Color in architecture
The color necessary in architecture and beyond interior design or of this function due to the desire to beautify and distinguish the result or to mark its differences with neighbors based on its freshness, capacity for surprise, refinement, originality, etc…. We must understand that color is a prominent variable in building design.
Frete to aesthetic importance (Regardless of times, tastes or trends) The practical function linked to color in architecture results in a series of factors that we must know about the future building to be built..
As an example; To cool or heat the interiors, according to the greater or lesser degree of absorption of the solar rays or that symbolic function, linked to spiritual, intangible, sensitive and even psychological nuances, or to shape where it does not exist, separate, illuminate spaces … etc .
Ultimately, opting for one color or another will partly determine the character of our building. The architecture and color They must live in harmony to be able to form a visual spectacle, but what is the importance of color in architecture and colors in buildings.
A introduction to color that we think deserves to appear in the article:
Psychology of color and its definition
The Theory of color and psychology of colors It is very extensive and its definition can cover a few articles but in summary we can define it as a sensation that is generated in response to the stimulation of the eye and its restless mechanisms, by the light energy of certain wavelengths.
What happens when we perceive an object of a certain color is that the surface of that object reflects part of the phantom of white light that receives and absorbs the rest. White light is made up of 3 basic colors: deep red, green and violet blue.
It is necessary to take into consideration that the color is not a fixed quality of shapes, that is, it can change according to the ambient light, and that through color it is possible to express sensations, ideas and feelings, or even more greens or make the public go through one place instead of another as we will see later.
To the moving in space is our usual conception of considering three dimensions: length, height and depth, that is, the color is transformed:
Similarly, in the chromatic world, to establish a serious and precise ordering, we start by considering that each color moves or modifies according to three directions or specific qualities: value or luminosity, tone or color, and saturation or intensity.
Effects and perceptions of color:
If we go into the color meaning, the different colors produce sensations, many of these in a natural way, and others we have learned culturally and are not the same for western countries as for eastern countries.
Meaning of the colors
Apart from the scheme that we can apply in «architecture color»Previous we want to highlight a small introduction to the meaning of the different colors such as:
- Meaning color White. White symbolizes purity, innocence, cleanliness. Although no negative concept is associated with it in Western culture, in Eastern cultures, it means death. (You can learn more from this article about Feng Shui)
- Meaning color Blue. Blue is the color that most people define as their favorite color. It is the color of the sky, the sea, the water, the distance. Culturally, it is associated with cold. It has a relaxing effect. The coldest color is said to be blue-green.
- Yellow color meaning.It is the color of the sun, of gold and also of sulfur. It is a very bright color and, on the one hand, it gives us joy and fun, but it is also associated with betrayal, envy and jealousy.
- Meaning color Black. Black is the color of darkness, of night. In Western culture, it is associated with death, mourning, mystery, and the occult. On the other hand, it is the color that represents elegance, power. Black is the absence of color.
- Purple color meaning. The color purple was the most expensive color to obtain, it was extracted from mollusks, and a large quantity was necessary. It was the almost exclusive color of royalty and religious celebrations. He we associate with power, royalty. It is a color that is rarely found in nature.
- Orange color meaning. It is the color of fun and Buddhism. It takes properties of the colors that form it (red and yellow), but more softened. It is associated with partying, security, excitement and youth.
- Green color meaning. Green is the color of nature. It is associated with balance, with nature and with hope. It is a color that calms us, relaxes us and lowers blood pressure.
It is very interesting to combine the concepts with the decoration with paintings for the interior of houses. You learn a lot!
Color infographics
To further clarify and expand the concept of color and understand the color psychology we propose four infographics that will give us a global vision of color, both its psychology, interior design or color theory.
The color type that we use in our architecture will affect in a forceful way both the way of understanding the building, and of feeling it.
It has been shown that an environment decorated with cold colors such as blue, indigo, violet and green can lower our temperature and a space with warm colors such as red, orange or yellow, characteristics that are increased or reduced by light, so the light and color in architecture They must be a perfect match.
