Colors in Architecture : Black (Projects pre 2004)
12:23 PM
“True equilibrium is expressed by the straight line,” wrote Piet Mondrian.
For him and his modernist allies, that line
was inevitably black. Architects like Rietveld, and later the Eameses, gave architectural expression to arrangements of
brightly colored planes organized by black.
In the same way, today’s architects and designers use black as an essential
structural element.
Aloof from the vagaries of fashion and trendiness, black is a timeless choice.
It represents
at once a totality—a convergence of all colors—and the most primal act of a designer: Taking black ink to white paper.
Peter Marino + Assoc Architects, Chanel Store, Paris, 2003.
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| Harrison and Abramovitz, Corning Glass Center, Corning, New York, 1951. |
Black mullions for
glass walls make for a different reading than lighter choices
such as brushed steel, aluminum or chrome. Black is stronger,
more definitive, more weighty.
A wing in the original museum
has a wall of sheets of photo-sensitive glass over concrete block,
the end result resembling marble. In responding to the original
building, for the new Corning Museum of Glass, Phase Two, built
in 1999 by Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects, the designers
chose to use black in columns, window frames and other elements.
Peter Marino + Assoc Architects, Chanel Store, Paris, 2003.
Coco
Chanel set the tone for her company when she adopted an
elegant sans serif black logotype. In this store, black railings and
window frames seem to take this elegant design parti and bring
it into three dimensions, organizing the space and making it
more seductive. Like the proverbial “little black dress” that Chanel
helped make a fashion staple, here black architectural elements
are reserved and timeless.
Tiny perforations in a random
pattern along the store’s walls are back-lit, lending a scale and
complexity to otherwise unadorned gloss surfaces. Everywhere
in the store, black forms a rigid controlling presence, from the
walls to the floor to the framing of the display cases and furniture.
This is deft and elegant use of this sum of all colors, resulting in
a space that is at once Spartan and filled with visual interest.
Zaha Hadid Architects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati,
2003
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| Zaha Hadid Architects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, 2003. |
Through a deft use of black, the architect focuses attention
on a single but important part of the façade’s composition. The
building’s exterior massing is formed by a series of extruded
squares and rectangles that seem to lunge aggressively forward.
As if to underscore the notion of black as a singular and rebellious
chromatic force, the square that protrudes the farthest stands
out, provocatively.
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| Zaha Hadid Architects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, 2003. |
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| Zaha Hadid Architects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, 2003. |
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| Zaha Hadid Architects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, 2003. |
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| Zaha Hadid Architects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, 2003. |
Hadid uses black skillfully to emphasize certain forms while
minimizing others. The organizing stair of the museum appears
to be multiple ships converging on a single port when seen
from below or above. Their swarthy color adds to the sense of
aggressiveness.
In rejecting the accepted “neutral white box”
museum design paradigm, Hadid replaces it with a inciting parti.
Eric J. Cobb Architect, Stretch Residence, Seattle, 2003
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| Eric J. Cobb Architect, Stretch Residence, Seattle, 2003. |
In rooms
where black is used sparingly, it nonetheless has impact. In the
great room, the steel fireplace offers a planar counterpart to a
flat-black topped table. In the corner fenestration system, black
steel window frames are exposed wide-flange steel I-beams that
form an ordered grid through which to take in the expansive views.
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| Eric J. Cobb Architect, Stretch Residence, Seattle, 2003. |
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| Eric J. Cobb Architect, Stretch Residence, Seattle, 2003. |
Gabellini Associates, Park Avenue Apartment, New York, 1998
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| Gabellini Associates, Park Avenue Apartment, New York, 1998. |
Because the client is a collector of black-and-white photography,
a certain color discipline was brought to bear. Especially important
were the monolith-like, black, solid cubic masses anchoring the
living room, dining room and bedroom.
The virtual opposite of
these elements is the ethereal walls of opaque glass and the
signature use of Sivec white marble on countertops and other
key surfaces. In this apartment, black-and-white photography
finds not only a repository but a worthy subject as well.
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| Gabellini Associates, Park Avenue Apartment, New York, 1998. |
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| Gabellini Associates, Park Avenue Apartment, New York, 1998. |
Architecture in Detail: Colors
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