Some thoughts on color's role in interior design

Real Estate Weekly, Nov 5, 2008 by Christine Vandover, Bonny Wilson

Interiors are a critical component of high-quality architecture projects. Used appropriately, interior color, design and texture positively influence the relationship between the environment and the occupants.

Smart interior design is an effective tool in every project category, ranging from healthcare facilities that promote health and healing; to entertainment venues that excite and ensure that patrons will return, to workplaces designed to spur focus and creativity in employees. Innovative and thoughtfully designed interiors help evoke desired responses in a comfortable, enjoyable setting. The New York office of NBBJ, an international architecture and design firm employing some 780 people worldwide, has helped companies and organizations create innovative places for 25 years.

Among the studio's clients have been the New York Tolerance Center, Kenneth Cole, Lua restaurant, Bloomberg, the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital at Westchester Medical Center, Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital and the Ashley River Tower at the Medical University of South Carolina. Prominent projects in Asia include Sail at Marina Bay in Singapore, as well as three outsized Chinese projects: the 6.6-million-square-foot Dalian Center in Dalian, the 5.7-million-square-foot Yanlord Landmark in Chengdu, the 2.2-million-square-foot Zhuhai Yanlord Beachfront in Zhuhai.

NBBJ understands that creating effective interiors requires the designer to move beyond commonly held assumptions about color and texture. Ideally, the process should involve a thoughtful process of observation to understand and determine how people tend to behave in a space--their movements, interactions and reactions--and then using appropriate design elements to positively build on these observations. For example, a hospital may use color and texture to help heal and soothe patients. A restaurant may use similar elements to encourage patrons to eat, talk and linger.

Color is a rich and complex element of interior design, but its effects are not widely understood.

To better comprehend the impacts of color, our team participated in a groundbreaking study of three colors--red, yellow and blue--and the physical, behavioral and emotional responses they encourage in a live setting.

A live color lab experiment known as "Spatial Color" was conceptualized to test long-held truths about these colors. The widely accepted beliefs tested were: red inspires people to eat more, blue is calming, and yellow can evoke happiness--but can also elicit aggression.

Three identical rooms were built and bathed in each respective color, then used for an hour-long cocktail party at a recent Architectural Digest Home Show here in New York City. The live setting allowed a research team to conduct a series of controlled, observational tests that focused on the behavioral responses of the participants. The test combined both scientific and design perspectives by tapping the expertise of a team of observers consisting of a doctor, a color scientist, a psychological consultant and designers. Creating such a "renaissance team" added considerable value to the experiment.

The results, published in Contract Magazine, revealed that "red and yellow create dynamic environments of movement and social interaction, while blue creates a space of calm and stillness with little social interaction."

The test also showed that while people reported feeling more hungry and thirsty in the red room, they consumed twice as much food and drink in the yellow room. The frequently cited belief that red causes people to eat more thus was not confirmed. People in the yellow room were the most physically active and animated. But subjects' heart rates did not change from room to room. This research was a unique learning experience that allowed architects and designers to gain some new understanding of the relationship between color and behavior from a design standpoint, rather than a scientific one

Architects concur that effective interior design means more than utilizing universally accepted notions about color, shape and form. At NBBJ, we believe that creating innovative interiors is a multi-disciplinary process that can be bolstered by in-depth research that studies human behavior within a space. Architects and designers need to gain insight into color and its impacts on behavior and attitudes. This first-hand knowledge will enable architects and designers to create interior environments that help form intimate connections and complex associations with color, light, form and human behavior.

Through this thoughtful approach, interior designers will maximize their ability to help owners and developers achieve their particular business or organizational goals for virtually any project.

BY CHRISTINE VANDOVER, SENIOR ASSOCIATION/INTERIOR DESIGNER, AND BONNY WELSON, INTERIOR DESIGN, BOTH OF NBBJ