Color in Architecture
Experiencing everyday life is related to the events that happen throughout the day, which in their turn influence the perception of the color in the environment. Vise versa, the use of color in architecture dictated by the expected emotional state of the user can improve the experience of the environment as a whole. How can the correct use of color in architecture improve the experience of the user?
“Architecture is a function of the plan and the section. The entire game consists of these two essential methods one horizontal, the other vertical –for expressing volume and space [...] Polychromy is an architectural technique as powerful as the plan and the section. Better than that: polychromy is itself an element of the plan and the section“
Le Corbusier
The architecture of color can be described as highly responsive, emotional, and significant, but at the same time while it can generate color it can’t be generated by the color. The architecture does not directly address color, and the color does not address architecture, but instead it refines it, improving the created effects on people who experience it or degrading the outcomes of the processes that take place in case of being misused. In order to exist, the color inherits properties from the other architectural aspects:
·properties of materials;
·properties of space;
·properties of light;
·properties of time.
The representation of color in architecture can be classified as 11 precedents in which the color plays different function, arranged 1 through 11 where 1 is the most used function, and 11 is the most underused function of color:
1.Psychological (stereotypical) - this type of precedent is “flashy” and carries the purpose of separating itself from the rest of the environment. By the language of color it accomplishes its mission to stand out and attract attention, the same way as the merchandise in a store is arrange to attract people and make them want to purchase more than what they need. The color itself in this particular case is not as important as the change in it. Many color theories are based solemnly off this use of hues in an attempt to connect certain ones with personality traits and behavioral patterns. While it can be easily used in a private residence, where the user's personality is well known, it becomes harder to achieve anything with it in public spaces, where people with different personalities would be expected to react to a hue in a specific way. As the society becomes more and more cosmopolitan, the behavioral patterns become harder to predict, making this use of color obsolete.
2.Activating Spaces - the function of color that mostly relates to contemporary architecture and looking at contemporary issues and the future rather than relying on precedent. This type of color use is meant to be explored and discovered by the users, encouraging interaction and curiosity. The composition may consist of elements like points (objects), surfaces (floors, walls, terraces) and lines (pathways) can be used.
On this photo by Irina Romanova the pavilions in Park De La Villette act like the elements asking for interaction, activating the areas around them for the users to interact with.
3.Didactic Reasoning – may be used a way to camouflage architecture. This function of color steps away from seeing color as a hue and adds architecture as a third dimension to it. The completed work represents a project that can be seen as a whole, instead of a collection of elements. In Villa Savoye Le Corbusier introduced the problem of “interior” and “exterior” in the perception of a three dimensional structure and concluded that the only way to present the spatial unity could be if the “exterior,” or the envelope of the building, was not dissolved through differently colored planes (according to Flora Samuel in Le Corbusier and the Architectural Promenade, 2010).
Villa Savoye.©Flavio Bragaia. http://www.archdaily.com/84524/ad-classics-villa-savoye-le-corbusier/5037e68628ba0d599b00035a-ad-classics-villa-savoye-le-corbusier-image
4.Sculpting - the use of color as an additional element to the traditional space and form, which are no longer determined solely by the classic tools of the plan view and the sectional view. The color in this precedent plays a role equal to a role of not just a surface, but a whole element, like a wall or a floor.
5.Layering - the function of color used to determine the special relationship between the elements of architecture and the user. It may create a relationship between each component of the building or structure and signifies its importance compared to the surrounding elements, as well as the age or the phase it could be created in or some other characteristic quality of the element separated into a different mental layer.
6.Perceiving - the function of color defined by the use of certain hues in order to reach the desirable perception of the space by the users. The power of perceptive qualities of the choice of color can be tested by comparing the chosen hue with others and seeing how the perception of the building is changing each time. This use of color depends largely on the customs and sites people are mentally associating certain functions with, such as the White house being white or the barns in the countryside being red.
7.Differentiating - the function of color that determines the expression of the difference of functions carried in each space by the language of color. Each space is placed on the color wheel where the color works as a guiding tool separating the different functions of the space.
8.Signage (+culture) - The use of color determined by the attempt to warn the user about a certain process or purpose assigned to the certain space. A lot like road lights, it is designed to mentally prepare the user to the occurrence related to the environment they are about to enter. Cultural use of color is a special function, directly related to the signage. Cultural aspect in architecture is related to the deep emotional understanding of color from the point of view of the specific cultural background of the user, spiritual, and personal experience of an individual.
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo studio house. ©Rene Burri. http://architizer.com/blog/luis-barrahan-mexican-modernists/
9.Situational - the use of color defined by a certain specific situation that the space is designed for, such as the color brought into the building through a skylight, creating the natural bridge between the inside and the outside of a building if the room is going to benefit and the environment is going to be more inviting for the particular function.
10.Narrative - the function of color defined by its use in the context of the space in order for the space to be defined by self-explanatory series of events or relating to a certain event or occurrence. This type of a color function tells the user a story and allows to understand the purpose of the space by the language of color.
11.Theatrical - event-oriented function of color, the goal of which is preparing the user to the action that is about to occur by the changes of light and color in the environment. It allows people to define the programmatic expectancy of color by reacting to the hues and adjusting them.
The Skyspace. ©Florian Hotzherr. http://www.archdaily.com/560974/the-color-inside-overland-partners-james-turrell-skyspace/
The selected color functions can also be analyzed by their abilities to create flexible and personalized spaced. In this case the functions will range 1 through 11 where 1 is the least flexible and personalized use of color, and 11 creates the most easily adjustable environments. It becomes especially important to find the right combination of color use in public buildings, where people of different cultures and backgrounds need to feel equally comfortable in everyday situations.
