How colour affects Identilty of a room

"Psychologists, at the University of British Columbia, were interested in looking at how the color of interior walls influence the imagination. They recruited six hundred subjects..., and had them perform a variety of basic cognitive tests displayed against red, blue or neutral colored backgrounds. " http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/the-psychology-of-architecture/

 RED ROOM

 

The research found that the colour red made the subjects better at doing task that required "accuracy and attention to detail" the researches claimed that this happened because of our natural association of danger to the colour red 

BLUE ROOM

The researches also found that the subjects in the blue room preformed worse in the short term memory tasks, but were much greater in the creative tasks. The occupants of the blue room "generated twice as many “creative outputs” as subjects in the red condition."

There has been lots of research on how colour affects the mood of a person, and a website that shows how the various colours apparently affect the mood of the user of the room. this guide also gives advice on which colours would go in which room. Colour Psychology

I wondered if there were any technologies that would allow the user of the house to change the colours of the walls depending on the need instead of having set colours for specific functions.

This wall was designed by designer Amirkhan Abdurakhmanov (known as Amirko). Amirko has created a DIY wall that allows the user to manual create different colours which can change a space dramatically.

The wall is one big wall of turning triangles which each feature a different pattern or design on each of the faces, the future of this design could mean different textures or materials, which could change the feeling within a room.

Another system that allows the colour of a wall to change is The Barrisol Lumière Color wall. This wall system uses fixings that attach the product to an existing wall that would allow the wall clour to be changed which also changes the feeling of a room as shown below. 

 

Another option to change the colour of a room could be to use lighting or use of Polycarbonate materials, either colored polycarbonate or with clear polycarbonate in conjunction with colored LED Lighting.

Rodeca colored panels

use of materials to create space

Materials

My look into the different materials began while looking at the work of Tadao Ando, while looking through a book of his work, I realised that most of his designs gave me a sense of calm while looking at them.

 

This image of a living room in  the kashino house by tadao Ando seems a very calm and relaxing space this is due to a number of factors, such as the subtle use of light the use of shadow and the materials, having never really thought of conrete as calming i was very intriqued about the use here, many of tadao andos buildings use conrete and all create a serene atmosphere to the buildinigs,

The use of concrete in this image creates calm by, being simplistic, on a large scale double height space, the colour does not distract the eye, the texture is smooth as well which also creates calm.

This image made me want to investigate what affect other materials had on the people. 

There have been studies on the psychological effects of architecture, although there have been a few studies on this there still a long way to go in this research, one study I did find was one which tried to determine whether the  different spaces affected the way we think.

A study  by Sibel Dazkir and Marilyn Read, which has compared the effects of curvilinear (rounded) and rectilinear (straight-edged) furniture on people's emotions. http://eab.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/03/12/0013916511402063

The study

 

The researches used 4 computer generated images of living rooms and asked 100 students to rate the rooms based on how they made them feel and how inviting the rooms were, overall the rooms with the curved furniture were rated significantly more inviting and pleasurable to the students. The researches also used open-ended questions in their investigation to determine why each room was picked, the answers from the questions

"the students made comments like 'I like the rounded shapes. They make the furniture look comfortable and inviting.' Another said: 'The rounded furniture seems to give off that calming feel."

This could also explain why I found the previous image calming.  

In contrast to concrete timber is a lot warmer and inviting, timber can also be less calming on a space as there are more colours patterns. The material also means that beams and columns cut through the room, which draws the eye. timbre is often brighter and more reflective than concrete. 

Timbre always feels more cosy and comfortable to me which is also nice in  within a space and can make people feel very comfortable.

Timbre interiors often feel more rustic or  hand-made, which can also make them seem more inviting.

Colour

Levels

Mullet house: Identifying space using levels

 The house has been divided excellently into different zones which serve different function,

1: the existing building, houses Bed rooms and bathrooms which are private areas,
2: upper level of extension houses living room and dinning
3: lower level extension houses a children's playroom, wine cellar, a laundry room and a bathroom.
 4: below living room is the parking space 
5: a terraced garden space


According to the architects, a passer-by has described the house as "formal up front with the party out the back".

The Mullet house uses levels to identify different areas within the extension. From the picture above you can see several levels in the house.

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The kitchen space is separated from the dinning and living room via a few stairs, having the kitchen lower means that while stood up working in the kitchen you will be at a similar eye level to anyone in the dinning and living room, which makes communication through the house work better, there are circular windows which link the kitchen to the floor beneath which houses the play room , meaning that while in the kitchen the parents can visually communicate with the children below and keep an eye on them. This use of levels means that while in in the kitchen space the person cooking can communicate on three levels.

This image shows the stairs leading down to the lower level which houses: a children's playroom, wine cellar, a laundry room and a bathroom. Which are all rooms which require less light and would not normally be used by guest, by using levels these can be kept separate.

 

 Play room below kitchen meaning that both child and parent can have visual contact and feel safe, 

out side the use of levels continues, 

The decking outside is kept at the same level as the interior this makes the outside space feel as though it is connected and part of the same space, again the circular sky lights are used to connect the people outside to the children in the play room, the sky lights also provide natural light to the play room.

From the looking at the use of levels and connections in this house I have tried to implement the design principles into my own design. If I use different levels to distinguish between certain space i will also try to keep the connections either visual, or hearing between the spaces. so that the house can all be connected. Connections are a key aspect I will try to establish in my design, to connect the occupants with each other as well as the house and the nature outside of the house.

Materials