UK: Color, Lace and Concrete

The Nottingham Gallery in UK, designed by Caruso St John characterizes the 19th century grey and somber warehouses and offices of the famous Lace Market located next door. Its one of the first buildings that I added to my bucket list back in the days when I started reading about contemporary architecture.

The green and gold exteriors stand out against the skyline, especially more so, when the sun’s rays touch the gold and seem to set it on fire.

Another striking feature is the lace-like concrete facade, made of green precast concrete panels, cast with a lace pattern on the surface.

Amazingly it looks realistic: soft and delicate looking like real lace stitched onto the surface.

Ireland: Concrete Canvas

An Gaelaras by O’Donnell & Tuomey is a £4 million Irish Language Cultural Center in the city of Derry, North Ireland. The glass roofed building is modeled as a 3 Dimensional Canvas brought live with color to complement the expansive stretches of concrete geometry.

A visitor looking around from any part of the Center conjures up a spectacular new seamless abstract composition.

Interestingly, the lines on the concrete were designed to match the scale of bricks. So its a brick building made in concrete!

Color in Architecture

The Greeks built some of the most important structures that set the tone and proportions of prominent buildings and structures that we see around us today. Interestingly, the most iconic architectural ruins from that era are all 'color-free' - be it the Parthenon at Athens or the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. They are made of stone or concrete in shades of white, picking on beige and brown as they aged. Built against dramatic green swathes of hilly landscape, complemented by the lovely blue Aegen Sea, these white structures went on to be considered the ultimate expression of "rich and classic" architecture.

Greek monuments, as we see them today:

Temple of Nike, a symbol of luck atop the Acropolis at Athens, © Janani Rajagopalan

But did they always look that way? I recently came across an interesting theory that suggests that the Greeks did use colors to adorn their structures - bright, vibrant hues such as copper blue and terracotta red, derived from natural stones and coloring pigments available at the time. Think about it - these structures were built in the 4th and 5th century B.C. while the Athenian empire was at its peak. They have withstood centuries of rain, storms and floods, in addition to wars that were fought after the fall of the Greeks and later Romans. What are the chances that all the color got washed away early and somehow never got highlighted in the descriptions and recordings about these buildings. We do know that the Greeks knew how to make color - The Acropolis museum provides a detailed reference list on the 9-10 colors that they knew how to make.

Artistic Renderings of how Greeks may have used colors:

Nevertheless, most architects from the Classical Era refused to acknowledge that the white Greek monumental remains may have looked bright and colorful. While Classical architects still favors white and beige, modern architects introduced primary colors into their palette. Things are changing today, with many architects collaborating with artists in projects where they wish to explore the potential of color in architecture.