Color in architecture

This article explores the effects of using black on spatial experience by means of phenomenological analysis of its architectural examples with a special focus on Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Peter Zumthor. Contrary to the growing interest in the color in contemporary architecture, black rarely found a place in architectural history and in studies on color design. Whereas, the distinct achromatic qualities of the color that appear highly self-contradictory swinging back and forth from absence to presence cover a wide range of potentials to be used in architectural design. Through insights delved into the spatial experience constructed around these qualities, this paper attempts to analyze how black is used as a design element in built environments. This analysis revolves around Zumthor’s pavilion, which stood as a uniform black box on the expanse of green grass of London Kensington Gardens for more than three months in 2011. Encompassing various oppositions, the box built to surround a hortus conclusus, an enclosed garden inside, provided its visitors with a unique spatial experience depending predominantly on the combination of its form, tectonics and the qualities of its color, black. The phenomenological analysis of these qualities manifests that the architect utilized the contradictory characteristics of the color intentionally in order to create a complex and manifold spatial experience for visitors in and out the box. In an interplay of absence and presence, momentary crystallizations of the vision of black provide architects with uncharted opportunities for creative use of color in the design of built environments.

Color 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, Color always played an important role in the human evolutionary processes from the simple human shelters to the huge mega cities The environment and its colors are perceived, and the brain processes and judges what it perceives on an objective and subjective basis. Psychological influence, communication, information, and effects on the psyche are aspects of our perceptual judgment processes. Hence, the goals of color design in an architectural space are not relegated to decoration alone (Mahnke, 2015). This paper aims to study the color as a human nature that has been related to the built-in Environment, and how color as a human activity, is important to the level of being a need, not only to achieve some decorative or aesthetical values, but also to fulfill some needs of the human being that they cannot live without, starting from studying color in natural environment till color as an important component of Man-made environment represented in architectural and urban contexts, this paper also questions the importance of color in humans life, and how it is related and important to many vital activities of the human being, not only as a fashion or an architects Design for a specific building or an urban planner setup.

Brief survey of Colour and Light in the Places of Transient Dwelling in the times of booking, airbnb and low cost flights. Chapter of the book: P. Zennaro, editor, EAST & WEST. Culture of Colour and Light in Architecture. Maggioli, Milan, 2017, pp. 40-57. ISBN 978-88-916-2408-5 https://issuu.com/alepremier/docs/colour_and_light_in_the_places_of_t

The color theories formulated in the Bauhaus in the late 1910s — early 1930s became key concepts for the further development of Western European coloristic culture. The coloristic solutions of the architectural environment, visual and decorative arts, which were found by the Bauhaus masters and disciples, developed in the context of avant-garde trends at that time prevailing in Germany.
The Bauhaus first years were marked by the influence of Expressionism. Color had to perform an important social task by improving the quality of life, filling with emotions and bringing up a “new spirit”. At the same time, the coloristic solutions reflected the individuality of the authors. The expressionist period in the Bauhaus is associated with the name of J. Itten and his Vorkurs. In 1921–1924, with the beginning of T. van Doesburg’s lectures, De Stihl’s color concept spread. The rationalistic coloristic solution ensured the integrity of an individual work and synthesis of all the products produced for life, its relation with space. It constrained the pronounced individualism, diversity and excessiveness characteristic of Expressionism. The theories of V. Kandinsky and P. Klee had the features of rationalism, but at the same time they retained quite a lot of expressionist characteristics. Functional color should be fully devoted to the subject, which it colors, and its purpose. In the building, it is called upon to ensure integrity, to organize movement in space, and to exert an emotional impact corresponding to the functional use of the room. In printed products, color organizes the plane, provides simplicity, speeds up information assimilation, etc. Employing the theory of W. Ostwald, H. Scheper, J. Schmidt, H. Bayer used the functional color. When H. Meyer replaced W. Gropius as director in 1928, the functional side began to play even more significant role. The next director of the Bauhaus, Mis van der Rohe, rejected the paint in his work as excessive decoration, hiding the natural color and material properties.
The analysis of particular works allows to see how the color theory came into close relationship with socio-political aims, general trends in art, while remaining consistent with productive necessity, with those expressive means available to certain kinds of products, as well as with personal thoughts of masters and directors of the Bauhaus.

