Rose tinted spectacles: Culturally informed differences between Iran and Australia in architect's colour cognition, preference and use
Introduction
In architecture, as in other creative fields, colours have always been seen as strongly symbolic of cultural and religious meaning (Swirnoff, 2000, Lenclos, 2004). Informed by symbolic interpretation, colour can provoke responses and understanding that inform the interpretation and perception of the built environment. Bruno Taut argued that colour is the most effective means for architects of awakening the consciousness and perceptual capacities of citizens (Boeri, 2010). For in architecture, in common with other fields of design (Na & Suk, 2014), colour is a vital element for communicating the relationship between concept, the designed artefact and its function. Colour can therefore play a crucial role in reinforcing city identity and is thus often considered when a design is used to initiate urban and social regeneration. On the other hand, built heritage can be threatened by erosion of visual culture through the advent of globalisation, which has caused a gradual elimination of vernacular historical colour use once reflecting native culture, ethnicity and identity.
Recognising the strong historical bond between colour, culture and architecture prompts the question addressed in this paper: how much is the colour selection of architects influenced by personal preferences that are innate and/or informed via cultural indoctrination and association? Although studies have considered the roles of colour in different cultures, the role of culture in informing architects' attitudes towards colour use has received surprisingly little attention. For while colour and its use has been studied in multiple fields from many different perspectives, resulting in the recognition of a number of factors informing colour use – such as demographic characteristics, personal preference, and the potency and semiotic interpretation of symbols and meanings (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2002) – only a small number of studies have attempted to find the impact of these variables on colour use and understanding in design, and fewer still have asked what informs architect's colour choices.
Two fields of thought theorise the origins of human colour cognition: the first posits that colour cognition could be of innate or instinctual origin (Humphrey, 1976), whereby colour prompts the brain to trigger an affective reaction directly (Aslam, 2006); the second posits that colour cognition is of learned or associative origin (Langenbeck, 1913), whereby “colour preferences are learned over time as shared affective meanings or as result of past experiences or as conscious associations in language, literature and myths” (Aslam, 2006). While physiological differences lead some people to perceive colour differently to others, meaning colour cognition can have innate origins, it is recognised, see for instance (Crozier, 1996), that differences in colour associations are due more to variation in latent philosophical–religious attitudes than to differences in innate perception. This study posits that while the potency of philosophical–religious attitudes will show up in cultural differences in architects' colour cognition and preferences, their use of colour will be shaped by the cultural context of practice. In other words, that an architect's colour use is informed by social learning processes during the practice of design (see Kaufman-Scarborough, 2001), and their colour associations, as Aslam suggests, “are more likely to be based on classical or evaluative conditioning and that instrumental responses are less likely to form durable colour associations” (Aslam, 2006).
To facilitate the investigation of these questions, we have published elsewhere a theoretical framework hypothesising the relationship between the variables that might influence colour choice in building design (Motamed & Tucker, 2018). Seven categories of variables were identified through literature review in addition to analysis of pilot survey findings (Fig. 1): (1) individual demographic characteristics (2) colour education, (3) colour knowledge, (4) culture, (5) colour preference, (6) colour attitude, and (7) design context (use in practice). This paper examines the relationship between culture and three of the seven variables (1) colour (and colourfulness) preference, (2) colour attitude, and (3) architects’ colour use in practice.
Three hypotheses are investigated in this paper:
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that the cultural background of an architect impacts their colour (and colourfulness) preference;
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that the cultural background of an architect impacts their general attitude to colour use in architecture;
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that the cultural background of an architect impacts their colour use;
The first hypothesis acknowledges that colour preference might not just relate to hue (i.e., a favourite colour), but might also favour achromatic tones from white to black. For when it comes to a complex multi-component object such as a building, preference might favour a more restricted colour palette over a highly colourful palette. Hence, it is important to differentiate between colour preference and colourfulness preference – the latter being a measure of how colourful an architect prefers architecture to be. For the second hypothesis, colour attitude refers to an architect's beliefs and behavioural tendencies in relation to colour use in general in architecture. Moreover, to signify a theoretical combination of colour preferences and attitudes, the term colour orientation will also be used in this paper i.e. the preferences, beliefs and behavioural tendencies towards colour that an architect brings to every project and which varies little between projects.
Section snippets
Background
Only a few studies have investigated the colour strategies that architects might use to express design intention. For instance, Zennaro has suggested (2017) that to successfully use colour, designers need to: (1) have cultural understanding of design and colour essentials, (2) consideration of all five senses in perception of surrounding, (2) basic knowledge about colour combination and harmony, (3) knowledge about site historical, cultural, and geographical background, (4) know the special
Instrument and participants
A mixed-methods approach used qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques both in parallel and sequentially. Based on the findings of a pilot study of 120 students, academics and architects (see Motamed, Tucker, & Grose, 2015a), two equivalent surveys were circulated online in Iran and Australia: (1) an 85-item questionnaire for academics and professionals, and (2) a 79-item questioner for postgraduate architectural students. Of 274 completed questionnaires, 44.16% were
Colour (and colourfulness) preference
It was found that colourfulness scores are significantly higher when Australia is the country of practice – Iran (M = 6.97, SD = 2.05), Australia (M = 7.6, SD = 2.34); t (229) = −2.11, p = 0.036, two-tailed. Thus, the mean scores are 0.62 higher for Australia, with a 95% confidence interval ranging from −1.2 to −0.04. The eta squared statistic (0.019) indicates a very small effect size (Table 2).
No significant difference was found in architectural colourfulness preference scores for Iran and
Culture, colour and colourfulness preference
Grounded theory investigated the relationship between culture and hue choice. It was found that colour biases in both countries are rooted in two main categories: (1) contextual factors, and (2) socio-cultural factors.
When Iranian participants talked about socio-cultural factors, they referred to these ideas: Islamic religion and culture, Persian culture, social norms, ethnic beliefs and governmental/political rules. According to the most numerous comments, contextual factors of influence were
Conclusion
This paper investigated the question: does an architect's cultural background affect their use of colour when designing? Three prime cultural differences were found when comparing the data of Iranian and Australian architects for the three spheres of colour use: (1) colour orientation, (2) colourfulness preference, and (3) colour (hue) choice. First, it was found that those who completed their postgraduate education in Australia attached greater importance to colour use in their designs.
Acknowledgement
A Deakin University (Australia) PhD scholarship awarded to the first author is acknowledged.
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