Help for the color disassociated

Learn from the Greeks and Corbusier

There is a renaissance of exterior color in architecture. This is due, in part, to the design investigations of many contemporary architects, but it is also a reaction to the achromatic palettes we've accepted and lived with for decades. People are begging for color!

We all need color in our lives. The stimulation and balance which color can provide in the built environment can parallel design in nature, where color naturally reinforces form and provides the perfect balance of warm and cool chromatic temperatures.

In nature, form and color are not separate, and it is to nature that we need to look when planning and designing our built environments. If we can repeat in the built environment the kind of balance of color which occurs in nature, we will be able to create living and working experiences of more fulfilling dimensions - which can then complement our man-made, congested environments.

'Use colored pencils. With color you accentuate, you classify, you disentangle. With black you get stuck in the mud and you are lost. Color will come to your rescue.' -Le Corbusier

Color and architecture reinforce one another. Color is the means by which form initially reaches the human eye. Color and form work best together, and color should never be an afterthought or mere decoration, but an integral part of the design process. Color, used intelligently in the built environment, enhances form and space in ways otherwise not possible.

There are some misconceptions that have influenced philosophies of design away from the use color and toward the glorification of form.

The bias toward achromatic architecture has likely come about through at least two major influences.

One is the misconception that the Greek classical style of architecture was not colored or painted. Actually, the ravages of time eroded the original strong colors and exposed the natural surface of the building materials.

Architects and historians have accepted what they see as colorless ancient buildings as their original state. For example the Parthenon, revered as a pinnacle of architectural perfection and a study in monochromatic purity, was originally embellished and painted in rich color.

A second influence in a more modern vein was the Bauhaus, founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius. In setting the stage for 20th century design, the Bauhaus developed new philosophies of design which were purist and functional.

Freedom of space was achieved by the use of white. The philosophy of the Bauhaus has been the design model and the inspiration for the training of modern and contemporary architects. Many leading Ivy League architecture schools have produced highly creative, innovative and talented architects who are largely disassociated from color.

What are they missing?

They are missing color's rich potential to reinforce their work œ by drawing attention to proportions and by containing, equalizing, accentuating and modulating a building and bringing it into harmony with its surroundings.

If you would like to discover or renew your own relationship with color, here are some guidelines:

• Think and work in color, making color a serious consideration from the outset whenever possible. In a paper written by Le Corbusier for architectural students, he stated his golden rule: "Use colored pencils. With color you accentuate, you classify, you disentangle. With black you get stuck in the mud and you are lost. Color will come to your rescue."

• Spend time at the site. Visit the site at different times of day and under various climatic conditions so that you can observe the quality of natural light, as colors shift according to light conditions.

• Create a collection of samples of colored materials from the site: Natural things first: vegetation, soils, rocks. Then research the colors of the vegetation and planting during different seasons. Also gather any materials, such as concrete colors, brick, chips of old paint surfaces, or anything that the site offers. Create a design board or collage of color combinations from the various materials you collect.

• If the materials don't seem to have much color on first inspection, look again. Analyze the warm or cool qualities inherent in natural materials and exaggerate them. Repeating colors and values from the site itself in your design process will help to anchor the structure and give it meaningful placement.

• Take photographs as additional design information. Black and white photos can actually assist your design process by easily establishing tonal values, to which you can key your various color considerations.

• Take notes regarding your responses to the site at different visits.

  Color is the means by which form initially reaches the human eye.

• Develop various palettes from your information and refine them. Give yourself time to work with the various palettes, testing them out with color chips, photos and drawings. It is also helpful to create an outline tracing of the structure (or proposed structure), enlarge the tracing with a photocopier, and print several copies on a durable paper such as cardstock. You can then apply your various color palettes to these tracings with colored pencils, gouache, or colored papers.

• Remember that the size of an area of color is a strong factor affecting your selection. It is not possible to know ahead of time exactly how a given color will appear, but bright colors tend to increase in brilliance on larger areas, and softer, paler colors can fade out almost to nothingness when enlarged to architectural proportions. You can use colors of light value to help brighten areas which are dark and shadowed, and colors of dark value can be employed to reduce glare on forms which are hit by strong sunlight. Palettes which work beautifully in Southern California are often not successful in the Northwest.

• Work at it. Although designing with color always presents complex considerations and introducing color into your design vocabulary and design process can be intimidating at first, if you keep working at it until it becomes fun and full of creative possibilities, both your project and your working process will be greatly enriched.

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