Most people spend most of their times within the built environment. These man-made spaces are a major part of our lives. The design elements provided by these built environments impact human well-being. One of the key senses that effects human well-being is ‘visual comfort’ and one of the major aspects of visual comfort is ‘colour’.
Colour is a crucial design element that directly impacts human physical behavior and mood especially within a built environment. If this critical design element is not selected in a professional manner, then it can have negative effects on the user in terms of physical well-being. Colour defines the atmosphere of the interior space and it can change the nature of environments. Environments that need special colour consideration are healthcare facilities. Healing spaces are vital environments that treat human well-being and it is a substantial responsibility to consider the key design element of colour when making design decisions.
The aim of this research is to investigate the physiological effect of patient colour perception in health care facilities. This paper aims to answer the question that arises from this topic; can colour benefit patient well-being? To gain knowledge of how patients are impacted by colour, a combination of review of literature and of experimental studies (experiments in a controlled environments) is utilized. By following this method, this research then reveals which colours have positive effect on patient’s well-being.
Literature review covers case studies, previous experimental studies and surveys. Since there is limited experimental research on colour perception within healing environments, this research paper considers only a handful of experimental studies that specifically focus on patient colour preference and the physiological effects of colour within patient rooms in healthcare facilities; a designed/controlled environment where authors survey and test patient’s well-being under specific colours. Other experimental studies on other types of built environments investigating colour and its physiological effect on participants are also discussed. The reason behind reviewing other built environments is to understand which colours have arousal and calming effects so that this information can be interpreted for healthcare patient rooms. This method is achieved by providing qualitative analysis of quantitative and qualitative methods of study. After reviewing these case studies this research will then compare their results. Thus, the research will investigate the potentials, limitations, further research suggestions, strengths and weaknesses of previous research. While there are minimal colour considerations when making design decisions for patient rooms in healthcare facilities, most that are made are not based on scientific fact, quantitative or even qualitative research. Designers in the field need to understand the importance of colour, which can benefit human well-being when considered professionally.

The Mediterranean is a myth that has its origin in a time of which History itself has no memory. The Mediterranean borders are a constantly changing geometry: they move, expand and shrink, welcome and exile, reward and punish. From the special relationship between the Mediterranean and the white color arises the idea of a city, an investigation about the genesis of the forms and colors of the mare nostrum, a sedimentation of various studies and research, rearranged in a story. The white city is the landscape-cultural mosaic of the Mediterranean. As Marco Polo tells of innumerable invisible cities that are fragments of his Venice, the Mediterranean is a city that is all the cities: white (and invisible), as an unintelligible identity, the city is at the same time local and universal, and anyone can search for their own roots in it.

Time is inseparable from the act of perception, and in particular of visual perception. Wittgenstein  states that space, time and colour are forms of objects. Time is also present in how a space is affected by light over a day. The perceptual processing of chromatic environment, dictated by changes in the natural light, is an important indication of the passage of time and a powerful relationship to the circadian cycle that regulates our biological clock.
We can use colour variation through reflected colours as a design tool to increment quality to daily perception in places designed for long periods of human presence like offices and schools. With a close intertwined work with the architects that define the goals for each space this approach could lead to more aesthetical and comfortable environments for human presence.

The myth of white in architecture has ancient roots partially sprouting from a classic ideal revived by modernism that now seems to acquire new values. Also in light of its current global dissemination – from the US to Europe and Japan – white architecture cannot be considered as a fad, nor can it be reduced to a mere Mediterranean character. Fran Silvestre Arquitectos’ production exemplifies the complexity of this phenomenon with its presence in the contemporary international scene and a range of works, mostly housing designs, of remarkable quality. The trajectory illustrated in this book partially results from the re-reading of the modern as well as Mediterranean architectural tradition, and has additionally benefitted from a constant experimentation on construction techniques, technologies and materials. The choice of white for these architectures is not disconnected from spatial principles – quite the opposite, as it contributes to composition, highlights its effects, underlines its contrasts and consistency, and affects the relationships between forms and the relations with the site. Designing white architecture means above all enhancing the importance of light, form, space and its perception.

