, so anger is metaphorically described as “seeing red,� and positive emotions and experiences are often depicted in terms of lightness. Colour in Architecture
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Colour
China
India
North-America
Caribbean countries
Red
Fervour, Happiness, Communism, Obituaries, Joy
Anger, Crime, Danger, Happiness, Marriage, Prosperity, Sensuality
Safety, Rescue, Excitement, Adultery, Spicy, And Hot
African roots, nature and animals
Yellow
Sacredness, Good Luck, Royalty, Neutrality, Heroism, Mourning
Warning, Royalty, Religion, Decadence, Happiness, Knowledge
happy mood , sunny day , precautions, represent cowardice
African roots, animals, culture
Green
Exorcism, Harmony, Health, Infidelity, Prosperity, Vitality, Enthusiasm, Fervour, Good Fortune
Fertility, Happiness, Harmony, Islam, Life, Peace
environment, masculinity, a desire to go outside, envy, healthy, freshness, inexperienced in work
lush vegetation,
Blue
Serenity, Prosperity, Nature, Immorality, Healing, Harmony
Truthfulness, Royalty, Divinity
business, a trustworthy person, a philosophy , soothing mood
water, animals, death, pirates
Black
Sublimity, Solemnity, Heaven, Harmony, Righteousness
Death, Evil Influences, Superstition, Negativity, Inertia
sin, evil, death, nothingness, formal, and sexy
White
Bad luck, Brightness, Fulfilment, Gold, Mourning, Stupidity
Widow, Purity, Peace, serenity, Mourning, light, rebirth, creation, reincarnation
clean, elegant, pure, sanitized environment
cleanliness, cool environment, authority
Table 4: Comparison of Meanings of Colour in Indian, Chinese, North American and Caribbean Culture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 (rather than darkness, so lightness is metaphorically linked to good (“seeing the light”) rather than bad (“in the dark”). These metaphoric associations are presumed to have implications for important outcomes such as morality judgments (e.g., white things are viewed as pure) and stereotyping (e.g., dark faces are viewed more negatively). For many years it has been known that light directly influences physiology and increases arousal but recently theorists have posited that such effects are wavelength dependent. Blue light, in particular, is posited to activate the melanopsin photoreceptor system which, in turn, activates the brain structures involved in sub-cortical arousal and higher-order attention processing.
The review of findings was restricted to those that have been supported by a minimum of five independent laboratories articles with supportive findings area listed first, followed by articles with non-supportive findings (indicated by cf.). Hill and Barton, 2005; Elliot et al., 2007; Stephen and McKeegan, 2010; Tanaka and Tokuno, 2011; Mehta and Zhu, 2009; Bruno et al., 2013;
TABLE 5: Findings from Research on colour and psychological functioning.
As such, exposure to blue light is expected to facilitate alertness and enhance performance on tasks requiring sustained attention. The aforementioned findings represent important contributions to the literature on colour and psychological functioning, and highlight the multidisciplinary nature of research in this area. Colour in Architecture
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FIGURE 46- Psychology of colour
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Dissertation 2019-2020 SYMBOLISM OF COLOURS IN HINDUISM Red It indicates both sensuality and purity. In Hindu religion, red is of utmost significance and the colour most frequently used for auspicious occasions like marriages, birth of a child, festivals, etc. A red mark is put on the forehead during ceremonies and important occasions. As a sign of marriage, women put red powder on the hair parting. They also wear a red sari during marriage. Red powder is usually thrown on statues of deities and phallic symbols during prayers. It is also the colour of Shakti (prowess). A red coloured dress is put on deities who are charitable, brave, protective, and who have the capacity to destroy evil. On the death of a woman, her body is wrapped in a red cloth for the cremation. Saffron It is the most sacred colour for the Hindu. Represents fire and as impurities are burnt by fire, this colour symbolizes purity. It also represents religious abstinence. This colour connotation has a sacred meaning for the Hindu. It is the colour of holy men and ascetics who have renounced the world. Wearing the colour symbolizes the quest for light. It is the battle colour of the Rajputs, the warrior caste. Blue The Creator has given the maximum of blue to nature (i.e.) the sky, the oceans, the rivers and the lakes. The deity who has the qualities of bravery, manliness, determination, the ability to deal with difficult situations, of stable mind and depth of character is represented as blue coloured. Lord Rama and Krishna spent their life protecting humanity and destroying evil, hence they are coloured blue. Green It is a festive colour. In Maharashtra, it represents life and happiness. For that reason, a widow does not wear green. Symbolizing peace and happiness, green stabilizes the mind. The colour is cool to the eyes and represents nature.
Yellow It is the colour of knowledge and learning. It symbolizes happiness, peace, meditation, competence and mental development. It is the colour of spring and activates the mind. Lord Vishnu’s dress is yellow symbolizing his representation of knowledge. Lord Krishna and Ganesha also wear yellow dresses. Yellow clothes are worn and yellow food is eaten at spring festivals. Single girls wear yellow to attract a mate and keep evil spirits away. White It is a mixture of seven different colours hence it symbolizes a little bit of the quality of each. It represents purity, cleanliness, peace and knowledge. The goddess of knowledge, Saraswati is always shown as wearing a white dress, sitting on a white lotus. The Brahmin - the highest social caste - is associated with white. Hindu religious leaders cover themselves with white ashes to represent their spiritual rebirth. White is also the colour of mourning. The other prominent deities would also have a touch of white on their dress. A Hindu widow would wear a white dress in mourning.
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CHAPTER 5 CHROMOTHERAPY Colour is a property of surfaces and illuminates in the external world: it is also a property of human perceptions. The former aligns to physics, the behaviour of light, and the reflectionabsorption properties of surfaces: the latter aligns to psychology, and the performance of the visual system. While Newton typified the former position with a focus upon decomposing light, Goethe typified the latter via his observations on perceptual phenomena. In the tradition of Newton, the Young-Helmholtz’s trichromatic theory determined that mixing three light sources—red, green, and blue (indigo)— achieved a full colour gamut. In the tradition of Goethe, Hering observed that two pairs of opposing hues—red/green and yellow/blue—have a unique psychological status. At the time, colour vision was seen as a retinal event. Only in the 1950s was it found to be a staged process in which retinal impulses (Young- Helmholtz) are reclassified at mid-brain centers, the lateral geniculate nuclei- LGN: the relay centre in the thalamus for the visual pathway (Hering), and then travel to the visual cortex where an enlarged set of receptors are present. As a concept in both mainstream psychology and the popular press, the very notion of colour psychology poses the question: why colour? Colour psychology has been extended into hidden territories whereby personality can be learned from it, good health can be enjoyed from it (chromotherapy), and future trends can be discerned within it (colour forecasting agencieslike the colour of the year 2020 is Classic Blue as declared by Pantone). Originating in an amalgam of new scientific discoveries and spiritual belief coexisting at that time, colour therapy (chromotherapy), a unique dimension of colour lawfulness surfaced during the 19th century. This occurred in an era which also saw the dawn of electricity therapy (electrotherapy or electromagnetic therapy) and magnet therapy (magnotherapy)—all with potentially curative powers that remain today as alternative therapies. The masterwork of this period is undoubtedly Edwin Babbitt’s The Principles of Light and Colour. Published in 1878, it describes in considerable detail not only which colours alleviate specific illnesses in humans, but also the colours that will generate health in plants. It can very well be described as a combination of pseudo-science and spiritualism: it characterises an age in which science and the spiritualism intertwine. General Augustus Pleasonton, who conducted numerous studies of colour and published them in 1876, in his book, The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue colour of the Sky, in Developing Animal and Vegetable Life; in Arresting Disease and in Restoring Health in Acute and Chronic Disorders to Human and Domestic Animals, immediately preceded the publication of Babbitt’s book in 1878 and thus could legitimately be credited as the originator of chromotherapy. Baron Karl von Reichenbach (chemist, metallurgist and member of the prestigious Prussian Academy of Sciences) came to believe that all materials exhibit an electromagnetic life force which he termed the “odic force.” It may be an oversimplification to see the odic force as the sole originator of modern conceptions of the “aura,” in part because the concept had already existed in Asian religions for centuries, e.g., the Vedantic notion of the physical body, psychospiritual “subtle body” and causal body being composed of five kosas, or sheaths.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Colour is simply light of different wavelengths. Each colour has its own specific wavelength and vibration. These wavelengths resonate with energies in different areas of the body. By using the seven colours of the light spectrum, Colour Therapy aims to balance and enhance our body's energy centres/chakras, which can help to stimulate our body's own healing process. Each of the seven main colours of the spectrum, resonates with one of the main seven chakras. Each of the spectrum colours is simply light of varying wavelengths, thus each colour has its own particular energy. The energy relating to each of these spectrum colours resonates with the energy of each of the seven main chakras of the body. The word chakra is sanskrit for wheel. The chakras are rather like the workings of a clock or an engine; each cog /wheel needs to move smoothly and at a similar speed for the clock/engine to work properly. Thus good health and well being is achieved by a balance of all these energies (or the smooth running of the cogs/wheels).Colour therapy can help to re-balance these 'wheels' by applying the appropriate colour to the body and therefore re-balance our chakras. Listed below is each of the spectrum colours and the chakra which it relates to. Violet has the shortest wavelength and red the longest wavelength. We absorb colour energy through the eyes, the skin and the electro magnetic field or aura. Colour can be used on the body in a number of different ways. Chemical reactions occur within the cells which facilitate the cells’ functions, i.e. growth, hormone release and the “normal� functioning of each cell. For example, day and night / light and dark trigger release of different hormones relating to our body clocks and if left to nature, we would sleep when it is dark and be active when day light comes. Artificial lighting in more modern times has confused this simple reaction somewhat.
