Coloristics in architecture. Color as an emotional trigger

/ Architecture /

Color, as one of the means of artistic expression, primarily participates in the formation of the overall image of an architectural object. Developing the passport of the facade, the architect foresees all the nuances in order to form a harmonious image of the building, inscribed in the context of the environment. Or, on the contrary, flashy and perhaps even kitschy. PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA tracked how color affects the first impression of a particular building, appealing to our feelings and emotions.

Subtleties of perception

Every day, the townspeople, following the same route, pass by the familiar "wall" woven from the facades of buildings. The usual row of buildings of certain colors and geometry sometimes does not evoke any emotions. But as soon as some new object appears - of course, not suddenly - it immediately attracts the attention of the public. Ego begins to be evaluated from the point of view of compositional decision, form, context and color. "Man needs bright colors to live," wrote Le Corbusier in 1931, quoting Fernand Léger. "They are as necessary as water and fire."

Urban landscape of the seaside resort city of Brighton, Great Britain. Photo: Nabil Aiman. Photo source: Unsplash

True, an architect cannot always accurately predict what emotions his creation will evoke in citizens and tourists. Sometimes people can quite quickly approve and accept extraordinary forms or saturated shades. Sometimes the structure is perceived as a bayonet and gives rise to a number of scandals. There is also a third scenario of the development of events: the realized object does not cause any emotions at all, which does not mean that there is something wrong with the building - it is quite likely that its shape and color are appropriate.

 

Between traditions and innovations

Looking at Mexico with its buildings in the colonial style and places with colorful architecture, you can't help but remember the great Luis Barragan, whose work became the quintessence of the colorful creations of local architecture. The most influential Mexican architect of the XNUMXth century, originally an adherent of the international style, evolved towards dry minimalism. Flat facades with clear geometry became conventional canvases on which Barragan splashed life-affirming colors. He embodied in objects his own obsession with "serenity, silence, intimacy and wonder", the culture of the region and the surrounding landscape.

Stables of San Cristobal is one of the most poetic works of Luis Barragan

Local residents were impressed by his creations, which combine elements of local haciendas with the modernist influence of Europe and America. Luis Kahn himself called Barragan "absolutely remarkable" and believed that the house built by the architect for himself in Mexico City was "not just a house, but the House itself."

The defining element of the architecture of the stables is water, which sets in motion the motionless geometry

The buildings of Barragan's Austrian colleague, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, evoked not enthusiasm, but a very ambiguous feeling among the inhabitants of Vienna. The city canvas of Vienna, against the background of which Hundertwasser's work was still to come, consisted of monumental, pompous imperial architecture. Mass construction of the city with typical buildings began in the middle of the XNUMXth century. The construction was carried out in a fairly orderly manner, but, according to the residents, the architecture of this period itself is rather mundane - the shape of the building strongly contrasted with the historical neighborhood. And what can be said about objects built according to Hundertwasser's designs in the middle of the XNUMXth century?

Bold and bright, without a single straight line, they seemed something incredible against the background of regular architecture. And if now the residents of Vienna are definitely proud of the famous compatriot and call him a genius, then at the time of the implementation of his projects, following the architectural critics, they were violently indignant about the fact that these bright buildings were taken out of context.

The author did not even ask for a fee for designing the Hundertwasser House

Hundertwasser House, Vienna, Austria. The architect adored living nature and tried to incorporate it into the concept of his projects

There were loud assertions that "Hundertwasser is kitsch!". And one of the experts even called the architect "a charlatan of the XNUMXth century, giving out bottles of colored horse urine as a miraculous cure for all diseases." At the same time, local children were delighted with the life-affirming shades and "houses like in the pictures". Only one thing is obvious: no one remains an indifferent observer of his creation.

 

Fits into the context

And what is happening here? Modern Ukrainian architects can very rarely boast - unlike Barragan, Hundertwasser, Frank Gera, the team of the Dutch office MVRDV or the Danish BIG architects - a bold expression of color in the design of building facades. The first bright, expressive project under the Made in Ukraine sign that involuntarily comes to mind is the "Comfort Town" residential complex, created according to the project of the ARCHIMATIKA company. The extraordinary complex is formed as a single whole - expressive colors complement each other and emphasize the minimalist volumes built with strict geometry.

