Beyond appearances: the experience of equivalent colors in architecture

Abstract

One objective of this dissertation was to include designerly ways of working into a research inquiry that aims to produce knowledge targeted at designers. To accomplish this, the research used both selected qualitative and quantitative methods to benefit from their respective strength. One method of qualitative investigation was to interview a variety of experts in the field to augment the available literature. The interviews revealed new opportunities and challenges for color matching due to characteristic differences between increasingly used LED technology, and more conventional light sources.

I also conducted targeted studies, with qualitative observational investigations at the onset informing and enhancing quantitative follow-up sessions. These perception study results revealed perceived visual, affective and physiological differences of nominally similar colors that were mixed in different ways. There were statistically significant correlations between these visual, affective and physiological qualities.

My research set out to study the qualities of luminous color at architectural scale. Architectural designs inevitably work with color palettes and color matches using different materials and different lighting conditions. It can be confusing to understand which color classifications, mixing techniques and metrics are valid for luminous color (colored light viewed directly, or on a white surface) and illuminated color (white light on colored surface). Designers often match colors by eye, however, while fabricators and engineers use tools that calculate color matches based on mathematical perception models. My research compared colors, mixed using different technologies that were matched as closely as possible using industry established color matching models.