Architectural Colour Design

The interest in the Swiss-French architect, painter, writer and designer remains flourishing. Seventeen of his projects are part of the UNESCO list of internationally significant architecture sites. Le Corbusier was an urbanist, humanist, visionary and philosopher with a deep interest in the human condition in the modern world. 

The book follows a rare first edition of the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier’s 1931 interactive Design Guide ‘Polychromie Architecturale’. It provides a deep insight into Le Corbusier’s complex colour theory, featuring both the 1931 and 1959 collection with pull-out sections. 

The Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier believed that colours affect architecture and their residents, modifying their perception of space and how they felt. Different groups of colours have different psychological effects, convert weight, depth or mass. Based on Le Corbusier’s profound, comprehensive experiences and his unparalleled practice of the architectural use of colours, he developed a timeless theory of colours – the ‘Architectural Polychromy’.

The book awaits to be flicked through while the coffee brews on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It is the kind of glossy coffee table book that your guests end up discussing the latest interior design styles.

Designing a convincing colour range requires standardisation, and a clear and coherent system, which ideally reproduces the familiar colours of nature whose combinations always remain harmonious. Le Corbusier’s first colour collection compiling 43 colours has a strong relation to nature. The second completes the Architectural Polychromy with 20 additional more powerful and dynamic colours.