Directions to this house would be very easy indeed ! Using bold colours to outline architectural elements, is a feature of Indian architecture - always colourful, it doesn't seem to follow any particular logic. Even formal elements, like arches and coloumns, play a decorative, rather than functional role, and are sometimes randomly placed at skyline level.
Interestingly, in the West, colour does not play an active role in architecture. From Greek times, the formal properties of harmony and balance were celebrated. The Romans added might and mass and Vetruvian principles of proportion, based on mathematical logic. Applied sculptural decoration enlivened pediments and friezes with narrative stories.
Brunelleschi, the famous Renaissance Architect, interestingly introduced colour into his buildings by using the simple contrast of grey pietra serena (a local sandstone) and white stucco, to emphasize the rational logic of his mathematical proportions, in a very controlled way. Applied decoration in the form of blue and white glazed terracotta, was the only colour permitted by him, to be introduced into his rational structures.
And even with the architectural revolution of the 19th century, when new building materials like reinforced concrete and glass became available, the focus of architecture was on building higher and higher, economics, being a motivating factor. The early 20th c movements of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, were a brief decorative interlude, before Gropius and Le Corbusier, brought us back to our senses and reminded us that form should express function and the frivolity of decoration was eschewed in favour of truth to the materials themselves.
The sheer playfulness of The Red and White House (1952), with its pale mauve shutters, is a glorious example of indulgence !
Interestingly, in the West, colour does not play an active role in architecture. From Greek times, the formal properties of harmony and balance were celebrated. The Romans added might and mass and Vetruvian principles of proportion, based on mathematical logic. Applied sculptural decoration enlivened pediments and friezes with narrative stories.
Brunelleschi, the famous Renaissance Architect, interestingly introduced colour into his buildings by using the simple contrast of grey pietra serena (a local sandstone) and white stucco, to emphasize the rational logic of his mathematical proportions, in a very controlled way. Applied decoration in the form of blue and white glazed terracotta, was the only colour permitted by him, to be introduced into his rational structures.
And even with the architectural revolution of the 19th century, when new building materials like reinforced concrete and glass became available, the focus of architecture was on building higher and higher, economics, being a motivating factor. The early 20th c movements of Art Deco and Art Nouveau, were a brief decorative interlude, before Gropius and Le Corbusier, brought us back to our senses and reminded us that form should express function and the frivolity of decoration was eschewed in favour of truth to the materials themselves.
The sheer playfulness of The Red and White House (1952), with its pale mauve shutters, is a glorious example of indulgence !
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