Color, Light and Architecture (English)

From Perception to Professional Color Concepts

Color, one of architecture's most powerful tools, is rarely understood beyond taste and trends. This 2-day workshop introduces a perception-based methodology for architectural color design, tracing a line from Le Corbusier's Salubra keyboards and Eileen Gray's E.1027 to the vision science of why we see color at all. Participants learn a three-step method — atmosphere, differentiation, individualization — for building physiologically sound and materially honest color concepts.

Beginning with the questions why we see color and what we actually perceive when we see color, participants explore the fundamental relationships between light and color, material and form, spatial perception and architectural function. Current findings from vision science – color constancy, contrast perception, and circadian effects – are translated into objective criteria for color design in architectural practice.

Three-Step Color Design

Three fundamental functions of color form the basis of a three-step methodology for developing architectural color concepts. Inspired by Le Corbusier's Salubra color keyboards of 1931–32 and our own research into the interaction of pigments and light, the method distinguishes three essential stages of color design:

• Atmosphere – establishing a luminous background through carefully selected whites 
• Differentiation – creating depth, hierarchy and orientation through measured light–dark relationships. 
• Individualization – introducing chromatic colors to respond to people, place and architectural identity.

By the end of the course, architects and designers will understand not only which colors to choose, but why they work, how they influence perception, and how to materialize them to create emotionally pleasing, physiologically functional and ecologically responsible color concepts for their architecture.

Method

The workshop combines theory with practical experimentation using paint, pigments, controlled light-box studies and the ktCOLOR design tool ColorConcepter. Participants experience color as a material rather than as an abstract numerical value, developing a new understanding of its role in architecture.

Who this workshop is for

Design professionals, students of design, architects, interior designers, industrial designers and artists with a background in color design

Details and Fees

Two-day workshop: January 28 & 29, 2027, from 9 AM to 5 PM at the ktCOLOR paint manufactory, Aathalstrasse 74, CH 8610 Uster, Switzerland  

Lunch, refreshments and course materials are included. Participants receive the workshop manual and complimentary access to Katrin Trautwein's Masterclass, providing a comprehensive reference to the concepts introduced during the workshop.

Fees: CHF 700 / € 700

Contact us for lists of hotels in the area.