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NORDIC LIGHT & COLOUR
17
Light and colour in rooms
When it comes to interior rooms, there is research on how
daylight reaches into the room under different preconditions
and what this means for such as light level and glare (Boyce et
al. 2003; Kim et al. 2007; Amorim et al. 2011; Mardaljevic et al.
2011; Pellegrino et al. 2011). Work on daylight in rooms is being
done within CIE technical committees TC 3-47 and 3-39.
Some research has investigated how the experience of room
atmosphere is affected by the light (Vogels et al. 2009). One
approach has started from Katz (1935) and Gilchrist et al.
(1999) and discussed the light experience in the room in terms
of the colours’ modes of appearance (Yamaguchi & Shinoda
2007; Yoshizawa 2007). There have also been studies on how
the perceived form, size and proportions of the room is affected
by the form and placement of windows and the subsequent
amount of daylight (Matusiak 2004; Matusiak 2006; Matusiak
& Sudbø 2008), and on the effects on room perception by the
direction and distribution of artificial light (Wänström Lindh
2010). There are also studies on how different illumination
solutions are perceived by people with visual impairment
(Matusiak et al. 2009) and how illumination should be made in
rooms for different activities such as offices (Boyce 2006; Veitch
et al. 2008; Kronqvist 2010; Veitch et al. 2010; Galasiu & Veitch
2008), classrooms (Govén et al. 2010) or the diverse localities in
hospitals (Pechacek et al. 2008; Tannöver et al. 2008; Stidsen et
al. 2010).
Fotios & Houser (2007) present and evaluate a number of
studies on the relationship between photometric variables like
luminance and illuminance, and the experience of light level or
room lightness. There have also been studies on how different
illumination design influences the spatial experience in an oth-
erwise dark exterior environment (Raynham 2007; Johansson
et al. 2011; Wänström Lindh 2011).
When the colours of rooms or facades are discussed it is often
in the form of preference surveys that cannot claim to give
results of general validity. Two typical examples of such inves-
tigations deal with Turkish school children’s preferences for
wall colours in class rooms (Basoglu 2006) and Japanese home
owners’ preferences for facade colours (Yamamoto et al. 2008).
There is, however, also research that raises questions on the
reasons or underlying patterns of such preferences (Janssens
& Küller 2008).
Other studies investigate how room colours effect productiv-
ity (Kwallek et al. 2007), how colour design can support or
obstruct the spatial understanding of persons with visual or
cognitive impairments (Wijk 2006; Häggström 2011) and what
effects room colours have on people’s hormone secretion,
heart frequency and other biological functions (Küller et al.
2006; Küller et al. 2009).
Only few studies deal with the interaction between light and
colour in built spaces. Monica Billger (1999; 2006) has carried
out a pioneer work on how perceived colours and experienced
space depends on the illumination, and she has also developed
methods and concepts for identification and comparison of co-
lour perception under different conditions. Karin Fridell Anter
(2000) has made similar studies on the interaction between
facade colours and daylight of different character. Other re-
searchers have investigated how the experience of colours and
space can vary in rooms with daylight from different compass
directions (Hårleman 2006; 2007), in rooms with different types
of glazing (Dubois et al. 2007; Pineault & Dubois 2008; Pineault
et al. 2008) and in rooms with differently coloured artificial light
(Vogels 2008). Also the relationship between the colour tem-
perature of light and the preferences for wall colour has been
studied (Manav et al. 2007).
Attempts have been made to understand the principles behind
the architecture of past times through analyses of how colour
and light were made to interact (Tantcheva 2010; Zennaro et al.
2010; Tantcheva & Häggström 2011). Methodological pilot stud-
ies have been carried out within the recent SYN-TES project,
with the aim of developing methods for investigation of complex
relationships between colour, light and space (Fridell Anter
2011).
The studies mentioned above have, most often, been conducted
with the help of observers who have spent time in real rooms
or assessed physical scale models. Also Virtual Reality simula-
tions have been used to investigate how people experience
and react upon different combinations of colour and light (van
Hagen et al. 2009). The options and limitations of VR used for
such purposes are discussed by Stahre (2009).
Colour
appearance
is the label for a large field of research that
uses strongly controlled tests in digital laboratories in order to
develop mathematical models – algorithms – for the percep-
tion of colour in different spatial contexts. Work within this field
is often connected to CIE’s Division 1, which deals with colour,
light and vision. Some examples of published studies are Gom-
bos & Schanda 2006; Ji et al. 2006; Kutas & Bodrogi 2008; Xiao
et al. 2010.
Discussions in the intersection between colour/light/space
As has been shown above, the spatial aspects of colour and
the spatial interaction between colour and light are relatively