Colours play a vital role when it comes to design, especially within the landscape. Not only do they visually alter the outlook, but they also have the power to evoke emotions and set the mood of a place.
Cool calm colours such as blue and purple are often used in meditation gardens for their tendency to kindle peace and harmony - in contrast, warmer colours such as reds, pinks and oranges, evoke higher arousal emotions such as excitement, passion, love and happiness.
Staying within these two colour groups provides unity, yet those that contrast also provide unity - according to the colour theory and complimentary colour pairs and trios. Ahead of deciding a planting palette and other material considerations for North Place, I have been exploring Complementary, Analogous and Triadic colour combinations that have appeared in my surroundings.
COMPLEMENTARY
The contrasting leaves and berries of Aucuba japonica are a striking natural example of a complementary colour composition. On the right, we can see the purple of Echium candicans deliberately arranged against the limey backdrop of Euphorbia - a complimentary planting composition at the Barcelona Botanical Garden.
ANALOGOUS
The image on the left shows a clear analogous composition of red, orange and yellow deliberately chosen by the artist to colourfully express Autumnal Betulas. The photograph on the right provides an example of a naturally occurring analogous colour composition during sunrise when the scattering of light through the atmosphere includes longer wavelengths such as orange, red, pink and purple.
TRIADIC
I struggled to find a triadic colour composition in and around my house, but searched through my camera roll and came across the two above. In the first image, the pink and yellow of the bikes are complemented by the blue sky above (and likewise) following the triadic theory. Similarly on the right, the same three colour tones are represented in the sunset skies over St Dunstans spire.
Understanding the relationships and harmony between colours enables us to influence users of a place, in a multitude of beneficial ways. Warm colours will feature throughout my design for North Place for their ability to inspire passion, excitement and positive energy - to encourage self expression, identity and flair. Though I also have considerations for the use of purple in study/work areas for its calming nature and ability to boost productivity.
Comments
Post a Comment