RED

Effect: exciting, stimulating

Association:
Positive: passionate, fervid, active, strong, warm
Negative: intense, aggressive, raging, fierce, bloody
Character: Red is the most dominant and dynamic color. The eye
actually has to adjust focus, since the natural focal point of red lies
behind the retina. Consequently red appears closer than it is.
Ceiling: intruding, disturbing, heavy
Walls: aggressive, advancing
Floor: conscious, alert

Makuhari Bay New Town by Steven Holl | Paul Warchol

ORANGE
Effect: exciting, stimulating, cheering
Association:
Positive: jovial, lively, energetic, extroverted
Negative: intrusive, blustering
Character: Orange is less masculine than red. It has very few
negative associations. However, it may appear cheap or without
vigor if low in saturation.
Ceiling: stimulating, attention-seeking
Walls: warm, luminous
Floor: activating, motion-oriented

Casa Blanca by Martín Dulanto | Juan Solano Ojasi

YELLOW
Effect: cheering
Association:
Positive: sunny, cheerful, radiant, vital
Negative: egocentric, glaring
Character: When pure, yellow is the happiest of all colors. In
radiates warmth, cheerfulness, and inspiration and signifies
enlightenment, and communication.
Ceiling: light (towards lemon), luminous, stimulating
Walls: warm (towards orange), exciting to irritating (highly
saturated)
Floor: elevating, diverting

Apartment Blocks in Nanterre by X-TU | Luc Boegly

GREEN
Effect: retiring, relaxing
Association:
Positive: tranquil, refreshing, quiet, natural
Negative: common, tiresome, guilty
Character: Contrary to red, when looking at green the eye
focuses exactly on the retina, which makes green the most restful
color to the eye. Green can symbolize nature but also mold and
sickness.
Ceiling: protective, reflection on the skin can be unattractive
Walls: cool, secure, calm, reliable, passive, irritating if glaring
(electric green)
Floor: natural (if not too saturated), soft, relaxing, cold (if
towards blue)

Sarphatistraat Offices by Steven Holl | Paul Warchol

BLUE
Effect: retiring, relaxing
Association:
Positive: calm, sober, secure, comfortable, noble
Negative: frightening, depressing, melancholy, cold
Character: Blue appears to be transparent, wet, cool, and
relaxing. Opposite to red, blue will decrease a person’s blood
pressure and pulse rate.
Ceiling: celestial, cool, receding (if light), heavy and oppressive (if
dark)
Walls: cool and distant (if light), encouraging and space
deepening (if dark)
Floor: inspiring feeling of effortless movement (if light),
substantial (if dark)

La Muralla Roja by Ricardo Bofill

PURPLE
Effect: subduing
Association:
Positive: dignified, exclusive
Negative: lonely, mournful, pompous, conceited
Character: Purple is a mixture of red and blue (the two colors
that are psychologically most opposed). Purple can appear delicate
and rich, or unsettling and degenerate.
Ceiling: disconcerting, subduing
Walls: heavy, overpowering
Floor: fleeting, magical

Chungha Building by MVRDV | Kyungsub Shin

PINK
Effect: lively (bubble-gum pink), calming (light pink)
Association:
Positive: lively, calming, intimate
Negative: too sweet, weak
Character: Pink must be handled carefully. It is generally
considered feminine, but depends much on the nuance used
(bubble-gum pink, or old rose)
Ceiling: delicate, comforting
Walls: aggression-inhibiting, intimate, too sweet if not grayed
down
Floor: too delicate, not used very often

Normann Copenhagen Showroom at Østerbrogade 70

BROWN
Effect: subduing
Association:
Positive: warm, secure, stable
Negative: oppressive, heavy
Character: There is a great difference between wood and brown
paint. In certain institutions brown should be avoided since it
evokes fecal associations. Wood and stone on the other hand
appear very comfortable, and warm.
Ceiling: oppressive and heavy (if dark)
Walls: secure and assuring if wood, much less so if paint
Floor: steady, stable

Private House Kensington by David Chipperfield Architects

WHITE
Effect: disconcerning
Association:
Positive: clean, crisp, bright
Negative: empty, sterile
Character: There are a lot of psychological and physiological
justifications for not using white as a dominant color.
Ceiling: empty, no design objections-helps diffuse light sources
and reduce shadows
Walls: neutral to empty, sterile, without energy
Floor: touch-inhibiting (not to be walked upon)

Casa del Acantilado by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

GRAY
Effect: neutral to calming
Association:
Positive: neutral
Negative: boring
Character: Gray fails to have much psychotherapeutic
application. Thus, the current fashion of using it with various
accent walls defies all logic.
Ceiling: shadowy
Walls: neutral to boring
Floor: neutral

Fab-Union Space On The West Bund by Archi-Union Architects | Shengliang Su

BLACK
Effect: ominous
Association:
Positive: deep, abstract
Negative: dungeonlike, night, grief, death
Character: Black is associated with oppressive power, darkness,
and the unknown. In architecture it is often used to make
something appear as receding, such as the HVAC in a ceiling.
Ceiling: hollow to oppressive
Walls: ominous, dungeonlike
Floor: odd, abstract