FIGURE 47: The seven chakras and their meanings
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Dissertation 2019-2020 As with any therapy, each therapist may have his or her own 'style', however, a number of common methods used are: • The placing of colour silks on the body • The directing of coloured light on to the body. A light box is used to direct colour to the body using coloured filters. • Solarized Water • Meditation with colour. Colour and breathing On a wider level, the colours of our environment affect our behaviour and mood. When yellow daffodils, bluebells and colourful crocuses appear, we immediately begin to feel livelier; when grey skies and rain or snow surround us we instinctively draw in and tend to hibernate. Light influences the human circadian rhythm and changes in light-dark exposure can desynchronize the circadian cycle affecting the ability to sleep and wake, as well as impacting on physiological and metabolic processes. Furthermore, disruptions to the circadian rhythm may result in changes in mood and behavior as evidenced by studies that focus on seasonal affective disorder. Light has also been found to have an effect on the human neuroendocrine system and may also suppress melatonin and elevate cortisol production, both of which may have negative impacts. Blue light may improve cognitive performance; different coloured lenses may assist with reading difficulties such as dyslexia; and the human circadian system may be particularly sensitive to short wavelength light.
THE WRIGHT THEORY This theory puts forward the idea that humanity too can be divided into four psychological groups that correspond to the four colour groups. People in these groups share certain psychological and physical characteristics. Possibly because of these shared psychological characteristics, they also share aesthetic responses to colour. This is important when it comes to answering the question of whether there are universally attractive colours. This theory suggests that there are not, but that all colours from a colour group will be attractive to all members of its corresponding psychological group.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
FIGURE 48 – The four personality types based on the Wright theory (a) Morning light, (b) Dream Light, (c) Fire Light, (d) Star Light
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Dissertation 2019-2020 This means that once a person’s group is established, their colour preferences can be predicted. Therefore the principal tenets of this theory are as follows: • Each hue affects distinct psychological modes • The psychological effects of colour are universal. • Every shade, tone or tint can be classified into one of four colour groups. • Every colour will harmonise with every other colour in the same group. • All humanity can be classified into one of four personality types. • Each personality type has a natural affinity with one colour group. • Response to colour schemes is influenced by personality type. There are four psychological primary colours - red, blue, yellow and green. They relate respectively to the body, the mind, the emotions and the essential balance between these three. The psychological properties of the eleven basic colours are as followsRED-Physical Positive: Physical courage, strength, warmth, energy, basic survival, 'fight or flight', stimulation, masculinity, excitement. Negative: Defiance, aggression, visual impact, strain.
FIGURE 49 – Red hot air balloons rising up
Being the longest wavelength, red is a powerful colour. Although not technically the most visible, it has the property of appearing to be nearer than it is and therefore it grabs our attention first. Hence its effectiveness in traffic lights the world over. Its effect is physical; it stimulates us and raises the pulse rate, giving the impression that time is passing faster than it is. It relates to the masculine principle and can activate the "fight or flight" instinct. Red is strong, and very basic. Pure red is the simplest colour, with no subtlety. It is stimulating and lively, very friendly. At the same time, it can be perceived as demanding and aggressive.
BLUE- Intellectual. Positive: Intelligence, communication, trust, efficiency, serenity, duty, logic, coolness, reflection, calm. Negative: Coldness, aloofness, lack of emotion, unfriendliness.
FIGURE 50 – Clear blue sky
Blue is the colour of the mind and is essentially soothing; it affects us mentally, rather than the physical reaction we have to red. Strong blues will stimulate clear thought and lighter, soft blues will calm the mind and aid concentration. Consequently it is serene and mentally calming. It is the colour of clear communication. Blue objects do not appear to be as close to us as red ones. Time and again in research, blue is the world's favourite colour. However, it can be perceived as cold, unemotional and unfriendly.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 YELLOW- Emotional Positive: Optimism, confidence, extraversion, emotional strength, creativity. Negative: Irrationality, fear, depression, anxiety, suicide.
self-esteem, friendliness,
emotional
fragility,
FIGURE 51 – Yellow sunflowers
The yellow wavelength is relatively long and essentially stimulating. In this case the stimulus is emotional, therefore yellow is the strongest colour, psychologically. The right yellow will lift our spirits and our self-esteem; it is the colour of confidence and optimism. Too much of it, or the wrong tone in relation to the other tones in a colour scheme, can cause self-esteem to plummet, giving rise to fear and anxiety. GREEN- Balance Positive: Harmony, balance, refreshment, universal love, rest, restoration, reassurance, environmental awareness, equilibrium, peace. FIGURE 52– Nature
Green strikes the eye in such a way as to require no adjustment whatever and is, therefore, restful. Being in the centre of the spectrum, it is the colour of balance - a more important concept than many people realise. When the world about us contains plenty of green, this indicates the presence of water, and little danger of famine, so we are reassured by green, on a primitive level. Negatively, it can indicate stagnation and, incorrectly used, will be perceived as being too bland.
VIOLET- Spiritual Positive: Spiritual awareness, containment, vision, luxury, authenticity, truth, quality. Negative: Introversion, inferiority.
decadence,
suppression, FIGURE 53 – Ancient Roman royal Toga
The shortest wavelength is violet, often described as purple. It takes awareness to a higher level of thought, even into the realms of spiritual values. It is highly introvertive and encourages deep contemplation, or meditation. It has associations with royalty and usually communicates the finest possible quality. Being the last visible wavelength before the ultraviolet ray, it has associations with time and space and the cosmos. Excessive use of purple can bring about too much introspection and the wrong tone of it communicates something cheap and nasty, faster than any other colour. Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 ORANGE Positive: Physical comfort, food, warmth, security, sensuality, passion, abundance, fun. Negative: Deprivation, frustration, frivolity, immaturity. FIGURE 54 – Sunset
Since it is a combination of red and yellow, orange is stimulating and reaction to it is a combination of the physical and the emotional. It focuses our minds on issues of physical comfort - food, warmth, shelter etc. - and sensuality. It is a 'fun' colour. Negatively, it might focus on the exact opposite - deprivation. This is particularly likely when warm orange is used with black. Equally, too much orange suggests frivolity and a lack of serious intellectual values.
