Environmental colour and architecture: a study of our environment as a source for architectural colour to integrate buildings into their surroundings

Abstract

The problem of developing colour schemes to integrate buildings with their surroundings is a relatively recent one. With the development of man-made materials and pigments the designer today has an almost limitless choice of colours from which to choose from to colour the outside of his buildings. In order for a designer to integrate a building into its surroundings the designer today must be familiar with the properties of colour and how colour is perceived - in terms of colour itself and more importantly in terms of his environment. This report includes a brief discussion on both the physiological and psychological aspects of colour. It is on the study of both man's perception of colour and man's environment that the work of colourists Jean - Philippe Lenclos and A.C. Hardy are based. The second half of this report discusses their work and the methods they use to integrate a building with its surroundings using colours based on the surrounding environment. Their methods of recording environmental colour and its subsequent application are illustrated in a case study at the end of this report. It is intended that this report be used as a reference source in terms of a practical approach to architectural colour selection for the exterior environment.