(continued)

The distinction between a chromatic reddish-white and a pastel-pink is one of degrees of saturation. Furthermore, all whites are not the same hue. Whether the comparison is between a pair of socks or two slabs of stone, one of the whites may be warmer, or more red; another cooler, or more blue. Therefore, it is important to consider achromatics in architecture as chromatic whites, blacks, or grays with identifiable casts of color.

The importance of architectural color goes beyond the need to awaken a latent sensibility in designers. Color is significant for the creation and understanding of architectural elements in space. Our perception of a visual field is enhanced when we can read it in terms of some distinguishing element, such as a figure or frame. The human experience unfolds over time as an orchestrated composition of painterly and sculptural elements within the enlarged frame of an architectural experience--a frame informed by the interaction of color, light, and spatial position. Habits of perception that reduce the world to a color shorthand (the sky is blue, grass is green, shadows are black) are challenged when you carefully observe real color and light effects.

Building facades are more than walls of color. They tell a story of tectonic emphasis and intention. Color harmony identifies effective chromatic relationships. Tectonics deals with the constructive arts; the relationship of the parts to the whole. Architecture is concerned with issues of composition (elements and relationships), structure (formal and physical), and space (field and volume). Color can participate in this construction of our visual experience by reinforcing or denying the compositional, structural, or spatial aspects of an architectural form. It is for this reason that the expressive use of color in architecture involves more than the application of a formula or palette of colors associated with particular materials and forms.

For example, the color effects of a monochromatic (single color) form emphasize the uniformity of the parts of a composition. Analogous colors (related hues - e.g., red and red-orange) express a kindred similarity. Complements (opposite hues - e.g., red and green) generate a distinction of opposing forces. The notion of a rote, formula-based interpretation of color principles is dispelled when color becomes a working partner in the conceptual and perceptual premise of a design. The essential point is that a coherent relationship should exist between the design concept and the means of visual expression.

A discussion of Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple examines this connection in greater detail.

Wright's architecture is often cited for its analogical references to nature, which are achieved, in part, through the use of natural materials and earth colors. However, this explanation does not recognize the possibilities for composition and expression latent within these materials and colors; nor does it take into account that these same colors and materials could be treated in unnatural, inorganic, and unearthly ways, given the propensity to do so. Wright did more than make a facile connection between color and material; he made a connection between form and idea in which color and material are integral aspects.

The compositional qualities of a color palette are as critical to the expression of a concept as are the form and materials. For example, the theme of unity is established in the Unity Temple with the initial decision to express the building as a single uninterrupted block. The monochromatic gray color of the concrete exterior reinforces our reading of a massively solid, singular block out of which the temple appears to have been carved. This allows us to perceive the unity of expression so critical to the conceptual fabric of this place of worship. The same forms and materials executed in analogous or complementary colors would undoubtedly evoke a very different expressive content and subsequent response, even if the color combinations were sympathetic to the conventional notions of nature colors, e.g. analogous red and red-orange or complementary red and green.

The execution of the Unity Temple exterior in earthy analogous or complementary colors would weaken the expressive integrity of the temple by emphasizing the particular components of the design, instead of striking what is now a consistent and powerful opening chord. Analogous colors convey visual harmony through a close relationship of hue that allows different colors to read as if they are of the same family by sharing a common color; e.g., red, red-orange, and orange. The use of analogous colors on the Unity Temple exterior would effectively break down the cohesive whole into smaller but related parts similar to the strata in a rock formation. The harmony of analogous colors would suggest that unity is achieved through the kindred efforts of the many parts. Conversely, complementary colors are diametrically opposite each other on the color wheel, e.g., red and green, and achieve harmony or visual balance based on an equilibrium of opposing forces. Harmony achieved through a complementary equilibrium would not convey the commonality of unity but, instead, might suggest something much more diverse, possibly more in line with Robert Venturi's conception of the difficult whole.