PINK Positive: Physical tranquillity, nurture, warmth, femininity, love, sexuality, survival of the species. Negative: Inhibition, emotional emasculation, physical weakness.
claustrophobia, FIGURE 55 – Pink Roses
Being a tint of red, pink also affects us physically, but it soothes, rather than stimulates. (Interestingly, red is the only colour that has an entirely separate name for its tints. Tints of blue, green, yellow, etc. are simply called light blue, light greenetc.) Pink is a powerful colour, psychologically. It represents the feminine principle, and survival of the species; it is nurturing and physically soothing. Too much pink is physically draining and can be somewhat emasculating GREY Positive: Psychological neutrality. Negative: Lack of confidence, dampness, depression, hibernation, lack of energy.
FIGURE 56 – Grey Sky
Pure grey is the only colour that has no direct psychological properties. It is, however, quite suppressive. A virtual absence of colour is depressing and when the world turns grey we are instinctively conditioned to draw in and prepare for hibernation. Unless the precise tone is right, grey has a dampening effect on other colours used with it. Heavy use of grey usually indicates a lack of confidence and fear of exposure.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 BLACK Positive: Sophistication, glamour, security, emotional safety, efficiency, substance. Negative: Oppression, coldness, menace, heaviness. FIGURE 57 – A pair of black boots
Black is all colours, totally absorbed. The psychological implications of that are considerable. It creates protective barriers, as it absorbs all the energy coming towards you, and it enshrouds the personality. Black is essentially an absence of light, since no wavelengths are reflected and it can, therefore be menacing; many people are afraid of the dark. Positively, it communicates absolute clarity, with no fine nuances. It communicates sophistication and uncompromising excellence and it works particularly well with white. Black creates a perception of weight and seriousness. It is a myth that black clothes are slimming: The truth behind the myth is that black is the most recessive colour a matter of not drawing attention to yourself, rather than actually making you look slimmer. WHITE Positive: Hygiene, sterility, clarity, purity, cleanness, simplicity, sophistication, efficiency. Negative: Sterility, coldness, barriers, unfriendliness, elitism.
FIGURE 58 – covered land
Snow
Just as black is total absorption, so white is total reflection. In effect, it reflects the full force of the spectrum into our eyes. Thus it also creates barriers, but differently from black, and it is often a strain to look at. It communicates, "Touch me not!" White is purity and, like black, uncompromising; it is clean, hygienic, and sterile. The concept of sterility can also be negative. Visually, white gives a heightened perception of space. The negative effect of white on warm colours is to make them look and feel garish
BROWN Positive: Seriousness, warmth, Nature, earthiness, reliability, support. Negative: Lack of humour, heaviness, lack of sophistication.
FIGURE 59 – Dirt Road, Mud House, barn
Brown usually consists of red and yellow, with a large percentage of black. Consequently, it has much of the same seriousness as black, but is warmer and softer. It has elements of the red and yellow properties. Brown has associations with the earth and the natural world. It is a solid, reliable colour and most people find it quietly supportive - more positively than the everpopular black, which is suppressive, rather than supportive. Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 PERSONALITY TYPE 1: MORNING LIGHT (Echoing the natural patterns of Spring.) Hue: Warm (contains yellow) Value: High (little, if any black) Chroma: Mid to Relatively Low Group 1 colours are clean, clear and fresh. Clear, delicate warm colours containing no black. Negatively, they may be perceived as insubstantial, frivolous and cheap. Spring has a very specific colour scheme and an unmistakable personality. Everything is coming back to life after the long dark winter months and it is very lively. Birds make a lot of noise and the whole animal kingdom is busy; bright warm colours burst forth and spirits lift. The melting snow and ice fill the earth with water and create a sparkling awareness of the fresh and the new. The personality that reflects all this is externally motivated and eternally youthful. They are light on their feet, love to dance and have an indefinable quality of lightness about them. They are often very clever, but don't like to get bogged down with heavy academic debate. The challenge for this type is single-mindedness; they have the gift of attending to many things simultaneously, but might be accused of being superficial and frivolous. Their emotions can be fragile. In corporate communication, these colours will be most appropriate for brands focusing on youth, fun, media and optimism etc. e.g. toy companies; PR and marketing, children wear, leisure.
FIGURE 60 – Morning light colour family
FIGURE 61 – Morning light colour applications
PERSONALITY TYPE 2: DREAM LIGHT (Echoing the natural patterns of Summer.) Hue: Cool (contains blue) Value: Mid range (most contain grey) Chroma: Relatively low Group 2 colours are cool, subtle and delicate. These tones are cool, contain more grey and, whilst also delicate, are not necessarily light. Negatively they may be interpreted as draining, unfriendly, aloof, elitist, and 'wishy-washy'. Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 In the natural world, as the year progresses and the earth begins to dry out, a softening process sets in. The vivid green leaves tone down to a cooler, darker green that perfectly enhances the soft colours of roses, sweet peas and wisteria. When the sun beats down, the colours are bleached out; the concept of coolness becomes very attractive. Imagine a quiet afternoon sitting under a tree, contemplating the peaceful countryside and the heat haze in the distance, or drifting through a rose garden at twilight on a summer evening. This person is essentially cool, calm and collected. They are internally motivated, but equally very sensitive to what others are feeling. Their humour is subtle and often dry; they can be very witty. They have a natural gift for identifying the essence of any situation, and gently cutting through all the hot air and emotion with a one-line observation. The challenge for the Dreamlight personality is in appearing aloof and unfriendly - and the need to resist the efforts of their livelier friends to jazz them up! In corporate design, these colours are most appropriate where calm order, timeless elegance and delicacy are required.
FIGURE 62 – Dream light colour family
FIGURE 63 – Dream light colour applications
PERSONALITY TYPE 3: FIRE LIGHT (Echoing the natural patterns of Autumn.) Hue: Warm (contains yellow) Value: Mid to low Chroma: Low to high Group 3 colours are rich, fiery and offbeat. These tones are again warm, but much more intense and fiery. They contain black in their mixing (e.g. olive green is yellow mixed with black) but black itself does not belong in this group. Misused, Group 3 tones can convey heavy, old-fashioned, boring predictability and bossiness. During autumn, the temperature might be the same, but nature's mood is quite different. The bright, perky flowers, in warm blue, lilac, orange, and yellow, have been replaced by rich golds, fiery reds, purples, burnt orange and brown - and not in flowers, but in the leaves. Nature is abundant, as all the fruits of the year's cycle are harvested; it is mature and ripe, with great drama in the landscape. Each day at sunset, the mood has changed: we have done our work since morning and now there is a sense of completion of the natural cycle. The colours of the sunset are fiery, rich and golden. Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 The Type 3 personality is, like Type 1, externally motivated. However, there are great differences - Firelight people are intense and strong. They are all fiery, to a greater or lesser degree (depending on their subordinate influences); if they have a strong Dreamlight secondary influence, this might not be apparent, but it is there; they can also be flamboyant. The challenge for Type 3 personalities is to keep their wish to save the world in proportion. They might be perceived as bossy and tedious. In the commercial world, they are particularly appropriate for well-established companies with a proud heritage: for example, world famous department stores. These colours are appropriate for any brand where strength and integrity are important
FIGURE 64 – Fire light colour family
FIGURE 65 – Fire light colour applications
PERSONALITY TYPE 4: STAR LIGHT (Echoing the natural patterns of Winter.) Hue: Cold (Contains blue) Value: Extremes (very light or very dark). No mid tones. Chroma: High Group 4 colours are cold, and either very light, very dark or very intense. These colours are very clear and strong, with no subtleties. The potential negative perceptions of Group 4 are cold, uncaring, unfriendly, materialist, and expensive. The winter landscape is hushed and when snow falls heavily, it is virtually achromatic everything disappears under a blanket of pure white. But under the surface there is powerful energy as the regeneration process develops. Without leaves on the trees, outlines are stark and minimal, with strong contrasts. Imagine a snowy field, where you see an expanse of white and the apparently black shape of a leafless tree, its bare branches etched against an icy blue, or cold grey, sky. Type 4 personalities automatically command respect. They are internally motivated and have a gift for seeing the broader picture and for delegation. They set their sights on the objective and they are not easily diverted. They are often very efficient, and precise in everything they do. They do not suffer fools. Their response to foolishness will often be sarcastic and, unlike Type 3 - who will stop and explain, fifty ways if necessary - they will simply move on. The Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 challenge for Type 4 personalities is to pay attention to other people's feelings. They can be perceived as elitist, cold and uncaring. In commercial use of colour, these colours are widely used for aspirational brands. They communicate uncompromising standards, leadership and status. They are appropriate for state-of-the-art products, cutting-edge design and anything that could be described as glamorous, sophisticated or ultra chic.
