The exhibition by The Museum of Architecture and sponsored by Axalta, captures the personal colour stories and inspirations of over 20 architects
Colour Memories, a new exhibition by The Museum of Architecture and sponsored by Axalta, which just opened yesterday, celebrates the role of colour in architecture and design.
Capturing the personal colour stories and inspirations of over 20 architects, the exhibition gives insight into the colourful worlds of, among others, Jonathan Hagos’ connections to salmon orange, Harbinder Singh Birdi’s traffic red and Paul Monaghan’s link to Victorian tile green.
With each architect having chosen an Axalta colour sample to best represent their memory, speaking about his colour memory Salmon Orange, Jonathan Hagos of practice Freehaus says: “Colours faded by sunlight, whether in reality or on the surface of the photographic prints depicting my childhood, are to me, seeped in nostalgia.”
“No colour captures this more than the faded orange that defines my earliest memories”, he continues. “It was the colour of my parents Opal Kadett, parked outside the first home that I can remember.”
Showcasing the impact and influence of new movements like Multiform and New London Fabulous, and with content from Studio Mutt and Studio S&M, the exhibition explores various topics including, the history of colour; colour in nature and biophilia; the impact of colour on our psychology and wellbeing, and the use of colour in architecture today.
The role of teaching colour in architecture is considered by Professor Fiona McLachlan, professor of architectural practice at Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Antoni Malinowski co-director of Saturated Space at the Architectural Association.
“Axalta Powder Coatings is pleased to be working with 20 talented architectural practices on this unique project”, says Dami Babalola, architecture colour expert at Axalta Powder Coatings UK, about Colour Memories.
“In this uncertain time, we have decided to be flexible and create an entirely digital exhibition which showcases the personal associations we have with colour. We hope to highlight the wide variety of colours Axalta has to offer, as well as our commitment to providing the design community with the best and most creative colour solutions for their projects.”
Colour Memories will be on show from 26 April – 30 June 2021. For more information visit museumofarchitecture.org
Images courtesy of Museum of Architecture. From top: Art on the Underground, Hawkins\Brown and Daniel Buren; Inspiration Opal Kadett, Jonathan Hagos; Laura Sanjuan, Soda Studio; Morris+Company, SylvanHeritage; Love without borders, Agnese Sanvito