The lighting both exterior and interior in the buildings will determine in a forceful way to understand the color.
For example, a well-known brand of paints did an experiment on colors to determine if they can influence audiences. They recorded the stairs of a building and the passage of people, later, they painted one of the stairs with a varied range and recorded again … Guess where more people passed?
We can see that the influence is important so it can be transferred to other concepts, to streets where we want to increase the influx of the public, for example.
From one person to another, color perception is different as it depends entirely on the sensitivity of the eye so we once again emphasize that light and color go hand in hand, one cannot live without the other.
Color palette
There is an endless of applications and tools for color on the web, but we believe that there are certain ones and that we must know in order to improve the coloring of our projects and choose appropriately the color palette of our presentations being also really very practical.
Tools to choose your color palette and color effect:
- Adobe Color: Color tool to help create color palettes.
- Colrd: It is literally the Pinterest of colors. We can find thousands of images in which their colors are identified.
Which one is the favorite color of the population
Another point to take into account in color is the attraction you feel towards them or the taste for one color or another depending on whether you are a woman or a man, more appreciated colors or less appreciated colors.
What is color temperature
For a visual comfort there must be an adequate ratio between color temperature and lighting.
When a single color predominates in a space, our brain "manufactures" the complementary color to achieve a spectrum as close to white light (the most complete and balanced as it includes all electromagnetic frequencies).
- Cold.
- Intermediate.
- Warm.
For this reason, if we spend a long time observing the same color, we have to place complementary colors next to it to reduce the levels of eye and mental fatigue (applications of color in small spaces or houses of reduced dimensions are interesting).
Clarify the concept of"Persistence of the image or simultaneous contrast" derived from the relativity of color. What is it when human beings by moving their eyes unite and influence the colors of a set. Example in the following image:
What color gives us in architecture:
Traditionally the color in architecture It has met some social characteristics in terms of identifying the property or taking advantage of the mineral from the area that determines a reference color.
Color interferes with the visual properties of the shape:
- -. In its geometry.
- It intervenes in the relationship of figure and ground
- Between the component parts.
- In the perception of the geometry of the object.
- -. Color interferes with the dimensions of the object.
- -. Color affects the visual weight of the object.
- -. Color may suggest a different texture to the surface finish of the architecture.
The color to discover architecture:
- -. Functional description.
- -. Formal description (Ahem: Color is used as a strategy to describe the building's metrics, to describe its structural system)
Color as an intrinsic value (When the designer uses him in order to beautify the construction)
Note: You can expand on all these interesting concepts from a doctoral thesis (Click on TESEO, the PDF takes a while to open) with a European mention by Juan Serra Lluch entitled: "The versatility of color in the composition of contemporary European architecture: artistic context, plastic strategies and intentions"
Color example architecture project
From Oslo and with much love, a house in the forest that stands out for its intense color on the landscape (Jarmund Vigsnæs - Red house).
The goal of applying color Red is not only an element of identification in mountains with poor visibility in the thick of brush and trees, it also reflects the «temperament of the client».
Color app for mobile
We want to show you a app that we find interesting and that on some occasion it can help us. It is an application that capture real world colors and adapts them to the Sherwin-Williams color palette. The application is free from Itunes Apple (Consult from HERE).
You can also play more from the augmented reality applications for decoration. You learn a lot!
Color manuals and guides
To complement the information based on the color in architecture, and since more and more we like to add manuals or guides to be able to get into the subject matter of the articles, here we leave you a series of links:
- Color in architecture … THE manual from HERE.
- Color, Architecture and state of mind… The document from HERE.
- The heat of color in Spanish architecture … The manual from HERE.
Links of interest:
- Natural lighting
- Coloring Pages
- Wood in architecture
- Plastic in architecture
- Vegetable covers. Advantages and disadvantages
- Air curtains, comfort and energy efficiency
- Energy audits
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