FIGURE 66 – Star light colour family
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FIGURE 67 – Star light colour applications
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CHAPTER 6 HISTORY OF colour IN ARCHITECTURE In written sources, one of the first references to colour in architecture is found in the treatise by Vitruvius, the Roman architect who lived in the 1st century. Vitruvius did not establish a distinction between colour and colouring substance: “As for colours, some are natural products found in fixed places and dug up there, while others are artificial compounds of different substances treated and mixed in proper proportions so as to be equally serviceable.” In his Ten Books of Architecture, published in 1452, Leon Battista Alberti (1404 –1472) follows Vitruvius’ conception of colour, merely as colouring substances or paints “with which the wall may be adorned”(Book 6, Chapter 9): “Of painted surfaces some are done while the work is fresh, and others when it is dry. All natural colours which proceed from the earth, from mines or the like, are proper for paintings in fresco; but all artificial colours, and especially those which are altered by means of fire, require a very dry surface.” In Chapter 10 of Book 7, Alberti makes an observation that relates colour to aesthetic values or preferences. When dealing with the decoration of temples, he says: “I am very ready to believe, that purity and simplicity of colours, as of life, must be most pleasing to the Divine Being.” The treatment of colours in Alberti’s book On Painting (1435) is far more abstract and philosophical, relating colours to light and making a classification of colours. He even refers to the emotional value of colours. Giovanni Lomazzo (1538 –1600), published a treatise concerned not only with painting but also with architecture and sculpture. The Treatise on the Art of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture was written in Italian and is divided into seven books, one of which is devoted to colours and contains a section on the symbolism of the principal colours. Andre Felibien in his book on the Principles of Architecture, Sculpture, Painting and Other Arts, published in 1676, appears one of the first descriptions of colours mixtures starting from three colours—red, yellow, and blue—termed basic colours in the middle of the 19th century, when JacquesIgnace Hittorff(1792–1867) succeeded in conveying the attention toward a relevant discovery, the Greek architecture was not white—as it was believed for centuries based on the colours of the ruins—but polychromatic. The Greeks used to paint their temples as well as their family dwellings with vivid colours.
FIGURE 68- Jacques-Ignace Hittorff (1792–1867), the front page of the first edition of Restitution de Temple d’Empedocle a Selinonte (Paris, 1851) and the chromatic reconstruction of the Greek temple.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Owen Jones was the “colourist” of the Crystal Palace, built by Joseph Paxton in 1851,7 and wrote An Attempt to Define the Principles Which Should Regulate the Employment of colour in the Decorative Arts (1852)
FIGURE 69- Owen Jones (1809–1874), one of the plates from The Grammar of Ornament and a view of the Crystal Palace
In 1875, Euge`ne-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879) published a history of the human dwelling, in which he consistently includes sections to describe the use of colours in houses, palaces, villas, and all kinds of family dwelling architecture in ancient China, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, during the Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages in Europe, and also in the ancient Muslim world. In the Appendix of the book, he includes four coloured plates depicting the interior of an Egyptian house, a house in Athens in the 5th century B.C., a Roman palace, and a room in a feudal castle (Fig. 8).
FIGURE 70- Euge`ne-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879) and his chromatic reconstructionsof the interiors of an Egyptian house, a Roman palace, a Greek house, and a feudal castle.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 The most outstanding figure we can find in this context is Le Corbusier (1887–1965). His first writings on colour appear in the articles about purism and cubism written in collaboration with the painter Ame´de´e Ozenfant. An article of 1918 reads: “The idea of form precedes that of colour. The form is preeminent, colour is but one of its accessories. colour depends entirely of the material shape: the concept of sphere, for instance, precedes the concept of colour; it is conceived as a colourless sphere, a colourless plane, colour is not conceived independently of some support. colour is coordinated with form, but the reciprocal is not true. We believe, thus, that a theme should be selected for its forms and not for its colours.” In his monograph written for the exhibition of the Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux in 1937, Le Corbusier includes a chapter entitled “Polychromy = Joy,” in which he associates the creative ages of architecture with the vitality of chromatic colour and relates the stagnant academicism to sad gray. Le Corbusier evolved toward a more conscious and thorough consideration of the power colour has to modify the spatial environment. This is especially evident in the buildings projected and built after World War II, in what is called his “brutalist” period. The Dutch neoplasticist movement, organized by 1917 around the publication De Stijl and stemming from the abstract paintings of Piet Mondrian, helped to create a better consciousness about colour theory and practice, introducing colour as determinant of space, in opposition to its traditional decorative function. Gerrit Rietveld managed to make a true spatial organization of colour and planes, while the others continued to produce two-dimensional transpositions of the neoplasticist elements of painting to architecture.
FIGURE 72- Walter Gropius (1883–1969) and the Bauhaus: the building in Dessau, a poster, and the divisions of the curricula, where colour studies occupy 1/7 part of the total.
FIGURE 71- Le Corbusier: page on polychromy and coloured reproduction of the Pavilion of the New Times.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Even when he is not deemed as eminent as Le Corbusier, Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, or Wright, because his influence on the next generations was not as strong as theirs, Taut was the one who advocated for the use of colour the most. The audacity of Taut’s colour schemes led Le Corbusier to say in 1927: “My God, Taut is colour-blind!” Commenting about the impact caused by his Falkenberg housing estate of 1915 in Berlin-Gru¨nau, Taut himself declared that his colour scheme “provoked the Berliners who, coming from the gray tenement quarters, repeatedly declared that the architect deserved to be locked up”
FIGURE 73- Bruno Taut (1880–1938) and some of his colourful houses.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 A milder view would show that even those who were very austere or purist in this sense (like Gropius or Mies, for instance) did not ignore the importance of colour. The colour white in the most purist modern architecture was intended to make the building contrast with the environment, or to make the details or furniture in the interiors stand out, or to let the chromatic weight of the landscape penetrate with more strength into the interiors through the large surfaces of glass or the horizontal windows. In the Barcelona Pavilion he used a large variety of different coloured marble each with their own boldness. He used tinted glass and red velvet curtains. These all combined in a kaleidoscope of colour that offsets the abstract planarity of the rest of the building. colours contribute to the dynamic shifts of the plan, it gives the experience vitality. The postmodern reaction of the 1970s and 1980s brought about a host of architects concerned with the references to history and to the environment, and colour in architecture also acquired a new meaning under these orientations. As for the 1990s, in the book on colour in Architecture by Harold Linton we can find a good account of the works by architects and colourists of the more recent generations, who mainly act as colour consultants: Jean-Philippe Lenclos (France), Toma´s Taveira (Portugal), Shashi Caan and Donald Kaufman (the United States), BegonËœa Munoz (Spain), Eva Fay (Australia), Lourdes Legorreta (Mexico), Malvina Arrarte (Peru), Shingo Yoshida (Japan), Giovanni Brino (Italy), Michael Lancaster (UK), and Leo Oberascher (Austria), among them. These works encompass not only colour projects for new buildings but also colour restoration of historical urban centers, landscape colour plans, and models developed for colour research and education in architecture. The specificity of the knowledge about colour in environmental design has given rise over the past decades to a new profession: the colour consultant, who can work in collaboration with other architects or designers or be hired for special projects by companies and private or governmental agencies. The catalan modeler Antoni GaudĂ in his biomorphic manifestations utilized unpredictable shapes in the buildings he composed and utilized a limitless cluster of splendid hues, both in exteriors and inside of structures. He considered the colours a fundamental piece of architectural design.
