the color of education russell fleming
THESIS ABSTRACT
The use of color in architecture has been an ever-growing concept the last ten to twenty years. However, these theories have not been developed past the literal use of color in architectural space. Understanding what inuences color and how it is able to convey a sense of space is the next developmental step. The properties of color are extremely similar to that of successful architecture. There is a strong connection to light, clarity of individual moments, relationships able to form a composition, and it ’s able to convey information. Through the study of color theorists, the effects of color on the human mind, and architecture, this thesis will generate a conclusion of why the use of color as a catalyst, not a nishing touch, is able to create successful architecture.
RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING COLOR AND EDUCATION
The use of color in architecture has been an ever-growing concept the last ten to twenty years. However, these theories have not been developed past the literal use of color in architectural space. Understanding what inuences color and how it is able to convey a sense of space is the next developmental step. The properties of color are extremely similar to that of successful architecture. There is a strong connection to light, clarity of individual moments, relationships able to form a composition, and it ’s able to convey information. Through the study of color theorists, the effects of color on the human mind, and architecture, this thesis will generate a conclusion of why the use of color as a catalyst, not a nishing touch, is able to create successful architecture. The human mind receives around eighty percent of its information from the environment it perceives. Color makes up and belongs to every environment that is used for this informational gathering; therefore color is necessary for the mind to generate and understand information. 1 However, the gathering of information through color can only be accomplished in the human mind through surrounding factors in the perceived environment. Color must be shaped by light in order for it to generate a human response displaying the informational characteristics of the environment. 2
1. Mahnke, Frank H. Color, Environment, and Human Response: an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Color and Its Use as a Benecial Element in the Design of the Architectural Environment (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996) 10. 2. Swirnoff, Lois The Color of Cities: an International Perspective (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000)
Because light must be established in order to form color, color is actually dened to be a form of energy. Energy systems, such as light, are widely accepted to have the ability to generate inuential moments on the human body and its cognitive functions. However, introducing a second layer of an energy system, like a color to compliment light, is able to generate countless inuential moments and properties towards the human mind. Simply put, light without color is only able to generate a limited response in the human mind, while color, a continuation of light, is able to produce additional responses giving more options toward specic use and inuence on humans. These specic uses of color on humans have been studied and discussed proving the impact on emotional and aesthetic associations; color inuences us both psychologically and physiologically. 3 Kurt Goldstein, a German neurologist and psychiatrist, produced a series of tests on the emotional relationships to color. Goldstein used cognitive and vital function machines as well as verbal emotional description to record results as he surrounded individuals with a single color. The results were fairly simple, but compelling nonetheless. They concluded that there was a specic emotional connection tied to specic colors. Red light generated a heightened pulse with an increased unpleasant feeling, yellow light made the individual feel comfortable and condent, blue was calming and pleasant, while green was able to create a compelled and pleasant feeling. 4 More recently, Harry Wohlfarth, a university professor and color scientist created a study directly linking the effects of color on students in an educational setting. Four schools were evaluated over a year testing period. One school was treated with new color and lighting techniques, one with only color, one with only lighting, and one school remained unchanged. The school using new light and color methods showed the most signicant gain in every category. There was reduced aggression of students, increased overall educational performance noted by teachers, increased IQ scores, and even lower blood pressure related to stress. The school using only new color methods scored second overall, light only scored third, and the control scored the lowest in every category. 5 Architects like Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas, Alessandro Mendini, and Richard Rogers all have developed and become famous for the use of color to create language through organizational systems in their buildings. Fosters Commerzbank Headquarters in Hamburg, Germany use three primary colors to dene and support everyday trafc and orientation in the building. He has used color coding in circulate cores, signage, and other navigational items, making the experience of navigating the building simple and pleasurable for its user. 6 Or projects like Roger ’s Barajas Airport, where each architectural element is color- coded to give the user a clear understanding of each function of the building for ease of use and a clear mind. The use of color for waynding and circulatory organization has been successful in special education projects as well. It is here where architecture can convey a secondary language for its users. Projects like the Bangkok School for the Blind or the Illinois Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped make use of organization through color to create this secondary language. The Illinois Regional Library uses color to provide a structural diagram for its users giving orientation cues and guiding elements, while the Bangkok School for the Blind uses color to help the partially sighted mark industrial hazards. Both creating a language in the building through color specically tailored. 7
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Mahnke 18. Mahnke 18. Mahnke 183. Arnoldi, Per, and James Manley “Colour Is Communication ”: Selected Projects for Foster Partners (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2007) 7. Porter, Tom Architectural Color (New York: Watson-guptill,1985) 70.
