ABSTRACT
To start with a personal observation – there is a particular shade of blue with a touch of green, not enough to tip it into turquoise or jade, but enough to make it appear cold, that could be considered to be ‘wrong’ if used architecturally. It strikes a discordant note when applied to external render and fails when used internally. It feels miserable and it sucks the colour from skin. Add some red, however, shiing it slightly towards a purply-blue, and it becomes alive, warm and wonderful. Set alongside most woods, it enhances grain, colour and natural qualities. e chromatic variation is not large, but the eect is altogether dierent. Is this purely subjective, or are there generally accepted architectural colours that should be avoided, restricted or their application controlled? As Johannes Itten suggests:
above individual taste, there is a higher judgment in man, which, once appealed to, sustains what has general validity and overrules mere sentimental prejudice. is higher judgment is surely a faculty of intellect. at is why well-disciplined colour thinking
1 8 6 and a knowledge of the potentialities of colours are necessary to save us from the one-
sidedness and error of colouration informed by taste alone. If we can nd objective rules of general validity in the realm of colour, then it is our duty to study them.1