FIGURE 74- Park Guell. Gaudi. Barcelona
Colour in Architecture
FIGURE 75- colourful houses, as a part of a colourful urban fabric.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Characteristics of Modern Architecture are still eminent in contemporary perspective. As Lois Swirnoff implies ‘identity and meaning are conferred by colour.’ colour’s spatial contribution must not be disregarded. She declares that: “colour in contemporary architecture remains a new challenge. While colour is highly expressive, and by association connotes affective states of feeling and meaning, to correlate its use solely with ‘expression’ leads to the incoherent, largely arbitrary use in the contemporary environment.” Hitherto colour science and psychology promoted colour as a means of communication. Michael Graves is the one who exemplifies this idea, making use of colour in hisarchitectural thinking.
FIGURE 76- St. Coletta School in Washington D.C., by Michael Graves
When the building is evaluated individually in terms of colour use on its facade, it might be in harmony and unity within its own design matter; but this might not be relevant with its context. The context, in itsmost tactile form, is the colour of the city formed by the weather, the soil, the greenery, the climate. In her essay about the town Ankara, Gülsüm Baydar searches for the link between the house and the city. Baydar states that “Sexualized metaphors of the house as the feminine, private realm and the city as the masculine, public realm proliferate in the modern period.” She concluded that a residential block is thought to be private and discrete existence from the public. That is why its architecture and then colour is bound to personal tastes and preferences of its client or the constructors.
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CHAPTER 7 COLOUR IN BUILT SPACES Baring in mind that an architectural work of art cannot exist without the existence of space, we should look at how architects define space; "space is an emptiness that separates people from their environment and allows them to do certain actions" (Hasol,1990). Colour is an element of architecture, thus colour design have to be an integral part of architectural design process. Colour plays an important part in bringing out the image of interior spaces by integrating the colours used in the overall interior design, in accessories, and in furniture to create the character as a whole. The interest has focused on how brand space may add to the aesthetic properties of a building and its interior spaces and how they may affect both the performance of users, the commercial brand trust, and consumer attraction. When combined the brand space identity and colour properties present an effective way of creating an attractive image of the desired commercial space. In the past some scholars have explored to study the different meanings and symbolisms associated with colours in different cultures around the world. The study showed that the colours green, white, and blue are well liked across countries and have relatively similar meanings. Additionally, red and black also received high ratings although their cross-cultural meanings were sometimes. radically different. East Asian cultures proved to have more distinction in the meanings associated with colour while whereas groups in the US and Latin Americas make only average amounts of colour distinctions. The results also showed that around the world, there are different meanings associated with colours. However, many intrinsic properties of colours such as liking and meaning appear to be pan cultural. Colour is an expressive component in architectural design and can be utilized to highlight the building character and make unity and harmony, or it can be intentionally differentiating to charge or highlight. We experience colour as variations of reflected light. When painting walls with an opaque colour, the result can appear visually dense or chalky. Colours will shift and become transformed as the light in the room changes throughout the day and night and these colours appear different even as the season changes. Colours of buildings influence our perception of the structures. This is especially important in commercial buildings or residential communities. Colours in interiors affect how we feel, living and working in those spaces. Colour can be vibrant and arresting, or calm and soothing, we all are born with our personal response to colour. They additionally fill an aesthetic need, influencing the announcement, impact, and acknowledgment of articles and spaces. Dull colours might hint at anxiety, peevishness, over the top passionate reaction, challenges in focus and discernment issues. While overstimulation can result in changes in the rate of breathing, increment of heartbeat rate and blood pressure, increment in muscle pressure, psychiatric responses of changeable types and presumably intensified medical outcomes. The essential indications of an overstimulated environment are solid colour intensity (saturated highly), colour harmonies that are excessively unpredictable or indistinguishable, contrasts that present themselves excessively solid, an excess of complex visual colour examples. Colour is powerful and personal; each one has its own unique colour palette. It might influence the route in which individuals react to their surroundings and can upgrade a state of mind of quiet or euphoria. colour impression and the message it passes on is of most extreme significance in making the mental mood or vibe that backings the capacity of a space. A classroom has a different air to it Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Than a hospital room; an office space is not a generation line, and so on. While individuals' responses to colour shift broadly, in design questions it is still conceivable to set up for the most part legitimate colour ideas to coordinate the desires of the different gatherings of clients. Designers use Colour in the decision of materials used to develop a building. These Colour decisions can be entirely modest, for example, utilizing a warm, yellow conditioned cement rather than a frosty dark base, or utilizing a brownish block rather than the conventional red. Then again, the designer must consider the colour impact of each component of a building's development, from the earthy colours of essential development materials like marble, wood, stone and block, to the broad assortment of colours accessible for paint, entryways, windows, siding, and trim. Researches have demonstrated that suitable contrasts in luminous density can lessen eye weakness and raise visual sharpness, causing additional efficiency. Luminous density is the thing that the eyes get when light is reflected from a surface (walls, floors, furniture). In case of that the contrasts between the luminous densities in the perspective are excessively extraordinary, the iris muscle is strained because of consistent alternation, in this way creating eye weakness. When working conceptually with colour, individual tones play a secondary role because the quality and appropriateness of a tone can only be recognized and experienced once it is integrated into a thematic composition. As such, a yellow wall on its own is simply a yellow wall until it is embedded as part of an overall space-forming entity in a way that is comprehensible and makes sense. On the one hand, the impact of this yellow surface may be experienced as revolting or alienating depending on a person‘s individual preferences; on the other hand, it may touch someone within the overall context in such a way that personal preferences become secondary or are even forgotten. Architecture directly meets society's needs as far as possible and reacts to current requirements, difficulties or deficits. The same goes for colour in architecture. a) COLOUR AND TEXTURE Colour and texture are inseparable twins. They are both part of the subjective emotion of the artist, and create an expressive meaning that have an effect on the human feeling of the spectator. Texture represents the external image of the surfaces of the compositions and the different object we look at. Adding texture to the surface as a textural cover will distinguish it from other surfaces of the composition. Because every natural and artificial matter has its own texture, the property of colour will be closely connected to texture. That means that using soft surfaces unlike using rough surfaces which can bear one colour degree. There is a physical reason for that, as every matter, natural or artificial, has a colour. b) COLOUR AND LIGHT Changes in an objects colour can also result from the effects of light. This factor is very important as it can change any environment having colours. Light effects in colours can change the space drastically. Day light can be warm or cool, depending on the time of day and direction from which it comes. Warm light tends to emphasize warm colours and alters cool hues, while cool light intensifies cool colours and weakens warm hues. If light is tinted with a particular hue, it will raise the intensity of the colours of that particular hue and neutralize colours of a complementary hue. The value of colour can also be altered by the amount of light used to illuminate it. Lowering the amount of illumination will darken a colours value and Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 neutralize its hue. High levels of illumination, however can also intend to make colours appear less saturated or washed. c) COLOUR APPLICATION TECHNIQUES To understand the colour use on facades of residential buildings, it is needed to analyze the formation of elements on them in terms of colour applications. On this basis, a classification is composed of five main parts: • The Figural Use of colour- is constituted by decorated facades with floral or geometrical figures • The Elemental Use of colour- contains two subframes which colour is featured on members of the facade. • The Use of colour throughout the Compositional Elements• The Use of colour throughout the Large Surfaces• Material colour and Painting- is based upon the colour representations of the natural material preferences supported by additional painting. • Tectonic Use of colour- implies colour brought by the nature of material. • Monochromatic Use of colour- in which the facades are coloured in singlehue or different lightness of the same hue. 1. Figural use of colour Floral or geometrical figures are formed on the surfaces by means of paint coatings or other materials such as glass or ceramic mosaics. In Figure 4.2, the aim of colouring the facade is to decorate, ornament. Spontaneous ornaments were formed as columns, friezes and pediment in two-dimensional manner. The facade with its flower motives tends to be decorated with Anatolian patterns but with antique-like depictions. 2. Elemental use of colour This type of application of colour has two subframes: 2.1. The Use of colour throughout the Compositional Elements, 2.2. The Use of colour throughout the Large Surfaces.
