C olour in architecture

WHAT IS COLOUR?
This assignment is submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements of the course;
COLOUR IN ARCHITECTURE ARC 521

Student name:

Obiokoye U, C
Reg. No.:

PG/MSC/20/92567
Course:

ARC 521

Date: 3rd DECEMBER, 2021.

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C olour in architecture
WHAT IS COLOR?

To elucidate my findings in a rather quirky manner, I have created a conversation

between two fictional characters; Okeke the scientist and Adaku the Artist on the
subject “What is colour?” each character will respond based on their background.

Okeke: Technically, Colour does not exist. It’s all perception.

Adaku: What do you mean?

Okeke: Colour is a function of the human visual system and is NOT an intrinsic property.
Objects don't "have" colour, they give off light that "appears" to be a colour. Spectral
power distributions exist in the physical world, but colour exists ONLY in the mind of the
beholder. 1

Adaku: Hmm, Thats an interesting stand point. Well for me Colour can be defined
"Objectively" and "Subjectively"

Okeke: ok?

Adaku: Color is the element of art that is produced when light, striking an object, is
reflected back to the eye: that's the objective definition. But in art design, color has a
slew of attributes which are primarily subjective. Those include characteristics such as
harmony — when two or more colors are brought together and produce a satisfying
effective response; and temperature — a blue is considered warm or cool depending
on whether it leans towards purple or green and a red whether it leans towards yellow
or blue. 2

Okeke: And subjectively?

Adaku: Subjectively, then, color is a sensation, a human reaction to a hue arising in part
from the optic nerve, and in part from education and exposure to color, and perhaps in
the largest part, simply from the human senses. 2

Okeke: Speaking of things reflecting back to our eyes, optic nerves and all whatnot, let
me also add; Color is determined first by frequency and then by how those frequencies
are combined or mixed when they reach they eye. Light falls on specialized receptor
cells (called rods) at the back of the eye (called the retina) and a signal is sent to the
brain along a neural pathway (called the optic nerve). This signal is processed by the
part of the brain near the back of the skull (called the occipital lobe). 1

Student name: Obiokoye U, C Reg. No.: PG/MSC/20/92567 Course: ARC 521

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C olour in architecture
Adaku: ...

Okeke: Stay with me. Let me use a sketch to butress this point.

The eye is a truly remarkable feat of evolutionary design. Your cornea directs incoming
light through your pupil and towards the retina, in the back of your eye. Your retina is
made mostly of neurons which connect back to your brain. These neurons report signals
they get from “photoreceptor cells” which detect light. Photoreceptors come in two
breeds: rods and cones. They’re the main characters of this story. 3

Rods are very sensitive. Even a tiny amount of light will trigger your rods. Rods are how
you see at night, but not how you see color. That’s why you can’t tell what color things
are if it’s too dark. 3

Cones are where it gets interesting. You have three types of cones, which each
respond differently to different frequencies of light. They’re called S cones, M cones,
and L cones, for short, medium, and long. Each one is sensitive to different frequencies
in different ways. L cones send the strongest signal when light with a long wavelength
(low frequency) hits it. If short-wavelength light (high frequency) hit it, it would send a
weaker signal, and the S cone would send a strong signal. 3

Student name: Obiokoye U, C Reg. No.: PG/MSC/20/92567 Course: ARC 521

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C olour in architecture

When any type of light hits your retina, you get signals from all three types of cones. The
total strength of all the signals tells you how bright the color is. That’s how you tell black
from white from shades of gray. It’s how you tell sky blue from navy blue, orange from
brown.
But you figure out the rest—the “chromaticity”—by comparing the three signals. If 70%
of the signal is coming from S cones, 20% from M cones, 10% from L cones, we’ll call that
“blue.” If 80% of the signal is from L cones and 20% from M cones, let’s go with “red.”