We analyze the main indicators, both objective and subjective, that specialists have
proposed to assess the visual integration degree of an architecture which has a high level of
impact on urban or natural landscape. So far, most of the legislation on this issue mainly
concerned industrial and energy installations in natural environments. However, more
recent Spanish legislation (LOTPP 2004, RPCV 2006, etc.), like many others in the
European Union do, demands considering some other architectural settings, such as the
urban edges, the roads into city, or the cultural heritage environments. This requires
developing a ‘landscape integration study’ with civil participation, in which color has to be
evaluated as a conditioning aesthetic fact, but regulations do not give specific guidance on
how to evaluate such a feature. Research on visual integration developed for industry;
usually assess in an objective manner the impact of color by calculating an index based on
the difference between the average color of the element to be integrated and the one of the
background. However, the work of artists and architects demonstrate that there exist many
other visual integration strategies which are worthy and are not based on color matching.

The relevance that colour is acquiring in contemporary architecture has much to do with new technologies, that expand the way we perceive, conceive and materialize a specific architecture. It remains an obsession by novelty, understood as an artistic value itself, a legacy of the avant-gardes of the 20th century, which failed in their ‘fight against technological obsolescence’ (Hobswan 1999) and remained ‘in the rear’ in relation to mass media. Computers interfere in the nature of colour (1), its composition (2) and its materiality (3), among other factors.

Brief survey of Colour and Light in the Places of Transient Dwelling in the times of booking, airbnb and low cost flights.

Chapter of the book: P. Zennaro, editor, EAST & WEST. Culture of Colour and Light in Architecture. Maggioli, Milan, 2017, pp. 40-57. ISBN 978-88-916-2408-5

https://issuu.com/alepremier/docs/colour_and_light_in_the_places_of_t

J. Ruskin (1849) rejected the simulation of materials with color, opposing to a usual expressive source in ancient buildings. Modern architecture complied with this principle using "flat colors", which abstract the nature of the material. Postmodernism reintroduced textures with color but did not imitate other materials, with exceptions like Portuguese Tomas Taveira. Nowadays, the “material truth” is identified either with any pigmentation that is not applied on site (something that is claimed even by unprejudiced architects such as W. Alsop); or with artificial colors but integrated into the material (like in Paula Rego’s house, by Souto de Moura).
Contemporary materials may have any pattern, reconciling the respect for "a priori" provisions together with an imitation of new textures, something evident in buildings by R. Koolhas or Herzog & de Meuron. The Ruskinian principle has evolved, but remains latent in contemporary architecture.

Abstract: This article explores the effects of using black on spatial experience by means of phenomenological analysis of its architectural examples with a special focus on Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Peter Zumthor. Contrary to the growing interest in the color in contemporary architecture, black rarely found a place in architectural history and in studies on color design. Whereas, the distinct achromatic qualities of the color that appear highly self-contradictory swinging back and forth from absence to presence cover a wide range of potentials to be used in architectural design. Through insights delved into the spatial experience constructed around these qualities, this paper attempts to analyze how black is used as a design element in built environments. This analysis revolves around Zumthor s pavilion, which stood as a uniform black box on the expanse of green grass of London Kensington Gardens for more than three months in 2011. Encompassing various oppositions, the box built to surround a hortus conclusus, an enclosed garden inside, provided its visitors with a unique spatial experience depending predominantly on the combination of its form, tectonics and the qualities of its color, black. The phenomenological analysis of these qualities manifests that the architect utilized the contradictory characteristics of the color intentionally in order to create a complex and manifold spatial experience for visitors in and outside the box. In an interplay of absence and presence, momentary crystallizations of the vision of black provide architects with uncharted opportunities for creative use of color in the design of built environments. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 42, 378–387, 2017

L'expérience multi sensorielle de l'enfant face à son environnement scolaireune nouvelle vision des écoles en Algérie-                                         
                                                                                                                                   
The multi-sensory experience of the child facing his school environmenta new vision of schools in Algeria.

... The chromatic and formal characteristics of the domi-nant typology therefore chromatically reflect the whole of the area ... said that although a con-siderable part of the form and landscape of 19th century urban Classicism have ... 4. Tipological structure of Historical town of Valencia. ...

