Discussion: Architecture and Colour
- Christian Schittich
Colour is of enormous importance in architecture. It plays a decisive role in the appearance of buildings. It can lend emphasis or act as a means of articulation. It can create a sense of orientation or transform the proportions of spaces. A development can have a completely different effect if it is red or blue or a neutral white. Nevertheless, coloration is largely neglected in architectural education. Can that still be attributed to the Modern Movement? In those days, only a few representatives like Frank Lloyd Wright, Peter Behrens, Bruno and Max Taut addressed the question of colour. Le Corbusier used it with great awareness to bring out the qualities of spaces and to influence proportions. At the same time, he was also an adherent of pure white and stated that the purpose of colour was, above all, to lend whiteness greater radiance.