We can fill in a whole chart of how we categorize light based on the signal breakdown.
(We only need two axes, because the third one is just whatever percentage is left.)
Something cool about this chart: if you stare at, say, the 20% L, 60% M point, then your
brain will actually be receiving a signal that’s 20% L and 60% M. 3

Adaku: Wow interesting! Let me speak a bit about the EARLY HISTORY OF COLOUR.
The earliest documented theory of color is from the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322
BCE), who suggested that all colors came from white and black. He also believed that
four basic colors represent elements of the world: red (fire), blue (air), green (water),
and gray (earth). It was the British physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton
(1642–1727) who figured out that clear light was made up of seven visible colors: what
we call ROYGBIV of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet).
Colors today are defined by three measurable attributes: hue, value, and chroma or
intensity. Those attributes were scientifically operationalized by the Peter Mark Roget of
color, Boston artist and teacher Albert Henry Munson (1858–1918). 2

Student name: Obiokoye U, C Reg. No.: PG/MSC/20/92567 Course: ARC 521

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C olour in architecture
Okeke: Don't forget the SCIENCE OF COLOR.
Munson attended the Julien Academy in Paris and won a scholarship to Rome. He held
exhibits in Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, and Chicago, and taught drawing and painting
at the Massachusetts School of Art between 1881 to 1918. As early as 1879, he was
having conversations in Venice with the design theorist Denman Waldo Ross about
developing a "systematic color scheme for painters, so as to determine mentally on
some sequence before laying the palette."
Munson eventually devised a scientific system for classifying all colors with standard
terminology. In 1905, he published "A Color Notation," in which he scientifically defined
colors, precisely defining hue, value, and chroma, something that scholars and painters
from Aristotle to da Vinci had longed for.
Munson's operationalized attributes are:
Hue: the color itself, the distinctive quality by which one can distinguish one color from
another, e.g., red, blue, green, blue.
Value: the brightness of the hue, the quality by which one distinguishes a light color
from a dark one, in the range from white to black.
Chroma or intensity: the quality that distinguishes a strong color from a weak one, the
departure of a color sensation from that of white or gray, the intensity of a color hue. 2

Adaku: Ever wondered how designers and artists find the perfect color combination?
They use color theory. Color theory is a practical combination of art and science that’s
used to determine what colors look good together. The color wheel was invented in
1666 by Isaac Newton, who mapped the color spectrum onto a circle. The color wheel
is the basis of color theory, because it shows the relationship between colors.

Colors that look good together are called a color harmony. Artists and designers use
these to create a particular look or feel. You can use a color wheel to find color
harmonies by using the rules of color combinations. Color combinations determine the
relative positions of different colors in order to find colors that create a pleasing effect.
There are two types of color wheel. The RYB or red, yellow, blue color wheel is typically
used by artists, as it helps with combining paint colors. Then there is the RGB, or red,
green and blue color wheel, which is designed for online use, as it refers to mixing light –
like on a computer or TV screen. 4

Student name: Obiokoye U, C Reg. No.: PG/MSC/20/92567 Course: ARC 521

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C olour in architecture

Student name: Obiokoye U, C Reg. No.: PG/MSC/20/92567 Course: ARC 521

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C olour in architecture
Adaku: Bonus info. Some people are born with only two types of cones instead of three.
Usually they’re missing the L or M cones, which means they get about the same signals
for red and green. Dolphins, those poor souls, only have one type of cone. Birds have
four-and, crazy enough, about 5% of women have four cones too! You’re just as
colorblind to these “tetrachromat” women as dogs are to you. And it doesn’t stop
there. Some animals have even more cones. Mantis shrimps have twelve! Just imagine
what their world looks like. 3

Conclusion: Colors aren't physical properties but are interpretations of light by our brains
through the eyes. However colour is how we see the world and interact with it, capable
of eliciting emotions and psychological response.

Referencies

1 - Answer to What is color? by M.Shiva Ram Reddy

https://www.quora.com/What-is-color-2/answer/M-Shiva-Ram-Reddy?ch=17&oid=
37229138&share=556abc92&srid=NIAzS&target_type=answer

2 - https://www.thoughtco.com/definition-of-color-in-art-182429

3 - Answer to What is color? by Milo Beckman

https://www.quora.com/What-is-color-2/answer/Milo-Beckman?ch=17&oid=11463506
&share=6e8b9cee&srid=NIAzS&target_type=answer

4 - https://www.canva.com/colors/color-wheel/

Student name: Obiokoye U, C Reg. No.: PG/MSC/20/92567 Course: ARC 521