How To Utilize Color In Architecture And Interior Design
If you have an architectural and interior design project, you might have considered color palettes for the space. Using colors in architecture and interior design is a popular concept that can convey a message and match a person’s aesthetic or preference. Depending on how it’s utilized, color can bring life, character, and energy into a room. Thus, the color combination used in your architectural design should be inviting and provide comfort.
Ensure that you tailor the color schemes in a room to the user’s experience. For example, if you’re designing your home, you’ll use color palettes that reflect your personality, energy, and mood. There are many ways for you to utilize color in architectural and interior design, and here are six:
Create A Cohesive Design
You might have noticed that the open-plan design has gained popularity in the recent past. The architectural engineering design makes one space have a distinct function. For instance, an open-plan layout in a home can have the living room, dining area, and kitchen sharing a common space. In such a situation, you must select a color scheme that creates cohesion throughout the multi-functional space.
You can use colors to make a design that shows the relationship between the dining area, kitchen, and living room without the room appearing busy. In simple terms, the color scheme you select should give the room a good flow. The color pattern can provide a visual relationship of the room’s functions to a person who walks in for the first time.
Use Color Theory
Knowing the basics of color theory helps you create a color scheme. You can consider how different color combinations can change the feel of a room. The color combinations you come up with can affect a room’s mood, feel, and symbolism and should make sense.
If you need inspiration for coming up with a color scheme, you can imagine a space and think of colors that can make it warm, such as red and orange, or cold, using darker colors, such as blue and green. You can also think of the mood you’d like to be in when you get into the space and colors that can reflect that.
Another way to create excellent color combinations is by using a color wheel. You can find monochromatic, analogous, triadic, and complementary color combinations used in different architectural and interior designs.
Create A Color Palette
Once you have a color scheme, you can start working on a palette for the space. You’ll need to consider main, accent, bold, and secondary colors for a palette. For instance, you can have white as the primary color, as Homecorp explains. The purpose of the main color is to be the foundation for the chosen color scheme. The color is used on the home’s main aspects, such as furniture, and gives a home’s overall mood and style. It’d be best to choose a color that’s easy to combine with other colors.
Another color you should have is an accent color which acts as second in command to the main color. The primary purpose of an accent color is to balance the palette and create a visual interest in a room. You can also have a bold color on the palette, bringing that ‘pop of color’ into a space. You can use bold colors to create a focal point in a room.
In addition, you could also consider having a secondary accent color which often is closely related to the bold color and is hardly used. However, you can use the secondary accent color in adjacent spaces, especially with an open-plan layout.
Consider The Color Psychology
As discussed earlier, colors have power and can affect a person’s mood, cognitive functions, creativity, and productivity. For example, it’s easy to feel relaxed in a room with blue and green hues because they have calming effects. On the other hand, if you’re in a room with bright and vibrant colors such as red and orange, you can feel energetic. Further, neutral colors such as white and grey create a serene environment.
Another factor you should consider is visiting a structural design consultancy to help choose a color scheme for your home. That is because you’ll spend much of your time surrounded by colors that can significantly affect your psychology. A consultant can help you determine the best color scheme for your personality and desires. In addition, people react to colors differently, and you should have a color scheme that reflects your unique taste in space.
Plan The Color Scheme
The color scheme of your home can be informed by several factors, such as the structural design of walls, floors, and ceilings, the proportions of rooms, and the balance between solids and voids in the space. For instance, it’s easy to be comfortable in a room that has light-painted ceilings, medium-colored walls, and floors that have a dark hue. That is because the environment can symbolize the sky, foliage, and earth, all of which are natural tones.
On the other hand, if you have large rooms, dark colors can help subdue the size. If the rooms are small, using bright colors can make them feel and appear more prominent. In addition, you can also use colors to subdue or increase the amount of light getting into a room. For example, if a room has more light than you’d like, you can use dark colors to subdue the brightness. You can also use bright colors to make a room seem as though it’s getting more light.
Consider Your Needs
If you’re designing and furnishing your home, the color schemes should make it comfortable and reflect your personality. In addition, the colors you use can significantly impact the architecture and interior design of a building and should reflect your needs. The colors used in commercial buildings can be considerably different from the ones in residential buildings because of the perception they create. You must consider whether you want it to blend in with the environment or stand out. The final color schemes in the building should match your preferences and the feeling you want the building to evoke.
Nonetheless, the project typology can also determine the color scheme of a building. For example, a residential building can use monochromatic colors, while hotels are better with bright colors for a stimulating effect.
Conclusion
While it’s easy to overlook color when considering the architecture of a building, it might be the most significant aspect. As mentioned, color can affect the psychology of people using a room, and it’s essential to ensure that it offers comfort and warmth. Nonetheless, since you’ll be spending most of your time in the room, you can consider colors that reflect your personality and energy.
Karina Lombardo
Karina Lombardo is a full-time interior designer by day, and an author and content creator by night. She is on a mission to breathe color into every living space she touches. Outside work, Karina enjoys nature hikes and adventure off the beaten path.