2.1. The Use of colour throughout the Compositional Elements Each element of the facade is coloured separately. Columns, pediments, frames, door and
FIGURE 77- Figural use of colour
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FIGURE 78- Elemental use of colour
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Dissertation 2019-2020 window sills, balconies and cantilevers are distinguished in different colours than its background. Elements of the facade are accentuated. Usually all the same elements of the facade are represented by the same colour. 2.2. The Use of colour throughout the Large Surfaces In this case the apartment blocks are divided into large parts, horizontally or vertically in terms of colour compositions. Buildings are coloured as combinations of masses.. The building composes its architectural expression by means of colour, not by means of formal design. 3. Material colour and painting In this class, the nature of the materials used in construction somewhat affects colour decisions on the facades. colour expresses the character of materials. For example, Natural stone cladding oriented the choice of colour applied on the facade. Marble gives its colour to vertical surfaces while horizontality was featured by means of paint coating. 4. Tectonic use of colour In this frame the colour of the facade comes from the tectonics of the materials used. Structural elements can be distinguished on the facade. Usually in this type, beams and columns are expressed by concrete and walls by brick. colour is highly expressive due to the materials which are not hidden under paint coatings. 5. Monochromatic use of colour Facades are coloured in single hue or different values of the same hue. If the building does not have a high level of quality in architectural design, monochromatic building confronts with the Problematic in terms of scale, proportion, weight and expression.
FIGURE 79- Tectonic use of colour
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FIGURE 80- Monochromatic use of colour
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Dissertation 2019-2020 e) COLOUR AS IDEA: THE CONCEPTUAL BASIS FOR USING COLOUR IN ARCHITECTURE Douglas Graf, Ohio State University, teaches a branch of architectural theory called formal analysis. Formal analysis is a reductive process, which ‘loosens’ a building into constituent parts and their relationships to one another. Graf’s analytical drawings of Louis Kahn’s Meeting House at the biological laboratories at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, show a central space as figural. The perimeter consists of a series of connected buildings, each with their own centres and perimeters. The addition of colour to these design drawings can both clarify and serve as ‘interpreter’ for the concept. Colour can become a component or ‘partner’ in the form drawings, and has the capacity to enhance the concept. Three roles that colour can play in the design process are defined here: • Colour dynamics • Colour tectonics, and • Colour imagery.
FIGURE 81- Salk Meeting House; plan and analytical diagrams showing an organizational strategy
Colour Dynamics The relationship and juxtaposition of the line diagrams to one another creates the generative idea that is the concept and point of departure for the design. If one assigns colour to the parts in these diagrams representing, in the designers’ eyes, the character of the part, then colour contrasts or juxtapositions between the parts will represent the dynamic relationship of the parts. Red/blue contrasts may be active/passive, saturated hues may be dominant, and muted hues subordinate. These new juxtapositions can represent events in the experience of architecture, i.e. hierarchy, opposition, separation, connection, transition and assimilation. The colour choices in the conceptual phase, although abstract and diagrammatic, will begin to influence choices in lighting, materials, and surfaces that continue throughout the design process.
FIGURE 82- Salk Meeting House; colour dynamics in analytical diagrams
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Colour Tectonics In the schematic/form-making phase of architectural design, rough plans and building sections are investigated with form and massing studies. Tectonic articulation adds further complexity. Architects who intentionally ‘deconstruct’ architectural form as expression are familiar with techniques employed in colour tectonics
FIGURE 83- Defining structure and detail with colour contrast
FIGURE 84 - Colour used to deconstruct form
FIGURE 85 - Light/dark contrast obscuring form
Colour Imagery Colour imagery is the subject where most attention to colour in architectural design has been placed. These are the colours one experiences perceptually in architecture, which convey materiality, physical context, cultural context, symbolism and emotional response, as well as imagery related to conceptual goals and form definition. The goal throughout is to make the colour choices an evolving development through all phases of the design process.
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CHAPTER 8 SIGNIFICANCE OF COLOUR IN DESIGN RED Effect: exciting, stimulating Ceiling: intruding, disturbing, heavy Walls: aggressive, advancing Floor: conscious, alert Character: Red is the most dominant and dynamic colour. The eye actually has to adjust focus, since the natural focal point of red lies behind the retina. Consequently red appears closer than it is. It’s a great colour to use when power or passion want to be portrayed in the design. The darker shades being more powerful and elegant. FIGURE 86 – Bold red walls
ORANGE Effect: exciting, stimulating, cheering Ceiling: stimulating, attention-seeking Walls: warm, luminous Floor: activating, motion-oriented Character: Orange is less masculine than red. It has very few negative associations. However, it may appear cheap or without vigor if low in saturation. orange commands attention without being as overpowering as red. It’s often considered more friendly and inviting, and less in-your-face. It could be lightened to beige for a quiet and intimate interior space. Orange may be used within the dining area to boost appetite while encouraging communication. YELLOW Effect: The right yellow lifts our spirits and our self-esteem; it is the colour of confidence and optimism. Ceiling: light (towards lemon), luminous, stimulating Walls: warm (towards orange), exciting to irritating (highly saturated) Floor: elevating, diverting
Colour in Architecture
FIGURE 87 – Stimulating pair of orange staircase
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Character: Bright yellow hues can form interesting focal points in an interior scheme against background of natural colours. The right yellow lifts our spirits and our self-esteem. Bright yellow can lend a sense of happiness and cheerfulness. Softer yellows are commonly used as a gender-neutral colour for babies (rather than blue or pink) and young children. Light yellows also give a more calm feeling of happiness than bright yellows. Dark yellows and gold-hued yellows can sometimes look antique and be used in designs where a sense of permanence is desired. Pastel yellow gives the impression of sunny, friendly, soft. The message in the interior space is stimulating, brightness, cosiness. GREEN Effect: retiring, relaxing Ceiling: protective, reflection on the skin can be unattractive Walls: cool, secure, calm, reliable, passive, irritating if glaring (electric green) Floor: natural (if not too saturated), soft, relaxing, cold (if towards blue)
FIGURE 88 – Focal points on plain white exterior
Character: Contrary to red, when looking at green the eye focuses exactly on the retina, which makes green the most restful colour to the eye. That is one of the reasons hospital walls are often painted sea foam, to literally sedate worried patients and visitors. The lighter tint or green used in a room can produce impressions of spaciousness. Darker are associated with balance and growth, suggesting high productive status and success. Green can symbolize nature but also mold and sickness. It may be beneficial to use Greens in general living areas. BLUE Effect: retiring, relaxing Ceiling: celestial, cool, receding (if light), heavy and oppressive (if dark) Walls: cool and distant (if light), encouraging and space deepening (if dark) Floor: inspiring feeling of effortless movement (if light), substantial (if dark)
Colour in Architecture
FIGURE 89 – Relaxing green mesh
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Character: Blue appears to be transparent, wet, cool, and relaxing. Opposite to red, blue will decrease a person’s blood pressure and pulse rate. It is often used to show opulence or expense. Light to medium range blues are specially pleasing and restful. Staring at blue actually reduces pulse and respiration and respiration rate and temporarily lowers blood pressure. Some hues of blue can be sharp and demanding therefore needs to be used carefully. Blue can make space appear larger. Navy blue commands respect, representing loyalty, trustworthiness and dignity.
FIGURE 90 – Relaxing and celestial blue walls
PURPLE Effect: subduing Ceiling: disconcerting, subduing Walls: heavy, overpowering Floor: fleeting, magical Character: Purple is a mixture of red and blue (the two colours that are psychologically most opposed). Purple can appear delicate and rich, or unsettling and degenerate. it is often used to show opulence or expense. To give designs a luxury feel, incorporate purple throughout.
FIGURE 91– Magical and elegant purple glasses
PINK Effect: lively (bubble-gum pink), calming (light pink) Ceiling: delicate, comforting Walls: aggression-inhibiting, intimate, too sweet if not grayed down Floor: too delicate, not used very often Character: Pink must be handled carefully. It is generally considered feminine, but depends much on the nuance used (bubble-gum pink, or old rose)
FIGURE 92– Delicate pink interior
BROWN Effect: subduing Ceiling: oppressive and heavy (if dark) Walls: secure and assuring if wood, much less So if paint Floor: steady, stable
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Dissertation 2019-2020 Character: There is a great difference between wood and brown paint. In certain institutions brown should be avoided since it evokes fecal associations. Wood and stone on the other hand appear very comfortable, and warm.
