In Full Colour: Recent Buildings and Interiors

We like to keep an eye out for new color publications.  We used  In Full Colour: Recent Building and Interiors from Braun for inspiration selecting colors for a new Seniors Housing Project in San Francisco. The Europeans have a history of respecting the use of color in architecture.  Whether color is selected in the context of regional palettes based on soils and vegetation or inspired by the availability of new materials and technologies in the architectural marketplace, they do not  fear color.  To  give you an visual nibble here is a  Bonus Post of the week!

A vet clinic with a splash of color at the University of Berne, Switzerland. These brightly colored inner courtyards bounce light in to the surrounding rooms, giving them different glows is the days light changes. P. 208

This office park in the Netherlands "is constructed of glass panels in which a multicolored foil is integrated. Depending on the time of day and the angle of incidence, the facade changes from yellow to blue, to red or from purple to green and back again." P. 200

Green can be a hard color to master. And if I may be so bold as to invent a word; green can get 'hospitally' on you if you aren't careful. But I would say this is application is pleasingly watermelon like in nature. It is a mix of "Fire brigade red [and] police green" for a joint space in Berlin. P. 128

Youthful yellow Youth Hostel. "Within the cityscape [of Bremen, Germany], the building always shines in the distance like a powerful vivid signal." P. 58

Rainbow colored has a bad rep but is used perfectly for this mixed use building. Leon, Spain. P. 124 

When I think of the Netherlands this red is not the first hue to come to mind. But Agora theatre is beautiful and "determinedly upbeat place." Meant to revitalize the pragmatic, sober town centre" of Lelystad.  P.70

 This next one is a mixed commercial residential space in Tubingen, Germany. P.66

This new development in a heavy industry zone in Lingang, China is all about the colors of the sky. "Large-format colored surface produce a a sense of depth, distance, proximity as well as strong structural contrasts."  P. 112

- Emily Eifler, Associate Designer, Colour Studio