Projects like the Children ’s institute in Los Angeles or the ASPIRE National Training Center in North London are able expand past the use of color as an organizational language and conquer the emotional inuences of color on humans. The Children ’s institute in Los Angeles, a project for homeless children, implemented color for the “realization of a warm and cheerful atmosphere for young children. ” 8 While Aspire, by Norman Foster, a center children with spinal injuries, used color to generate a feeling of liveliness and to convey a sense of hope. Workers have noticed a substantial improvement in mood and progress since the new building by Foster has began its use. 9 In conclusion, providing a solid education is more than teachers and facts, it requires a positive social environment within the school, an environment that creates a sense of caring, guidance, and coherence. Research shows that color is the link that often becomes overlooked in this educational process. However, color for the sake of color is not the solution to these student ’s educational issues, just as minimal, bleak environments are the same. Color must be rational and mathematical in its approach in order to accomplish anything constructive. 10 Alessandro Mendini, an innovator of the use of color in architecture stated in an interview something that I believe summarizes the proper use of color through architecture for these students. He said that “color is repeatedly said to correspond to tones, sounds ” and that “the idea of color as a language, as an alphabet, comes back as a system of signs in itself. ” 11 The use of color through architecture will be able to generate an unspoken language, a language that is able to create a clarity of architecture that is unsurpassed.
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Linton, Harold Color in Architecture: Design Methods for Buildings, Interiors and Urban Spaces (New York MacGraw-Hill, 1999) 64. Arnoldi 38. Mahnke 183. Koolhaas, Rem Colours (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2001) 239.
SITE As a precursor to my work in color, I needed to nd a suitable site. I chose a plot in downtown Boston, MA. The site is the current Charles Schwab building located in Post Ofce Square. I decided on this site for a few reasons. The site has surroundings from multiple time periods of architecture and culture in Boston, because of this, introducing a contemporary structure would not disrupt the surroundings. Also, the containment of the site creates a vertical structure, a closed building. This is a typology of construction that I feel color would be well suited for due to it being able to create large scale relationships through light, layering , and circulation. The containment of the structure also allows me to focus on more pure ideas due to only having so much room to sprawl. This narrows my research to produce only the most signicant architectural moves directed through the use of color.
URBAN LAYERING Boston is known for its combination of organic and linear street grid. My site is located in the more dense organic section of Boston ’s city blocks, but is walking distance from the newer grid, and new construction like the green way and harbor walk. Because of this, my site has a clear system of layering leading up to it. While this is not an urban planning thesis, it does rely on the ideas of color and its properties of layering. Understanding the layering of the site is the rst step to linking it to the layering properties of color.
Layer 1: Boston At this scale there is a clear sense of density and concentration towards my site. The surrounding areas fade away as the layers become less active.
Layer 2: Financial District
Layer 3: Post Ofce Square
Zooming in, the layers of the organic blocks start creating ideas of view and light source in relation to open space.
The immediate site shows the nal layer, with a signicant difference in scale from the front to the back of the site.
CREATING RELATIONSHIPS: HEIGHT,VIEW,LIGHT Just as color can create clear relationships so can a site to its surroundings. Because color is reliant on light it is imperative to understand the surrounding building heights to get a sense of light source and amount. The ďƒželd of view is able to give an understanding of the open space available at the mean building height. This open space can then be understood as available light. This is then interpreted diagrammatically as layers, similar to color. The further the light source or view, the higher the chance it is interfered with in an urban setting.
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Layered Field
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SHADE / LIGHT Taking the light study a step further, I developed images to show the relationship between the extremities of shade and light on the site. Just as complimentary colors have a strong relationship with their opposition, it is necessary to understand how shade can take over a dense urban site like this to really understand how light can be used.
Summer Solstice 9AM
Winter Solstice 9AM
Summer Solstice 12PM
Winter Solstice 12PM
Summer Solstice 6PM
Winter Solstice 4PM
These studies show the signiďƒžcant difference in light qualities due to the strong south facing light in relationship to the large open park and smaller scaled rear of the site.
