the Effects of Light and Color in Architecture

“Our experience of light is grounded in the place or places with which we are familiar” (Reinhold , p5). On page fourteen Reinhold begins to discuss “Light as image of nature” it is stated “light can still remind us of places that we know through recreating their particular patterns of light” (Reinhold, p.14). This reminds me of the columns and colonnades found in ancient Greek and Egyptian temples that weren’t only used to lighten the intensity of the harsh Mediterranean sun but to also create lighting affects that would slowly ease the users eye into the darker spaces of the site; much like the experience of one entering into a forest from a parry.

“In architecture color is used to emphasize the character of a building, to accentuate its form and material, and to elucidate its divisions” Rasmussen. For ages man has decorated his dwelling. Rasmussen uses the example of the Greek temples once vibrantly colored walls- much different for the white washed walls we see today. Yet he argues that unlike a piece of art, architecture is primary concerned with form and if the form and articulation of the space is correct, a structure can withstand the tests, and fads, of time with or without color. Rasmussen goes on to say that despite all theories on color there is no definite rule or direction that states- if closely followed one can guarantee good architecture (Rasmussen, p219). These readings have tough me that even though one cannot guarantee good architecture; it is possible to create space and form through the use of lighting techniques in conjunction with the addition of color.