Often, our architects prefer not to go beyond the established "quiet" color scenario. Keeping the colors of the surrounding buildings, they try to "conserve" the environment familiar to the citizens. As a result, the buildings look neutral and do not cause strong emotional reactions.

An architect cannot always accurately predict what emotions his brainchild will evoke in the citizens

Residential complex "Comfort Town" can be called one of the brightest projects in Kyiv. Photo: Ivan Bandura. Photo source: Unsplash

Despite the fact that such a scenario seems simple and obvious at first glance, behind it is a series of large-scale pre-project studies, which should eventually lead to the formation of a comfortable environment with a well-designed architectural object. It was about such studies and objects that we talked with Vitaly Kozlov, the chief architect of the "Comfortbud" Design Institute.

Vitaliy Kozlov, chief architect of the Comfortbud Design Institute

PRAGMATIKA.MEDIA: What principles do you follow at the design stage when you fit the building into the existing context in terms of color?

Vitaly Kozlov: Color is always of secondary importance in architecture. It is preceded by content and form. The color of the building depends on many factors. For example, the context. Sometimes it is necessary to dissolve the object in the environment, and sometimes, on the contrary, to highlight it by emphasizing it with the help of color. In my opinion, when there is an expressive form, then white is just what is needed. However, it also happens that color forms the main scenario of an architectural and artistic image — it accentuates details or masks flaws.

Sometimes you need to dissolve the object in the environment, and sometimes, on the contrary, to highlight it

PM: Which of the tasks is more interesting for an architect — to create a project from scratch, building a complete complex from the point of view of composition and color on a completely new territory, or to fit the building into the historical building, starting from the existing color scheme?

V.K.: In fact, for an architect, any project is a challenge, be it new construction or renovation. The responsibility is equally high. In the first case, there is also an intervention in the existing environment - it is simply natural, and in the second case, it is artificial, already transformed by someone. In both options, it is important to "do no harm". Yes, creating your own scenario is always more interesting. You can create a calm and sophisticated monochrome environment or, on the contrary, a solution that is active in color. When fitting the object into the building, it is necessary to take into account the existing scenario. But the context does not always dictate the color: there are situations when it is possible and even necessary to change the script, filling the environment with new content and tones.

Panorama of Lviv. Photo: Vitaly Omelchenko

PM: Is it easy for today's architects to work with the many standardized palettes provided by today's manufacturers?

V.K.: Today, the most common color standards for paints and plasters are NCS and RAL for enamels and varnishes. Unfortunately, not all paint manufacturers form their color books in accordance with them. Therefore, usually at the design stage of color selection, we use the above-mentioned standards, and already at the stage of project implementation, we select colors directly according to manufacturers' color books.

PM: Tell us about the solution to the problem of forming the color of building facades using the example of your realized objects? What difficulties did you face?

V.K.: The Z119 residential complex can be singled out among the latest interesting projects. The idea of ​​an architectural and artistic image was born after a visit to Barcelona and a reinterpretation of the seen immortal creation of Antonio Gaudi - the La Pedrera house. Although this outstanding architect was a champion of color in architecture, he actively used polychromy in his works, and in this case he preferred form and natural materials in the decoration of the facade. Of course, the Z119 building is only an echo of this majestic creation, but in our project, the form, plasticity of the facade and white color also prevail. Of course, there is a difference between white and white, as they say, and the shade plays an important role. After all, the greatest difficulties in choosing a color for an architect always arise due to lighting, which makes significant adjustments to the design. It is necessary to take into account the orientation of the facade. In our case, a cold shade of white was chosen, due to the fact that the corner facade is oriented to the southwest and flooded with warm light. Baumit Life palette and their "50 shades" of white helped us a lot here (smiles).

The building, built according to the project of the "Comfortbud" company in Lviv, ul. Barvinsky, 3

PM: Regarding modern architecture in the historical part of the city: tell us what exactly was taken as the basis of your objects - the buildings at 3 Barvinsky Street and 53 Lysenko Street?

V.K.: Both houses are located in a historically formed building of the Art Nouveau period. At that time, Lviv was actively developing. Since the city was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this building was influenced by the Austrian secession. This became the main motivating factor in the choice of style, but with a different approach: the houses on Barvinsky, 3 were designed using techniques more characteristic of Western European modernism - art nouveau. Linear decors and planar patterns prevail here in combination with winding flexible lines of the facade. The house at 53 Lysenko, on the contrary, is more restrained and classical in its forms, but with a large number of decorative elements of different styles: both classical and Art Nouveau, Art Nouveau, Art Nouveau.

