Colour Strategies in Architecture

How can colour design spaces? How do colour and space interact? Drawing on buildings from the 20th and 21st centuries, ranging from architectural icons to hidden gems, the volume presents six different strategies for working with colour in architecture. Each features a specific way of planning the interplay of colour and space. In one example, colour reinforces and clarifies the architectural form, while in another the colour interprets the form in a playful way. In one instance, we immersed a bath of colour on entering the room, while in another the colour tempts the viewer to enter the room and take up different viewing points. Sometimes the colour is an interpretation of light, elsewhere it creates a sophisticated whole. In each case colour gives the architecture identity and creates an added value that is both creative and functional. The Haus der Farbe and the University of Edinburgh have collaborated to explore the spatial potential of these various colour strategies and present them in words and images. Large format colour plates illustrate the versatility of colour when it occurs in dialogue with architecture. The six colour strategies Painterly Promenade (Lux Guyer, Zürich) Tectonics Clarified (Basil Spence, Edinburgh) Immersive Pop (Rainer Rümmler, Berlin) Holistic Interplay (Hans Scharoun, Berlin) Hushed Tonalities (Reiach & Hall Architects, Edinburgh) Second Layer (Knapkiewicz & Fickert, Zürich) How can colour design spaces? How do colour and space interact? Drawing on buildings from the 20th and 21st centuries, ranging from architectural icons to hidden gems, the volume presents six different strategies for working with colour in architecture. Each features a specific way of planning the in¬terplay of colour and space. In one example, colour reinforces and clarifies the architectural form, while in another the colour interprets the form in a playful way. In one instance, we immersed a bath of colour on entering the room, while in another the colour tempts the viewer to enter the room and take up different viewing points. Sometimes the colour is an interpretation of light, elsewhere it creates a sophisticated whole. In each case colour gives the architecture identity and creates an added value that is both creative and functional. The Haus der Farbe and the University of Edin¬burgh have collaborated to explore the spatial po¬tential of these various colour strategies and present them in words and images. Large format colour plates illustrate the versatility of colour when it occurs in dialogue with architecture. The six colour strategies • Painterly Promenade (Lux Guyer, Zürich) • Tectonics Clarified (Basil Spence, Edinburgh) • Immersive Pop (Rainer Rümmler, Berlin) • Holistic Interplay (Hans Scharoun, Berlin) • Hushed Tonalities (Reiach & Hall Architects, Edinburgh) • Second Layer (Knapkiewicz & Fickert, Zürich)