Meet Caleb!
Author: Caleb Cole | Major: Architecture | Semester: Fall 2024
Autonomous//Color//Dimensional//Space aims to document and explore the ways the application of color within architectural spaces dramatically alters our perception and experience within a space. Color, in contemporary thought, is typically thought of as a secondary element of architecture and design—color is something to be applied, and we limit its effects to merely aesthetic ones. We, as humans, spend the vast majority of our time inside architecture, unconsciously experiencing designed spaces. Certain colors appear closer to the observer compared to others, and on the scale of architectural elements, such as walls, floors, and ceilings, it can push and pull our perceptual experience. Through a thorough understanding of the effects color possesses over our perceptions of space, color becomes a powerful tool for designers to wield.
In the spring of 2024, I was taking my fourth architectural design studio, taught by Professor Terry. Outside of the studio course, I had grown fond of the works of Josef Albers, a modern artist and painter from the early 20th century. I became obsessed with the forms and shapes in some of his compositions, and noticed how similar the shapes were to some of the shapes in my own design research from studio. I presented an idea to Professor Terry, who, in turn, encouraged it. I had proposed taking the composition, fusing it with some shapes derived from the studio project, and turn the painting into a three-dimensional model. This model became a staring point for the development of the studio project’s massing. That project, derived from a two-dimensional painting, had transformed into a three-dimensional building.
Most of the research thus far has involved physically and digitally recreating some of Josef Albers’ compositions and developing my own similar compositions. These faithful recreations and new compositions were developed specifically for the goal of testing the perceived spatial relationships colors have when applied next to one another. Further, the compositions have three-dimensional, physically modeled counterparts—the logic of the three-dimensionality dictated by the spatial perceptions of the two-dimensional compositions. In essence, whatever the flat composition spatially looks like, is physically realized. One thing that has left me absolutely starstruck is how incredibly sensitive relationships between colors are. If the hue of a color is nudged even ever-so-slightly, the composition loses its spatial ‘magic’ and appears as flat as the canvas. When preparing the acrylic gouaches for the composition, the ratios of paint colors must be precise. I observed that even half-drops of paint would leave an entire composition flat and lifeless. Through creating these compositions, not only have I better learned how relationships between colors effect our perceptions of space, but I have better learned the science of mixing exactly those hues.
Professor Terry’s feedback and critique, through every development of the project, has been instrumental. One discussion completely altered the way I perceived the compositions themselves, and how they relate to their precedent, the Josef Albers compositions. Up to that point, I had primarily perceived the compositions as if they were in an elevational view—as if the composition were painted on the wall. But Professor Terry had offered an alternative perception that I had not given proper attention to. She referenced that Josef Albers himself may have thought of the compositions as if they were in a plan view—as if the composition were painted on the floor and you were a bird looking down. As the project develops into its next few phases, colors will be applied to model three-dimensional space. In order to document and research perceptually altered, colored space to the fullest, both a plan view and elevation view will need to be employed. After all, floors and ceilings can be painted just as easily as walls—so why should they not be considered. Professor Terry challenged the very way I interpreted the work.
The research, where it stands, is at an inflection point. A library of compositions, of color’s perceptual behavior, has been carefully and thoroughly created and curated. The next phase of research involves creating abstract three-dimensional forms and applying color in such a way that will dramatically alter our perception of the form. Color will be applied to exaggerate pre-existing properties or proportions of the forms. I will also test the ability of color to create spatial illusions. Through a process of physical and digital modeling, I will test whether the perceptual properties of color can become more dominant than the present reality of form.