A short guide to colour in architecture

Architecture has a long, colourful history: painted Greek temples, ochre Italian villages, the bright blocks of the Bauhaus. Yet many new buildings are grey or white by default. Colour is not a risk to be avoided – it is a tool, and like any tool it works best when used with intent.

Start with the light

The same blue looks cool and calm in northern light and almost electric under a southern sun. We always test colours on large panels on site, at different times of day, before anything is ordered. A small swatch under office lights tells you almost nothing.

Let materials bring the colour

The longest-lasting colours are part of the material: terracotta, coloured concrete, tinted lime plaster, oxidised copper. They age gracefully, need no repainting and feel more natural than a painted surface.

• Choose one strong colour and let everything else support it.
• Use colour to guide people – an entrance, a stair, a meeting place.
• Keep ceilings light so rooms do not feel lower than they are.

Colour and climate

Colour also changes how a building performs. Light façades reflect the sun and stay cooler in hot climates, while darker surfaces absorb warmth in the north. We weigh the look against the energy model, especially for roofs and south-facing walls that take the full heat of summer.

Courage in the right places

A single coloured courtyard, a bright front door or a blue pool wall can give a calm building its personality. In our Coral Terrace Villa the warm pink plaster is the reason guests remember the house – and it is almost the only colour there.

Colour should answer a question: where is the door, where is the light, where do we gather? If it answers nothing, leave it out.

Judith Cole

Used this way, colour stops being decoration and becomes part of how a building works.