Se al colore della modernità corrisponde la legge dei toni piatti, costruttivi e antidecorativi, la gradazione cromatica si potrebbe interpretare come l’emancipazione di un colore che si libera dalla forma architettonica. L’architetto italiano Piero Bottoni si affanna, in piena modernità, per dare ragioni architettoniche (costruttive) ai toni graduati dei colori e descrive l’interferenza che suddette gradazioni provocano sull’equilibrio della forma.
In sintonia con la pittura rinascimentale, la gradazione cromatica permette di sfumare la corporeità di un volume, la sua massa. Allo stesso modo, questa gradazione cromatica può alterare la percezione della geometria di un oggetto e ottenere un certo effetto di movimento (Jorrit Tornquist). Può anche pretendere di camuffare l’architettura con l’ambiente circostante o cercarvi una certa complicità (studio B&B Colordesign). La gradazione cromatica si può distribuire seguendo il suo semplice fascino estetico, in modo da stabilire un dialogo con l’ambiente circostante (Ernst von Garnier) e non (Jean Nouvelle), reinterpretare il colore del contesto (Sauerbruch & Hutton) o prendere come punto di riferimento un modello lontano (Enric Miralles y Benedetta Tagliabue)

En este artículo se reflexiona sobre la vinculación cromática que establece la arquitectura contemporánea respecto a su contexto construido ó natural. Toda realidad construida establece un diálogo formal con el paisaje en el que se inserta, lo que implica una reflexión sobre las características propias de la arquitectura y su correlato en el medio físico: geometría, dimensiones, materialidad, color, etc. Los arquitectos describen habitualmente la naturaleza de estas características que sirven a menudo como punto de partida y fuente de inspiración para desatar el proceso creativo que acompaña a una obra. No obstante, se observa a menudo que la relación cromática del nuevo edificio respecto de su contexto inmediato queda estudiada con menor intensidad o incluso con un exceso de desinterés.
La reflexión sobre cómo atiende la arquitectura contemporánea al color del paisaje, en definitiva, implica una análisis que va más allá y cuestiona la trayectoria de la profesión en su puesta en crisis del objeto arquitectónico entendido como elemento escultórico aislado a la manera “moderna”, a favor de una nueva actitud ante el proyecto que tenga en cuenta más variables contextuales, como son aquellas de origen cromático, fuertemente enraizadas en nuestra memoria de un lugar y a la vez extremadamente vulnerables y fáciles de distorsionar.

L’architettura del Movimento Moderno è stata spesso associata con il colore bianco, e questa identificazione è perdurata per anni, fino a diventare un’idea quasi mitica. Come accade con altri miti, l’origine dello stretto legame bianco-moderno non è certa né è strettamente legata alla verità storica mentre è costellata di personaggi eroici che raccontano l’origine del mondo, in questo caso dell’architettura contemporanea. In questo articolo vengono analizzate e discusse le motivazioni di questo mito, si ripercorrono i momenti salienti del conflitto tra i sostenitori dell’impiego di ampie gamme di colori e coloro che parteggiano invece per una forte riduzione della varietà cromatica nell’architettura del Ventesimo secolo; si individuano inoltre alcune delle motivazioni culturali e delle cause inconsapevoli di questa cromofobia.

Algunos críticos de arquitectura consideran al artista William Alsop (1947- ) como el tercer arquitecto británico más importante después de Sir Norman Foster y Sir Richard Rogers (Barber, 2007). Estudió en la Architectural Association School (AA) en Londres, y con veintitrés años participó en el concurso internacional para el diseño del Centro Georges Pompidou, en Paris, quedando en segunda posición detrás del equipo de Richard Rogers y Renzo Piano. Alsop destaca no sólo por sus edificios sino también por sus interesantes propuestas artísticas. Sus cuadros muestran una continua experimentación sobre las posibilidades plásticas de las formas y del color, junto con un modo muy personal de expresar la arquitectura.

The colours and shapes of food in the decoration of a building were common in traditional
architecture, particularly in the Spanish regions of Catalonia and Valencia in the nineteenth century.
During the modernist period, we can distinguish both an abstract and a mimetic tendency in these
colour transfers. Coloured glazed tiles were often used to cover modernist public buildings in the
Spanish Mediterranean coast. The roof of Santa Caterina market in Barcelona follows this abstract
modernist tradition and starts from the picture of a food stall as an inspiration. In the same way as some other contemporary architects, Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue used a computer-aided process of pixilation to design a shiny coloured composition that reminds us of traditional colour transfer techniques from nature and traditional building materials. The result is a market conceived as a palimpsest in which various historical layers from the past can be read. Moreover, it represents in a virtual manner the chromatic experiences that take place in the spaces inside. The building features a type of transparency that is consistent with contemporary perception and which blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction.