The Architecture of Color: Number and Shapes as Measurement and Representation Tools

Abstract

The paper deals with the geometrical architecture of color models. Many of these models had practical application in industry and the arts. Historically, geometry has been the principal means to explain, measure and represent the phenomenon of color. A 2-year research project on color in industrial design and architecture has led to the development of a new digital model for design applications using generative software (Grasshopper). It aims to show the historical significance of mathematical relationships between color and shape, and the actual applicability of them to digital representation in a dynamic model. The research goal is the parametric modeling of a color solid whose surfaces can be adapted to several geodesic tessellations. A regular polyhedron projected onto the sphere allows the integration of different regular and semi-regular shapes, therefore the comparison of different sets of color with analogous symmetry. The developing process of the model stresses the symmetry of the three primary colors, referring to the RGB screen in the numbers that feature the changing of the hues on the solid’s surface, however the number symmetry differs from the first shape.