The document discusses the relationship between color and space in architecture from a phenomenological perspective. It argues that color plays a key role in how we perceive and make sense of visual space, with our brain organizing colors into cognitive structures that form shapes and volumes. Effective use of color in architecture depends more on how color is applied and positioned within a space rather than simply choosing a color, as the context in which a color is viewed influences how it is perceived.

1. COLOUR IN ARCHITECTURE A CONTINUOUS RESEARCH BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE ©JOÃO PERNÃO

2. "... for the human eye there is no space without its colour; and no colour that does not create its own space. When you open your eyes the texture of the entire visual field consists of one thing: and that is colour..." Patrick Heron, english painter and art critic cited by Michael Lancaster in his book "Colourscape" ASSUMPTIONS FOR A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH ©JOÃO PERNÃO

3. Colours are like letters in our visual perception Our brain organize those letters (colours) in coherent cognitive structures : words and phrases. Those words and phrases formed by colour perception are again organized as forms and volumes . ASSUMPTIONS FOR A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH ©JOÃO PERNÃO

4. C U B E PYR A MID A In the first image we can see colours (letters) without making sense in 3D . ASSUMPTIONS FOR A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH ©JOÃO PERNÃO

5. C U B E PYR A MID C U B E A PYR MID In the second image we can see the same colours (letters) but organized in a way that forms a logical 3D proposition. ASSUMPTIONS FOR A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH ©JOÃO PERNÃO

6. Colour organization comunicate the visual field around us: SPACE . COLOUR IS THE FORM OF SPACE . ©JOÃO PERNÃO

11. edifício pedagógico, universidade de aveiro – vitor figueiredo

15. edifício pedagógico, universidade de aveiro – vitor figueiredo Maybe our process in trying to make sense out of colours is something like this you’ve just seen. COLOUR IS THE FORM OF SPACE . ©JOÃO PERNÃO

16. “ Give me mud and I will made the skin of Venus out of it, if you will allow me to surround it as I please” As in this Delacroix provocative statement, we realize that also in architecture, more important than choosing a color is how we use it in space, in what position and dimension, how we use light to reveal it, whose colours we choose to relate with it, with wich texture or finishing. A colour is never perceived without context, it is always seen in relationship with others in the perceptive field, and therefore it seems always different. ASSUMPTIONS FOR A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH ©JOÃO PERNÃO

17. In this picture we can see two circles of the same colour in front of a striped black and white background. ASSUMPTIONS FOR A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH ©JOÃO PERNÃO

18. Now, theu don’t appear having the same colour, because the context is different: on the left we make the black stripes pass ahead of the circle, and on the wright we pass the white stripes ahead of the circle. In order to use color effectively it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually. Josef Albers ASSUMPTIONS FOR A PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH ©JOÃO PERNÃO