Intentional Colour

Sally Osborne - Colour Consultant MVA (Griffith University).
Projects include: Couran Cove Eco Cabins; Sports Super Centre Runaway Bay; Colour Palette for Currumbin Valley Eco Village; Lawson Street, Byron Bay; Medical Centre, Morningside; Affordable housing project, Annerley.

Sally is the principal colour designer specialising in Intentional Colour

Colour: A valuable tool for architectural design

As colour is the first thing we see and instantly conveys a cultural and social context, it is a significant factor in any building project. This is evident in the variety of significantly different regional colour responses throughout the world, conveying cultural, religious and social identity. Consider the bright and colourful colours of India in contrast with the dark tonal variations of traditional Japanese architecture. This use of colour reflects the quality of light and landscape of the environment.

Use of colour and light quantitatively to convey architectural form

Responsive regional Australian colour is the result of the subtle interaction of each region's quality of light, (the harsh bleaching light of the interior desert), soils (red desert soils of Ayers Rock) and climate (temperature extremes and little humidity). This is evident when compared with the tropical brilliance of colour of the Great Barrier Reef, with reflective ocean blue and green moist vegetation.

An example of Regional Colour Responsiveness is the development of a local regional colour palette for the Couran Cove Resort eco cabin precincts. The colours were selected from the original colours found at the site, adjusted in tone, trialled at site and colour finishes were then ordered. Colours varied in hue to identify the 15 cabin precinct, but were tonally similar to relate across all 145 cabins, therebye identifying individual groups, but collectively blending with the bush.

Use of colour and light qualitatively to give a cohesive response, to foster a community's well being

Colour can not only transform an environment and resolve within itself many complex aspects of the physical design , but satisfy psychological and social design intentions as well. It is the interface of the physical with the metaphysical and as such is a very powerful energy and significant aspect of any project.

Expressing the physical design through colour identity; the Annerley Affordable Housing project, uses strong colours in transitional spaces to bolster a sense of confidence, while entering/leaving, way finding and movement. Other strong colour is used in reveals of the building, which one has to move around to see, referencing the Australian Laurikeet parrot which flashes glimpses of colour in flight. Other community spaces are more subdued.

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