An Apologia for the inclusion of the combined study of Colour and Light in the Process of Architectural Design (original) (raw)
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ACA 2019, 2019
According to the father of Organic Architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright as rightly said, that the mother art is Architecture, without Architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization. Art and Architecture should live as a family or live as husband and wife. No Architecture is good without the application of art. A building without art is like Bread without butter or tea without sugar. The use of colour in Architecture has been effectively applied since the early ages in both India as well as Europe, Middle Eastern and Chinese cultures. In Italy, during the Baroque era, architecture was assigned the role of conveying emotions and captivating the imagination of the masses visiting churches. Colour played a vital role in fulfilling this architectural ambition. Following that trajectory of radical use of colour and blending it with his curvilinear fluid forms that were done by the master architect Antonio Gaudi during his time. He was perhaps the most radical in his experimentation of colour and architectural form and showcasing to the world the magic that could happen when the two combined. Colour plays a significant role in the perception of a space in the human mind. When lighter shades are used, it makes the space appear bigger. On the other hand, using darker shades make the same space look smaller. Hence colours can be used to adjust the proportion of a building space. In the Expression of material, we saw in the example of falling water that light painted materials seem lighter than dark coloured materials. Other visual effects of colour can make things look further away or more distant; larger or smaller; cooler or warmer. For example, a cool blue bathroom and warm red living room. This paper is a review of literature that were collected from documents, journals, books, periodical and other materials that will explore the key importance of art and appreciation of colours in Architecture.
Architecture is space built for human life, and colour in architecture means colouring this space, or spaces. To choose colour for rooms within a building is profoundly different from two-dimensional artwork or colour design, as the spatial preconditions themselves interact with the chosen colours to form a three-dimensional totality. On the other hand, the experience of space is always present in our visual perceptions, even when we look at surfaces that physically have only two dimensions. Colour presupposes light, and the understanding of light and shadow is decisive for our spatial understanding. The purpose of this article is to discuss the issues of colour, light and space, mainly with reference to current Swedish research results and the experiences of practicing architects and interior designers.
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In the realisation of a colour design, or of a colour plan, every designer should have the availability of a set of basic tools to prevent him or her from performing prejudicial operations in the territory, in the landscape, in the city, in the neighbourhood, and in the individual building. The same designer should then know some rules in the colour choice that will enhance the built environment. The approach to colour selection depends on many factors, for example the building size and function, the combination of spaces, the urban form, the dimensions of streets, alleys, plazas, squares and so on, but especially the specificity of the place. By this we mean the history, traditions, culture, geographical location, the qualities and weaknesses, the range of possible design/conservation options and all those characteristics that distinguish one place from another. So it should be clear to the designer who faces a chromatic project, that he or she primarily needs a dedicated strategy,...
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Drawings made by architects have been the object of several studies and publications, however, usually focused on themes that encompass skills, methods, conventions, or representations. This paper addresses drawings done by Portuguese architects, from a completely different standpoint: an enquiry directed to the role of colour. It is generally accepted that colour is a very significant tool and a powerful means of expression, operating at many perceptive levels that can add information and meaning to an image. However, specifically when related to drawings made during the development of an architectural project, how significant is colour in the actual 'making of the drawing' and what meanings are attached to it when part of a range of steps and different stages of this complex process? These were the leading research questions that initiated an ongoing investigation within a PhD program in Fine Arts-specialization in Drawing that responds to more overarching issues such as how colour triggers the imagination and thinking process. From the analysis of drawings and discussion with their authors, significant functions and uses of colour began to emerge. Some applications of colour are more straightforward and illustrative in essence than other more personal interpretations and explorations of colour. In fact, this research demonstrates how colour is used for conceptualization of the architectural project; the extent to which colour can operate as an organizational tool; how it can complement the use of only one colour such as black; or even how colour helps disentangle the drawing, as Le Corbusier put it.
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Color Research and Application, 2006
This article examines some of the outstanding contributions or points of interest in the research and application of color in architecture, from ancient times to the present. The discourses about color are classified by periods and according to the utterers: theoreticians or writers of architectural treatises, archeologists and historians of architecture, architects who have been relevant in professional practice, color theorists coming from the fields of architecture and design, and color researchers related to the International Color Association. As a conclusion, the main characteristics of these discourses about color are summarized, and a point is made about the use of instruments derived from color science in color design, implying that the evolution in the use of color in environmental design and the research in this field will increasingly rely on the interaction between scientists and designers. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 31, 350–363, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20224
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Colour has accompanied man throughout time since the beginnings, the primitive man used colour to paint drawings in caves, so the relationship between man and colour was, and still is, one of the closest. In architecture, colour swung between the magic, ritualic role and aesthetics, between outside and inside, scoring or reinterpreting in every step new facets and meanings. This article is a brief overview of the main aspects of this evolution, from the prehistoric times to the present with an emphasis on the relationship between the colour and the architectural composition.
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A workshop conducted with students about colour in interior design and methods of colour selection emphasises the importance of colour knowledge and its place in education. This paper contains studio practice and the evaluation of the works that are organised with the interior architecture students in a studio in Turkey. The studio aims to inform and practice the students about colour knowledge and methods of colour selection that has a significant role in the interior architecture profession. The workshop methodology consists of three phases: a pre-study, a presentation of this topic and finally, the same practice done again by students using the methods in presentations. Space is the same in the first and the last studies in which the students made colour selections, thus students can compare and interpret these two works. It is observed that the workshop made a significant difference in colour perception of the students.
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