WHITE Effect: It is neutral, it is considered as a cool colour because of its association with snow and ice. Ceiling: empty, no design objections-helps diffuse light sources and reduce shadows Walls: neutral to empty, sterile, without energy Floor: touch-inhibiting (not to be walked upon) Character: It offers a sense of reconciliation and creates soothing environment. It contains an equal balance of all the colours of the spectrum, representing both the negative and positive aspects of all the colours. There are a lot of psychological and physiological justifications for not using white as a dominant colour.
FIGURE 93– Secure and reliable wooden structure
FIGURE 94– Soothing white facade
GRAY Effect: neutral to calming Ceiling: shadowy Walls: neutral to boring Floor: neutral Character: Gray fails to have much psychotherapeutic application. Thus, the current fashion of using it with various accent walls defies all logic. BLACK Effect: ominous, deep Ceiling: hollow to oppressive Walls: ominous, dungeonlike Floor: odd, abstract
FIGURE 95 – Neutral grey walls
Character: Black is associated with oppressive power, darkness, and the unknown. In architecture it is often used to make something appear as receding, such as the HVAC in a ceiling. Too much black can cause abasements and mood swings and create a adverse environment. FIGURE 96 – Powerful black exterior
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CHAPTER 9 ASSOCIATION OF COLOUR WITH BUILT SPACES LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Cardiac care unit of Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida Visual comfort is a key design element influencing human physical and emotional states within the built environment. A significant element of visual comfort is colour. Throughout history; with or without realization the design element ‘colour’ has played a key role in human lives. Colour is the easiest and efficient way to change the characteristics of the environment and dominantly visible . Healthcare facilities are crucial environments. These spaces contain patients that deals with recovery or other vital situations where they seek serenity, calmness or even hope. Author mentions how cool colours are most preferable hues that can be applied to clinics and doctor’s office since it has a comfortable, calming, clean and controlled effect . The results showed that green wall colour reduced the effect of stress more than the white wall and arousal effect was higher in orange coloured wall. Authors Yildirim, Hidayetoglu and Capanoglu (2011) investigates how certain colours effect moods within a living space. Throughout the experiment, participants responded that warm colours tended to have high arousal, exciting and stimulating effect, whereas cool colours were considered spacious and restful. In an experimental study on American College Students’ (Kaya & Crosby 2006), for educational spaces, authors mention that colours red and yellow were most favorable among the respondents. Authors also state that colour yellow is linked to intellection and expression of thoughts, whilst improving memory and encouraging integration of new ideas. Author Babin, investigates the relationship between colour and environment within a medical setting by combining other literature and utilizing a brief survey to discover how colours can influence the user’s mood. A pilot study by Edge, examined colour’s effect on patient’s recovery within a healing environment in the cardiac care unit of Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida. Edge examined the recovery of cardiac patients under specific colour selection by assessing their anxiety levels, patient’s duration in hospital and medication requests within a controlled environment. The participants for this experiment were thirty-nine actual patients who occupied the beds in cardiac care unit of the fifth floor of Shands Hospital and Edge mentions that ten participants were in a recovery stage from a cardiac surgery whilst the rest of the patients were undertaking the cardiac observation.
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FIGURE 97- Floor plan of the fifth-floor cardiac care unit at Shands Hospital.
FIGURE 98 - A Diagram of colour selection of the existing experiment
- Rooms were studied in this existing experiment. In this existing experiment, only wall at the foot of the bed was painted in selected colours (purple, green, orange and existing beige colour).
Two rooms were painted in purple because it is believed to induce relaxation and sleep, lower body temperature, and decrease sensitivity to pain. Green was chosen for another two patient rooms, because it has a sedative effect and relieve irritation and exhaustion. Orange was chosen, because ii is believed to be a universal healer that can be used to counteract depression and humourlessness. Rest of the rooms remained unpainted, therefore it consisted of the existing paint, beige colour. Edge mentions how patients who stayed in non-painted walled room (beige), were disappointed that they weren’t placed in a coloured wall rooms. Most patients stated that, they had mixed feelings in beige coloured room, which it felt very institutional. Patients in purple room stated, that the room felt too dark and some female patients felt comfortable. According to Edge, male patients stayed in green coloured wall rooms liked the feeling of the environment whilst female patients didn’t care for the green colour. However, it was deduced that cool colours like purple and green had a more positive, calming effect and minor improvement on recovery process of patients as compared to orange and beige.
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Dissertation 2019-2020 2) Childcare centre in Denmark by CEBRA Colour-coded hubs for children’s activity, dining, and sleeping areas and staff area. Children prefer bright, more saturated colours. • Play areas - Saturated contrasting colours to ignite imagination. • Dining areas – Minimal contrasts to minimise excitement. • Reading areas - Darker colours to distinguish from play areas and encourage quiet. • Sleeping areas - Minimise hue and saturation contrast to minimise visual ‘noise’ and encourage a sense of calmness.
FIGURE 99 – Floor plan of Childcare centre
3) Older people and aged care home, CEBRA Older people prefer more marginally saturated colours and stringer contrast. Strong colour contrast – improves environmental legibility. To ensure proper visibility strong colour contrast has been used• Between steps and risers, and leading edge of step; • Contours and boundaries - walls from floors; doors from walls; windows from walls; railings from walls. • Light switches and walls, toilet and bathroom floor.
FIGURE 100 – Private room of patient
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FIGURE 101 – Corridor of main building
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Dissertation 2019-2020 2) Role of colour in urban design The design of the city, like architecture, begins with a conceptual point of departure. There are many methodologies used in this process. Most urban design focuses upon changes in existing cities, i.e. intervention, renewal, expansion, design of infrastructure, densification, etc. Colour is used in urban design to primarily categorize and clarify large amounts of visual information. Comprehensive plans and land use maps of cities use standard coded colours to represent the use patterns of a city. This is plan view of the city showing individual building footprints. Each data type (e.g. population, income) has a specific colour. Most representations of the city contain information showing physical form and/or quantitative data. When two or more data types are layered in transparent colours, additional colours will emerge as clusters of new information. The components that make up paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks are translated in the diagram as lines, perimeter, centre and figure. The intrinsic sense of wholeness, or city as object is ever present, and therefore pieces of the city can be referenced as the relationship of the part to the whole.
FIGURE 102 – Existing landuse plan, Alambagh (Lucknow)
Streets also play an important role in this urban fabric. Streets are the largest public realms in the city. Streets also form the personality of a district within the city: its energy, its movement and the kind of public life generated there. Two maps in the Virgin City Guide for New York City, illustrating the experience of street life are relevant: • ‘Top Shopping Zones’ showing districts in colour, streets as voids, and bands of red (R) along the blocks in varying intensity where shopping occurs • ‘Night Time Hot Spots’ shows streets in light violet (RB), blocks in darker RB (night imagery), and areas of nightlife in circles of YR in a range of sizes depending upon the activity This drawing shows traffic arterials in yellow in varying degrees of chroma indicating volume and intensity. Lines in orange, parallel to the street, show vehicular movement. Line width indicates volume. Pedestrian movement is shown in dashes parallel and on the periphery of the street in darker analogous colours. Volume is shown by the quantity of dashes. Colour in Architecture
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FIGURE 103 - Top Shopping Zones, as seen in Virgin City Guide for New York City,
FIGURE 104 - Night Time Hot Spots, as seen in Virgin City Guide for New York City,
Colour and pattern comprise the visual vocabulary. The repetition of elements in this map form constellations or clusters of information recalled from experience and memory that become meaningful from many points of view. 2) Role of colour in imparting identity to a city Colour in architecture is an important visual element on erected structures that draws our attention. We look at it, observe and form a mental image based on its physical features, ornamentation, material and most importantly colour . Usage of colours in a building has evolved over the years. From the cities culturally depending on the materials available locally like stones, limestone, etc. have given some cities a natural demarcating colours like Jaipur and Jaisalmer in India, Chefchaouen in Morocco, e
FIGURE 105 - The Old City of Jaipur- Red sandstone gives the city its identity
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FIGURE 106 - Old City of Jaisalmer-Yellow sandstone gives the city a sense of collective belonging
FIGURE 107 - Moroccan city Chefchaouen- The city is painted blue for the apparent theories of either keeping mosquitoes away or as a symbol of freedom from Hitler The places and spaces above, are a clear indication of the evolution of our interaction with the spaces through the times and eras. It is an important and needed approach to accept architecture, just for the fact that our daily lives are affected by all the places and their way of existence, it becomes necessary that the use of colours in appropriate and subtle ways is understood and implemented. It enhances the ability to intercept better with the surrounding and triggers our mood. Every space can be distinguished with its approach towards the human and non-human interaction. Architecture plays an important role in promoting it, and colour in architecture helps understand that interaction better. Colour in Architecture
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Dissertation 2019-2020 INTERFACE BETWEEN COLOUR AND HUMAN RESPONSE The use of colour on an urban scale has two very different evolutions. One comes as a natural and informal development of towns into cities and cities into neighbourhoods. This type of informal settlements often displayed a rubric of eclectic colours which were primarily a result of random application. The effect was a vibrant and lively urbanscape. Taking a cue from this evolution emerged a rather carefully crafted approach of formal urbanism that intended to ultimately create a similar effect of random eclectic and vibrant urban typology via imitation. In a recent urban project in Denmark, the use of bright colours as an activator of public life was explored by its literal application along the streets, side-walks and buildings façades. The building’s “skin” has become a key element of evoking a response in the user and drawing them inside. The move has been further propagated by the potential impact that commercial enterprises can generate from customers – as a result, this phenomena is most common in commercial office buildings and shopping malls.
