Is it really true that houses need to have contrasting colors, that that objectively is preferable? Maybe it’s just what we’re used to, so it feels more “normal”.
Like, I can certainly think of architectural styles that don’t have much color variety.
The San Estévan del Rey Mission Church stands at the northern end of the large plaza that takes up the southern end of the mesa top that houses Sky City, the traditional Acoma pueblo settlement that has been continuously occupied since prehistoric times. It is a large adobe structure, built in a wall and beam construction style.
Brutalism often just exposes the raw color of concrete for the whole exterior:
Villa Paul Poiret in Mézy-sur-Seine, Yvelines, France, is an early 1920s Cubism-inspired Art Deco private house originally designed by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens.
The house stands in 48,500 square metres (12.0 acres) of parkland in Mézy-sur-Seine, to the west of Paris, overlooking the Seine Valley. It is constructed in reinforced concrete in a geometric style, has 25 rooms on three levels, 800 square metres (8,600 sq ft) of internal space, an upper terrace with panoramic views, and a 7-metre-tall (23 ft) corner salon with floor-to-ceiling windows.[1]
Greek Revival architecture exteriors tend to have the same sort of uncolored surface. Amusingly, this was based on a misunderstanding of Greek architecture — we often think of classical Greek statues and buildings as white marble, though that’s because the paint that was once on there wore away prior to archeologists discovering them. In the early US, we used it a lot in government buildings because it was associated with democracy:
Every single one of those examples does have contrasts though. The mission Church wood is a different color, and the shadows you can see of the ceiling provide a third. The brutality has starkly different windows, the stairwell is accented in beige, and there is a lot of texture in the concrete. villa savoye has contrasted base, window trim, and again the white starkly contrasts with the reflective windows. Idk what this person’s neighbor house looks like but solid untextured teal (or any color) would look pretty weird imo without at least some differences in tone, texture, or like natural colored window frames at least.
Okay, but now imagine any of those buildings you cited painted teal.
(They work because they’re the authentic color of the materials they’re made out of and people interpret authentic as “correct,” not because monochromatic is inherently good.)
thinks a bit
Is it really true that houses need to have contrasting colors, that that objectively is preferable? Maybe it’s just what we’re used to, so it feels more “normal”.
Like, I can certainly think of architectural styles that don’t have much color variety.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Estévan_del_Rey_Mission_Church
Brutalism often just exposes the raw color of concrete for the whole exterior:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Carreño_Cultural_Complex
A lot of modern architecture styles go in for a stark white:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Paul_Poiret
Greek Revival architecture exteriors tend to have the same sort of uncolored surface. Amusingly, this was based on a misunderstanding of Greek architecture — we often think of classical Greek statues and buildings as white marble, though that’s because the paint that was once on there wore away prior to archeologists discovering them. In the early US, we used it a lot in government buildings because it was associated with democracy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Revival_architecture
EDIT: And the styles based on Spanish Colonial stuff are often monocolored other than having a terracotta roof:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Colonial_Revival_architecture
Every single one of those examples does have contrasts though. The mission Church wood is a different color, and the shadows you can see of the ceiling provide a third. The brutality has starkly different windows, the stairwell is accented in beige, and there is a lot of texture in the concrete. villa savoye has contrasted base, window trim, and again the white starkly contrasts with the reflective windows. Idk what this person’s neighbor house looks like but solid untextured teal (or any color) would look pretty weird imo without at least some differences in tone, texture, or like natural colored window frames at least.
Okay, but now imagine any of those buildings you cited painted teal.
(They work because they’re the authentic color of the materials they’re made out of and people interpret authentic as “correct,” not because monochromatic is inherently good.)
Hmm, maybe it doesn’t work so well when it’s bright teal tho.
Nobody will ever know unless some brave soul tries painting the Lincoln Memorial teal.
Actually…you know, I could see Trump deciding to gild the thing. He put gold all over in the White House…
I mean, just look at the garish blue reflecting pool.
Why does this comment feel like AI? I’m not saying it is, but it just feels like it. Maybe I’ve been too involved with them lately.