1. Colour and inclusivity | Colour design in architecture is too often neglected.

This contribute is not focused on investigating the reasons of this situation, but is evident that colour is still considered as a factor playing in the realm of aesthetic choices.

In 1996 Frank H. Mahnke shown why such an approach is a mistake in architectural design (see “Color, Environment, & Human Response”, by Frank H. Mahnke, Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1996). This book should be a mandatory reading in school of architecture and design, and I really hope that a new edition is soon published, seeing that procuring it is becoming increasingly hard.

In 1990, Mahnke proposed the Colour Experience Pyramid to illustrate the factors influencing the human experience of perception. Is remarkable that only the very top of this pyramid is taken into account in design and designers’ and architects’ works seem to consider only the influence of trends, fashion, and Styles. Considering the everyone personal relationship with colour (the very top of the Pyramid), the practical choice is not choosing, so designing neutral and anaesthetic white-dominated spaces is the current trend. Cultural influences and conscious symbolism play a role only in religious places (which are the colours to use according the religious symbolism?) and public spaces (which are the colours to avoid to prevent hurting people’s sensibility in a cross-cultural society?).

On the contrary, in a very cross-cultural society, factors related to the collective unconscious and to biological reaction to a colour stimulus should be well known and taken into account in the design process for public and private spaces: these factors are the most shared going beyond cultural, lingual, and ethnic differences among people. Considering also the perceptual factors (related to visual deficit due to age or disease) leads toward designing really inclusive spaces, according to the Design for All organisation‘s objectives.

2. Colour, Health and well-being | When I’ve moved to London in March 2014, I’ve begun to study the UK Building Regulation and standards. Given my 13 years-long experience as architect in Italy, I’m interested in understanding how to exploit my experience in the British context. Because of the European common stage, I don’t found remarkable differences in any field and if I do, differences are easly expected (for example, floor-ceiling high standard and glazing area calculation). Very often that differences in regulations’ standard are due to climate and geographical differences. If rules and codes are related to very specific topics (i.e. energy efficiency and human well-being), differences are very hard to discover: that documents are referred to scientific researches acknowledged all over the world.

So, the average daylight factor required in residential spaces swings between 1,5% and 2% in UK (see “code for Sustainable Homes: Technical Guide, and BS 8206-2:2008) and it is 2% in Italy in all living rooms, but the calculation method is the same. Both in UK and Italy codes and standard try to achieve the balance between human well-being and saving energy strategies.

Virtues and vices are shared among several codes within the European context, so no one mentions that the environment’s colours influence the perception of temperature with a range between 3° and 4°, suggesting the use of colour as a way to ensure both thermal comfort and energy saving.

3. Colour, Accessibility and Lifetime criteria | During my comparative reading of UK and Italy building codes and standard, I was particularly interested in finding differences about accessibility and inclusivity criteria in architectural design. In Italy, since 1989, a specific code (L. 13/89) regulates buildings’ design in matter of accessibility so as the Wheelchair Housing Design Guide does in UK. Beyond the shared principles (accessibility and adaptability), L.13/86 and WHDG share the majority of rules and standards in space measurement. In both cases, “accessibility” is a concept mostly referred to mobility deficit and any other physical deficit (visual or auditive) is nearly neglected.

Lifetime Homes criteria are mostly focused on mobility deficit and only two criteria are referred to visual deficit: Criterion 4 requires that entrance should be illuminated, and Criterion 5a requires that step nosing in communal stairs should be distinguishable through contrasting brightness. Considering that visual deficit is the most common condition for elderly people and considering how many people are normally affected by visual deficit (including the three form of colour blindness – deuteranopy, protanopy, and trynatopy), a most effective attention to this matter should be required in inclusive design, seeing that “all new housing is built to Lifetime Homes’ standards” as the Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance requires (see Policy 3.8 – Housing Choice Strategy).

The W3C Recommendations could be an useful example also for architectural design. TheWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0) suggest to check the contrast ratio of text and images to evaluate the visual “readibility”. The “readibility” should be a feature also in an inclusive architectural spaces, and the evaluation of contrast should be a common criterion in interior design as much as colours use to help elderly people’s well-being.

4. Including colour strategy in Lifetime Home criteria | In 2007 I was a team member ofWel_Hops, an European project aiming at producing common European good practice guidelines for the planning of older people housing. The working partner were: ERVETEmilia Romagna Territorial Economic Developmnet S.p.A. (Team Leader, Italy), Blekinge Institute of Technology – Karlskrona University (Sweden), Brighton & Hove City Council(UK), FAMCP, La Federación Aragonesa de Municipios, Comarcas y Provincias (Spain), and Györ City Council (Hungary).

That experience change radically my approach to design and to inclusive design.

Four years ago colour started to begin central in my experience as professional and trainer, and now, my activities include training courses and workshops focused on colour design strategy largely based on Frank Mahnke theories.

Recently, continuing my career in UK and studying Building Regulations, and all the codes about sustainability and accessibility, I match my experiences with Wel_Hops and colours.

Wel_hops Guidelines includes a lot of cases where colour, contrast, and perception play a role, and the following cases, describing NEEDS/strategy, can suggest several implementation beyond the rules listed in the Wel_hops Guideline to integrate the Lifetime Home criteria:

• EASY IDENTIFICATION OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE HOME /Recognizing the entrance to one’s own house, even from distance, transmit a sense of safety and creates the feeling of pleasure on returning home
• VISUAL WELL-BEING / Visual well-being represent an essential condition for maintaining a good individual psycho-physical level and for raising the quality of life
• EASY IDENTIFICATION OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE BUILDING / Making the entrance to the building easily recognizable gives a sense of safety and belonging
• ENTERING THE BUILDING ON FOOT OR BY WHEELCHAIR/MOBILITY SCOOTER /Entering in the building in a simple and safe way allowing easy recognition of the route to follow
• GUARANTEEING PERSONAL SAFETY / One’s own personal safety and its perception are the basis of a sense of autonomy and independence
• MOVING EASILY IN HORIZONTALLY AND VERTICALLY LINKED AREAS IN THE BUILDING / being able to move about with ease and comfort encourages movement and stimulates a desire to go out more, feeling more autonomous and content
• GUARANTEE THE AESTHETIC QUALITY OF SHARED SPACES / the aesthetic quality of shared spaces stimulates a sense of belonging for residents
• EASY REACHING OF THE MAIN DOOR OF THE BUILDING / making access to the building comfortable, simple and safe encourages people to go out more

5. Integrated process and buildings standards | Design building is a complex activity. Technical limits, cost-effectiveness, codes and standards are key factors in the process. However, the users’ comfort should be the main aim for a designers, and very often codes and regulation provide a guidance to obtain this results. Colour strategy is a very cost effective tool to achieve living comfort. Nevertheless colour strategy is neglected by architects and standards.

On the contrary colour could be a key factor in a very integrated process, crossing safe energy strategy and Lifetime home extended criteria.

Probably it is very difficult translating the colour strategy into building standards, but introducing it as a cultural approach in building design should be desirable and opportune.