The principles of contrast and harmony endow color with a critical role in the development and expression of the tectonic relationships of a work of architecture. The issue of distinguishing elements from fields, elements from other elements, and fields from other fields requires an understanding of how degrees of contrast and harmony are informed by the compositional qualities of color. The separate, yet integral, elements that contribute to our reading of contrast or harmony include hue - chromatic position on the color wheel; value -- relative degree of lightness (or darkness); saturation -- degree of purity measured as freedom from mixture with white or black; and brilliance -- relative vividness measured as brightness, or luminosity.

Colors present evolving realities as they interact in our perception by advancing and receding in response to relative levels of hue, value, saturation, and brilliance. These responses are affected by adjacent color relationships. The four compositional color study drawings of the Unity Temple demonstrate this point. All of the studies use the same reddish-gray hue as the field. The chromatic gray study uses the same hue, value, saturation and brilliance throughout. This is similar to the monolithic use of concrete in the temple, which unifies all of the parts of the composition. The monochromatic values study uses the same reddish hue but changes the value, saturation, and brilliance for some of the elements. In this example, the column asserts itself within the visual hierarchy, and the composition no longer appears absolutely monolithic. The analogous and complementary studies change certain hues from the monochromatic values study, while maintaining the same value, saturation and brilliance. Thus, the distinction in appearance among these three color studies is due entirely to the compositional aspects of hue.

The studies of monochromatic and analogous values convey the subtle difference between same and similar. The monochromatic values study distinguishes elements through changes in value of the same hue; the analogous palette creates distinction by similarity, not sameness, through the kindred nature of the related hues. In comparison, the complementary palette conveys much higher degrees of contrast, even harsh optical dissonance at times, and creates the greatest distinction between the elements.

Observations regarding color must be qualified by the tempering adjustments of environmental influences such as orientation, light, reflection, and shadow. These phenomenal influences transform our perception of the local or normative physical appearance of a color. Carved or built-up surfaces display an enhanced variety of hue and value readings as light and shadow effects change with the time of day and season. By comparison, the diagrammatic color drawings appear flat and unreal.

The color of the concrete in the photograph of the Unity Temple is transformed by the reflective and prismatic tinting effects of light and colored shadows interacting with the surface. The same hue on another form and under a different type of light would not appear to us in the same way. This dynamic relationship between light and form is one of the challenges of architectural color. Also, the architect must consider the color attributes generated by the light source, as well as site specific influences such as location, orientation, proximity to other buildings, overhangs, reflective surfaces, etc.

When color plays an integral role in design, it affects the conceptual origin of a work of architecture, its formal tectonics, and material integrity. Architecture must bring into play these issues and ultimately seek a synthesis of the forces that are engaged as the compositional, structural and spatial aspects of architectural form are discovered simultaneously and relationally with the phenomena of color. As a consequence, color becomes more than the mere dressing of a form after the fact; it reveals its own inherent logic and expressive potential. In this way, color guides a design with knowledge that does not dictate form but generates an integration of form and idea. It is this integration that is the goal of our observations.

This article is based on the authors' forthcoming Book/CD, Architectonic Color: Its Virtual & Physical Reality.

Using complementary colors, like red and green, would achieve harmony through a visual equilibrium but would not convey the theme of unity. Photo: Darlene Brady and Mark English These four color studies demonstrate the effects of adjacent colors. Like the temple itself, the monochromatic study uses the same hue to unify the composition. Image: Darlene Brady and Mark English The monochromatic values study uses the same reddish hue but changes the value, saturation, and brilliance for some elements. Image: Darlene Brady and Mark English The analogous color study changes certain hues while maintaining the same value, saturation, and brilliance. Image: Darlene Brady and Mark English The complementary color study also changes certain hues. The distinction between these color studies is due entirely to the compositional aspects of hue. Image: Darlene Brady and Mark English Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple is monochromatic but can teach us about the effect of color in the built environment. Photo: Darlene Brady and Mark English