GREY, BEIGE OR GREIGE?

Neutral colours – are we politely sitting on the fence?

So many public buildings exhibit the same old white/grey or beige/greige colour schemes.

Intended to be polite and neutral, they avoid scrutiny or comment. It is commonly thought that neutrals will be liked by the greatest number of people. I’d like to see the research on that.

I suspect those generic, polite spaces are not loved by anyone in particular. They are simply accepted as the norm, arousing no interest or passion.

Allowing everything to remain ‘generic’ risks the disengagement of the end user. It limits thought and debate, emotions are kept at bay, attachments are minimised and buildings are seen as commodities.

In contrast, consider the Sydney Opera House. The colour scheme is SO dated. Purple carpet! OMG, what were they thinking? And yet we love it. The richness, the quality, the depth of the colour, the extraordinary specialness of it all. Every visit to the Opera House is an occasion, a celebration, a deeply enriching experience.

By excluding colour – what else and who else are we excluding?

It’s my belief that ignoring or neglecting colour in architecture, could be seen as a rejection of people - in all their diversity - from buildings and public space.