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Introduction
This research overview was carried out as part of the interdis-
ciplinary Nordic research project
SYN-TES. Human colour and
light synthesis: Towards a coherent field of knowledge
. The proj-
ect was based at University College of Arts, Crafts and Design
(Konstfack) in Stockholm and included experts representing
several disciplines from six Nordic Universities, and from four
leading companies dealing with colour and/or light issues. For
full project publication see www.konstfack.se/SYN-TES.
Scope and method
The aim of the research overview is to present research reports
and other scientific publications that explicitly deal with the
spatial interaction of colour and light. In addition it presents
current research themes dealing with the spatial aspects of
either colour or light, or with the interaction between colour
and light without considering spatial aspects. Primarily it cov-
ers work that has been published during the period 2006-2011,
but also some older publications with special importance have
been included.
Literature has been surveyed and evaluated with the help from
the broad multidisciplinary competence in the SYN-TES re-
search group. To find relevant research we have gone through
the following international publications (a more specified list is
given later in this article).
• Proceedings from six conferences arranged by the AIC
(International Colour Association) 2006-2011
• Proceedings from six conferences and symposia arranged by
the CIE (International Commission on Illumination) 2006-2011.
• Proceedings (or notes from personal attendance) from
another six international conferences dealing with colour
and/or light, 2009-2011.
• All issues from 2006-2011 of seventeen research journals
specialised on design, architecture, colour or light.
• Books and other publications that we already knew about or
came to know about through the proceedings and journals.
For Swedish research we have started from a previously pub-
lished knowledge review and bibliography dealing with light,
colour and their spatial interaction (2008a; Fridell Anter 2008b).
For obvious reasons it has been impossible to find, read and
comment all potentially relevant literature. The references in
this article give an overview over important research themes
and mentions influential researchers and/or typical examples,
but there is no ambition to cover everything. For research of
more peripheral relevance to our topic we do not refer to spe-
cific publications or projects but only to larger volumes, theme
conferences etc.
Journals and organisations
In international research on architecture and design, neither
colour nor light are any large issues, and even less their spa-
tial interaction. The 2006-2011 volumes of twelve theoretical
journals on design and architecture, from different parts of the
world, include only a handful of articles that at all deal with
colour and/or light, and those present art installations rather
than research.
Nevertheless, both colour and light are subjects of quite o lot
of research, which is partly relevant in the contexts of archi-
tecture and design. Colour and light are, however, to a large
extent treated as separate fields of knowledge, and most of the
research on colour or light deals with entirely different ques-
tions than their spatial interaction.
The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) is among
other things responsible for formulating standards. The com-
mission includes six divisions, where division 1 works with
vision and colour (director M. Ronnier Luo) and division 3 with
interior environment and lighting design (director Jennifer
Veitch). The CIE conferences deal mostly with such as the
characteristics of light sources, evaluation of new technology
and related measuring methods. CIE also includes a large
number of technical committees and publishes their reports,
for example
The measurement of visual appearance
, edited by
Mike Pointer (CIE 2006).
The International Colour Association (AIC) gathers people who
work with colour in many ways, including art, technology, and
various academic disciplines. Its conferences deal with colour
from a variety of perspectives, such as techniques for mea-
suring colour differences, investigations on people’s colour
preferences, colour application in design, and the colour vision
of elderly people. Every second year a researcher is given the
AIC Judd award as recognition of outstanding work in the field
of colour science. The most recent recipients were: 2007 Alan
Robertson, colorimetry (see Ohta & Robertson 2006), 2009
Arne Valberg, biophysics (see Valberg 2005), 2011 Lucia Ronchi,
visual science (see several titles in bibliography). Within AIC
there are several study groups, and the
Study Group for Environ-
mental Colour Design
(chair Verena M. Schindler) involves many
researchers and practitioners within architecture and interior
design. Ronchi (2010) summarises about 80 papers related to
architecture, presented at the AIC conferences 1982-2008 and
Fridell Anter (2009) gives a general overview over approaches
dealing with colour in art, design and architecture.
The journal
Color Research and Application
is mostly orientated
towards natural science and technology, but it also includes
articles that discuss colour from the perspectives of such as