When decorating, we relied on our own knowledge and sense of style and mostly used the works of modernist artists of that time, in particular Alphonse Mucha.

The building, built according to the project of the "Comfortbud" company in Lviv on ul. Lysenko, 53

PM: How did you form the color solution of the facades of these buildings? What exactly did you take as a basis — the surrounding buildings or based on your own experience?

V.K.: The approach to the color solution in these two complexes was different. Surroundings on the street Barvinskyi does not have a certain pronounced coloristic scenario - here the building is mostly chaotic and variegated. Therefore, we decided to add color and highlight our houses and painted them in bright warm shades.

The house at 53 Lysenko Street is located in a more well-formed ensemble with mostly monochrome, restrained colors. Since the building itself strongly stands out against the background of this building both in terms of shape and size - it is one floor higher than the neighboring buildings - it was decided to dissolve it in the color scheme of the surrounding environment.

PM: What materials did you use for the finishing works? Why them?

V.K.: Complex solutions in the decoration of facades from Baumit are used in these houses. In particular, Star System bonded thermal insulation systems. Such a solution is always a guarantee that all the materials of the system will work harmoniously, and this, in turn, increases its durability.

The Z119 complex is an embodied reinterpretation of Antonio Gaudi's La Pedrera building

Residential complex Z119 from the Komfortbud company, Lviv

PM: And finally: how durable are modern exterior paints?

V.K.: Some 10 years ago, it was quite problematic to find quality paint for facade work on the market. There were many cheap low-quality paints that lost their color in 2-3 years, and high-quality ones were too expensive. Today, the situation has changed for the better — well-known brands have appeared with relatively inexpensive offers and high-quality materials. Baumit paints are just like that - and in addition, with the latest nanotechnologies. For example, Baumit Nanopor Top is a paint with a self-cleaning function that gives the facade of the house an unchanging color and durability.

In fact, our building Z119 is the first in Lviv where Nanopor Top paint will be applied, and in the coming years we will be able to evaluate this technology with our own eyes.

 

Meanwhile, in the regions

Often, if the national media mention the color of the facade of a particular building, then in most cases it is about buildings marked "architectural monument". In the previous material devoted to color, we considered cases of restoration of capital landmarks - the red building of the Kyiv National University named after T. G. Shevchenko and the building of the opera theater. But such strange things happen not only in Kyiv.

For more than a year, residents and guests of Odessa have been observing the progress of restoration work at 8 Primorsky Boulevard. The so-called Zavadsky House, built in 1830 according to the project of Avraham Melnikov, is located there. Architect Franz Boffo was engaged in the construction of the ensemble, consisting of two buildings with semi-circular facades embracing the square in front of the Potemkin Stairs, based on the author's drawings.

According to the original project, the color scheme of the ensemble was made in a combination of blue and white, which is confirmed by the work of the Austrian watercolor artist Rudolf von Alt. But with the advent of Soviet power, the color scheme of the structure changed radically - the facade of the building acquired a soft shade of yellow instead of blue. It was also used during the execution of capital repair and restoration works of the ensemble, which were last carried out in 1985. A new project for the restoration of the facades and roof of the building was ordered by the local city council in 2017. In the course of the work, the right block of the complex acquired a bright yellow-orange color and glazing elements of the arcade of the entrance group. This decision unleashed a wave of indignation among Odessans, which has not subsided to this day.

Odessa, Zavadskyi House on Primorsky Boulevard, 8

A similar public reaction was provoked by a radical approach to restoration in Lviv: about 15 years ago, citizens and guests of the city were extremely surprised by the variegated facades of Renaissance-era buildings on Rynok Square that appeared after major renovations. Of course, the mistakes were corrected during the subsequent time — the current city authorities are extremely careful about the cultural heritage of the capital of Galicia. In addition, the current proposals for construction in the city center are regulated — the projects go through a number of approval stages, including public hearings. Therefore, the majority of new buildings strive for stylistic unity and scale, coloristic harmony with the existing building.

 

/Published in volume #05 of Pragmatika/