Urban Design：Ornament and Decoration-COLOUR IN THE CITY.pdfVIP

COLOUR IN THE CITY 7 INTRODUCTION monuments of antiquity were stained or painted with bright pigments has proved quite unacceptable, particularly to those with a puritanical reverence for There is a renewed interest in the use of colour, the expression of the inherent appearance of natural one of the most effective methods of decorating the materials. The facts, however, are quite clear: city. Colour in the city is at the core of the subject ‘Statuary was deeply dyed with garish pigments. The matter of this book, the decoration of the urban marble figure of a woman found on the Athenian realm. This chapter is the synthesis of much that Acropolis was tinctured red, green, blue and yellow. has been discussed earlier. Colour should be used Quite often statues had red lips, glowing eyes made to strengthen the image of the city by giving of precious stones and even artificial eyelashes’ emphasis to features such as landmarks, by develop- (Porter, 1982). The Greek Temple from the point of ing colour schemes which are associated with view of colour was closer in feeling to the Chinese particular districts, streets or squares and by the Temple, than to those pure but lifeless nineteenth- colour coding of street furniture. century copies found in many European cities. There is great potential for polychromatic colour The love of colour survives in the modern world. effects in the built environment. For much of this The ch