Colour for New Zealand architecture

Abstract

Our coloured world is seen through filters of perception and culture and controlled by the lighting and the context within which we see it. Colour has an intricate language of its own, assimilated on many levels, that aesthetically and emotionally stimulates the viewer. Four factors describe the phenomenon of colour: the light, the object, the eye and the brain and it is this fourth factor that controls the response to what is seen. Each persons perception of colour is different but an area of common ground must be found free from descriptive names. Using Munsells numerical identification notation, a framework has been built which presents an integral range of colours and the means to co-ordinate them. Selected architects were asked to explain the roles colour played in their design philosophies, the influences on the development and use of this philosophy, and the rationale behind the colour choices in their recent work. Comments were also noted on the place they felt colour had in their architecture. Their responses illustrate the immense range of chromatic associations available and gives examples of how colour can be used as a powerful tool to enhance and explain architectural space.