COLOR THEORY Upon nishing my research geared more towards education and architectural responses of color currently in use, I began my exploration of color theory. This took me into many different methods and expansions of the properties of color. I found the work of Itten and Albers the most signicant towards developing architectural space. Here I learned thoroughly about how color can become spatial, its ability to create relationships, how it is layered, and the importance of scale. I reproduced works of theorists like Itten and Albers noting each signicant move they made during their explorations. I then developed my own approaches using the same techniques to further develop my knowledge of the properties of color. This was then expanded into my rst attempts of creating architectural space developed from the properties of color.
ITTEN AND ALBERS Alber’’s study showing how one color can be perceived as two due to its relationship with its surroundings. Developing thoughts towards spatial organization and use of light.
Itten color study also showing color perception and relationship, however, this study also beings showing ideas of color scale and layering. Some colors come forward while others recede.
This is an exploration of Alber’’s work in color theory showing how color IS spatial even in two dimensions. It is able to show a sense of light, relationship of separate colors, and convey an informational trait. All of the strongest traits of color in one exploration.
CREATING SPACE After thoroughly exploring the work of numerous color theorists I attempted to model my personal understanding of color. I developed four study models showing what the space of a color would look like. To help narrow my studies, I chose four primary colors to create a pure space. My ndings were inuenced by color theorists, color psychology, and undoubtably subconscious color association. I kept in mind some form or proportion and human scale to coincide with my theories.
I modeled green as a space that had options. Although it is a darker color in its pure form, therefore it would fall back if layered, it still is able to hold signicant association to open space. I understood it as an organic form while still showing rigidity, hence the triangulation forming the shape.
Red is a space that grabs your attention creating focus and entry, but is an overwhelming color. Its scale becomes smaller and more constricting in spatial form.
Yellow is a subtractive, neutral color. It is shallow, focused on light, can be larger in scale and directed outwards.
Blue is a background color, creating an isolated feeling. It is able to serve as passive space, creating individual moments in a whole composition.
SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS Modelling pure spatial ideas was benecial, however there needed to be an understanding of how those spaces related to each other. My models paired with Alber ’s studies developed an order of how each color would meet the other. To focus mainly on connection and relationship I standardized how each space was created. I took sixteen squares and made each space with a similar approach as the last round of models. By standardizing their form I was able to create real connections and relationships of completely different objects.
The information from the individual pieces was similar to the last round of models, however, here I was able to distinguish properties of color that would help shape my design process. Although red and green are complimentary, and opposite on the color wheel, blue and red seem to be spatial opposites. One passive, one active. While green and yellow seem to create transitional space. Yellow has keeps creating a form of entry, while green is more gathering.
DEVELOPMENT After exploring color theory through model, I began to develop a building that showed the properties of color. Color was to be the catalyst for each decision in relation to the architecture. The initial building form, spatial layout, interior and exterior relationships, scale, light source, materiality, literally everything must be derived through the activators and properties that develop color. I worked through this stage very diagrammatically, mainly because color is an excellent conveyor of information, therefore, the building should be able to be read clerkly. There should be an understanding of its function and its connection at a glance. If I had a clear diagram, then I knew it was conveying information properly, just as color does.
ADDRESSING THE SITE Reviewing my site documentation and program size, it was clear that I needed to expand the current site upwards to make the best use of light and space. However, what goes up, must bring light down. I made initial models and sketches using my ďƒžndings with how yellow created subtractive space that would be able to bring light into the space trying a few different conďƒžgurations.
BUILDING FORM The approach to a building form developed from three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. From my initial ďƒžndings I used yellow as the subtractive space creating void to help bring in light. I then used color properties in layering and association to arrange the red and blue spaces. Blue falls back in composition so it would fall to the back of the site. Red grabs attention so it forms spaces on the busy front of the site. Red also went up and blue down for the same reason. There is a front to back and bottom to top layering of color to create a spatial arrangement. Due to color association, this building model also was able to divide the program adequately. Blue becomes passive learning space and red becomes active learning space. Public and private respectively.
VERTICAL LAYERING This diagram explains the beginning stages of the vertical layering through color theory. This was the ďƒžrst introduction of a full idea of program into the building. Also coming in to the structure is the transitional spaces on the shear line of the building. This was derived from the early ďƒžndings of how blue and red spaces react with each other. A transitional space, or shared space is able to relieve the tension between the two opposing ideas.