1) Creating calm – Address the problem of visual noise Excessive use of contrast and visual clutter causes visual complexity. Reducing the amount of strong contrast leads to a sense of calm irrespective of hue. Use similarity of tonal value – not necessarily neutral colours.
FIGURE 108 – Too much of visual clutter
FIGURE 109 – Eased contrast and similar tonal value
2) Moderate polychromy – Supports mood and well-being Office colour impacts mood and productivity but can vary due to individual differences such as stimulus screening ability, preferences. Red may be associated with anxiety and blue with depression.
FIGURE 110 - RIBA Offices, London, Theis + Khan (2015) & LEGO’s offices, Rosan Bosch & Rune Fjord (2010)
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Dissertation 2019-2020 3) Colour strategies to attract/keep quality employees Preferred workplace needs to be a hybrid of work and play – Cool, fun, flexible and campuslike and colourful.
FIGURE 111 - Google’s Dublin office (2013) by Camenzind and Facebook Menlo Park (2014) by Gensler.
4) Colour strategies to support/encourage Creativity A mix of moderately colourful spaces support mood and encourage well-being. ‘Blank canvas’ spaces + window views provide visual respite. Minimising visual clutter and unnecessary visual distractions helps growing creativity.
FIGURE 112 - Moo’s London offices by Trifle Creative (2014) and Microsoft office by Perkins + Will (2014)
5) Colour saturation and tonal value have an impact Light-dark contrast – a major contributor to ambience. Lighting and paint colour can achieve similar effects.
FIGURE 113 - Chichu Art Museum (2004) in Naoshima And Church of the Light (1989) in Osaka
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Dissertation 2019-2020 6) Colour – Orientation and Way finding Colour is an effective non-verbal mnemonic device for orientation and way-finding at a range of different scales. Parking stations and shopping malls. Colour breaks down the monumentality of the facade and serves to delineate spaces within.
FIGURE 114 - Colour-coding in parking stations
7) Colour – Influences perceptions of size Polychromy minimises volume and can alter the perception of large or monolithic facades. Similarity between facade colour and contextual colour can minimise the visual impact of a building (O’Connor, 2011). Effective paint colour strategy to reduce the ‘eyesore’ factor.
FIGURE 115- Polychromy makes the facade look smaller
8) Disruptive Colour – Architecture Facade colour can help to reinforce a ‘caves or temples’ approach to architecture or as a statement Landmark strategy. Disrupts the predictable status quo. Also it enhances experience and adds novelty value. Paint colour completely transforms the site.
FIGURE 116 - Public pool in NYC
Colour in Architecture
FIGURE 117 - Spiegel Publishing House by Verner Panton
FIGURE 118 - Pixel by Studio 505 (Landmark building)
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CHAPTER 9 CONCLUSION For the longest time, colour has been viewed as an abstract entity. Although in the beginning of civilization it was valued and looked up to as a means of expression, honor and social position. With the advancements in cultural and tradition and art forms, importance of colour was replaced by materials and forms of structure. Critics in architectural reviews often refer to colour decisions as ‘difficult’ to discuss rationally, representing personal views that are inconsequential. After a considerable stretch in time colour emerged as a rather impertinent quality. It was realized colour can clarify and define space, form and structure. Colour can be seen to influence the humans and the entire society in a good or a bad way. Colour is an essential and versatile means of shaping space. It is far more than decoration; it is an aid to interpretation and clarification. Colour can confer meaning, context and identity; it can booth support architectural form or subversively work against it. Colour helps us comprehend the character, the mood and the spatial hierarchies of architecture, and can be used to optimize space; to give it individuality, to bring calm or add vitality. Our choice of colour has been observed to reflect our inner thoughts and emotions. A built structure is a projection of our thoughts and aspirations and the colour it is painted in is an embodiment of our perceptions of the space. A skillful and tactful use of colour in the interior can influence our mindset, productivity and vision for the good or the bad. Psychological properties of different colours help in interior and exterior facade design. Impact of colour with form and appearance, texture, scale all these are important factors in building design. It reinforces or blurs spatial boundaries, defines and accentuates surfaces and volumes within the composition. One can create different moods in a single architectural space with the help of different colours. Therefore, colour plays an important role in making or breaking a structure’s worth in society. The relation of colour and its effects on emotions is based a great deal on perception of colour and the environment and emotional relationships individuals have experienced which cause them to make a connection between colours and emotions. Nevertheless, some generalisations have been used to determine which age groups prefer which colours and which colours generate perceived emotions on groups. Colour can be vibrant and arresting, or calm and soothing, we all are born with our personal response to colour. Colour is powerful and personal; each one has its own unique colour palette.
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Fraser, T. and Banks, A. (2004), The complete guide to colour, ILEX, East Sussex. Guilford, J. and Smith, P. (1959), “A system of colour preferences”, American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 72 No. 4, pp. 487–502. Engelbrecht, K. (2003). The impact of colour on learning. Chicago, IL: Perkins & Will Chiazzari, S. (1998). The Complete Book of colour, Elements Books Ltd., Boston. Sharpe, D. T. (1975). The psychology of colour and design (No. 313). University Press of Amer. ISBN-13: 9780822603139 Rohmann, C. (2000). A world of ideas: A dictionary of important theories, concepts, beliefs, and thinkers. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN-13: 978-0345437068 Eckstut, J., & Eckstut, A. (2013). The secret language of colour: Science, nature, history, culture, beauty of red, orange, yellow, green, blue & violet. ISBN-13: 9781579129491 Osgood, C. E., May, W. H., & Miron, M. S. (1975). Cross-cultural universals of affective meaning. Urbana: U.P. ISBN-13: 9780252004261 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1810), Theory of Colours Faber-Birren Elliot, Andrew J. (2015), colour and psychological functioning: a review of Theoretical and empirical work Gökçakan, Kaan, (2016), Characteristics Of Colours, Interior Design And Their Psychological And Physiological Effects Whitfield, T. W. Allan, (2013), The Arcane Roots of Colour Psychology,Chromotherapy, and Colour Forecasting Jain, Akshara, (2017), Psychology of Colours in Building Design Minah, Galen, (2008), Colour as Idea: The Conceptual Basis for Using Colour in Architecture and Urban Design
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Dissertation 2019-2020 31. https://www.colourtherapyhealing.com/colour-therapy/how-colour-therapy-is-usedtherapy 32. https://www.bergerpaints.com/imaginecolours/featured-experts/colours-and-architecture 33. https://www.planndesign.com/articles/2709-importance-colour-architecture
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