DEVELOPING PROGRAM Expanding on overall square footage diagramming, I focused on each part as an individual piece and how they become developed. First was the “blue ” space. Here we nd passive learning spaces. This means administration, service, quick information booths, and gallery spaces. Here you do not have the benets of teachers or the studio environment to create an active learning experience. These spaces developed by creating volumes of the square footage needed, then arranging them by prior ndings. I mimicked the undulating form of the original blue models creating individual spaces with individual light sources that are conned by one element. They also follow the layering properties of color, just as the building form did. As the spaces climb vertically toward the transitional space they become more multi functional and multi use spaces.
LIBRARY
GALLERY
INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
ADMINISTRATION
DEVELOPING PROGRAM Just as the “blue ” spaces needed to be inuenced programmatically by color, so do the “red ” spaces. These spaces were developed around the idea of them being active. I used light to activate the space as a whole, just as light does to color. As the spaces rise vertically they become more specic and more active, thus they are more thoroughly activated by shared, lit space. To address the different dynamic of classrooms and studio spaces, I used this light space as the buffer between the two.
STUDIO
CLASSROOM
DEVELOPING PROGRAM Once combined a rich diagram is created clearly showing the progression of space and how they are inuenced by color. However, just as a buffer was needed in the “red ” space, a buffer was needed between the red and blue. This is keep a clear separation of function while still having a shared connection through light. This buffer brought in a perfect opportunity for circulation and an even further way to activate the spaces.
DEVELOPING CIRCULATION I developed this buffering space into a circulation path. Color is a form of energy that can be read in form of a wavelength. I used that reference as a concept to create an undulating path sweeping through the building. This activates both spaces individually and as a whole by energy as movement and being able to bring light through the space.
DEVELOPING USE OF LIGHT Light being the main inuence of color creates a high importance of bringing light all the way through the space connecting it as a full composition. These diagrams show open space, in yellow, and actual oor space, in white. As the building becomes more active and rises, the amount of light brought down becomes greater. Here you can also see the lower oors situated to the back of the site, the transitional oors covering both areas, and the upper oors sitting on the busy front of the site.
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EXECUTION The nal stage was bringing everything together. I took all of my ndings of the properties of color and how they can create space and developed them into a nished building. Remember, this thesis is about taking the PROPERTIES that color has to create a successful architectural representation. There is no use of color just for the sake of color. The nal images represent this theory.
PASSIVE LEARNING SPACES
1. Administration 2. School Retail
5. Information Center 6. Lounge 7. Public Conference
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TRANSITIONAL SPACES
1. Gallery 2. Exterior Terrace 3. Auditorium
4. Library
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AUDITORIUM
TRANSITIONAL / ACTIVE LEARNING SPACES
1. Studio Ofces 2. Library 3. Exterior Terrace
4. Library 5. Classroom
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ACTIVE LEARNING SPACES
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STUDIO ENTRY
SITE SECTION TRANSPARENT This section focuses on showing the individual spaces created in the passive learning area and how light is able to act as a connection to create an overall composition.
LIBRARY ENTRANCE
SITE SECTION Active learning section and how light is able to create a path from top to bottom connecting the entirety of the space while still separating functions.
ACTIVATING LIGHT WELL
SITE SECTION Showing the connection of light through the building, primarily in the transitional levels.
CLASSROOM
SITE SECTION Circulation section showing how movement can mimic the energy and informational quality of color. Clear sense of direction and ďƒ&#x;ow.
ENTRY VOID
BIBLIOGRAPHY Linton, Harold. Color in Architecture: Design Methods for Buildings, Interiors and Urban Spaces. New York [etc.: MacGraw-Hill, 1999. Print Swirnoff, Lois. The Color of Cities: an International Perspective. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. Print. Mahnke, Frank H. Color, Environment, and Human Response: an Interdisciplinary Understanding of Color and Its Use as a Benecial Element in the Design of the Architectural Environment. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1996. Print Koolhaas, Rem. Colours. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2001. Print. Arnoldi, Per, and James Manley. “Colour Is Communication ”: Selected Projects for Foster Partners 19962006. Basel: Birkhäuser, 2007. Print. Designing for Disabled Children and Children with Special Educational Needs: Guidance for Mainstream and Special Schools. Norwich: TSO, 2008. Print. Perkins, L. Bradford. Elementary and Secondary Schools. New York: Wiley, 2001. Print. Gelfand, Lisa, and Eric Corey. Freed. Sustainable School Architecture: Design for Primary and Secondary Schools. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print. Porter, Tom. Architectural Color. New York: Watson-guptill., 1985. Print.