Det tvärvetenskapliga projektet SYN-TES. Människa, färg och ljus. Syntetisering för ett sammanhållet kunskapsfält har pågått på Konstfack under 2010-2011, med finansiering från KK-stiftelsen (ref. nr 2009/0195). Projektet har omfattat ett femtontal nordiska färg- och ljusspecialister från företag och olika akademiska discipliner. I anslutning till detta har det genomförs ett antal delprojekt kring avgränsade frågeställningar.                                       Detta delprojekt har behandlat begreppsbildning och terminologi kring färg och ljus, där förekomsten av konkurrerande traditioner ofta leder till missförstånd och försvårar kunskapsupp- byggnaden. Delprojektet i sin helhet publiceras i boken Colour and Light – Concepts and Confusions (Red. Arnkil, H. 2012. Helsinki: Aalto University School of Arts, Architecture and Design).                                                                                                             Denna rapport om ljus- och färgbegrepp bygger på Karin Fridell Anters artikel i boken. Texten har utarbetats i nära samarbete med Ulf Klarén och Harald Arnkil. Under arbetets gång har den diskuterats av SYN-TES samlade seminariegrupp. 

This paper addresses the need for better and more accurate methods of recording and analyzing the visual experience of architectural space. PERCIFAL (Perceptive Spatial Analysis of Colour and Light) is an ongoing project that aims at developing a method of analysis that can capture coherent spatial experiences of colour and light. The starting point for PERCIFAL is a method of visual evaluation of space and light, developed by Professor Anders Liljefors at the former department of architectural lighting at KTH Architecture. PERCIFAL is based on direct visual observations and the recording of these observations by verbal-semantic descriptions using a questionnaire. It has been developed primarily as an educational tool, but we see in it potential for a design tool for professionals as well as for an analytical method for research. The first test results, conducted in Sweden, Norway and Finland, show that the method has significant pedagogical merits and that it allows interesting comparisons between physical measurements and visual experiences of space, light and colour. 

Colour research from different scientific traditions start from different basic questions and use different methods and concepts. This makes it difficult to communicate and to judge result relevance in a wider perspective. Here we start from architects' need of colour knowledge and discuss recent studies of colour appearance and colour emotion, with and without explicit connection to architecture. We stress the need for further development and clarification of concepts and conclude that the multitude of studies with different approaches can be seen as cases, jointly adding to a widened and deepened understanding of colour.

The research project SYN-TES aims at contributing to a theoretical development transforming the field of colour and light into a coherent field of research. This includes the identification of important problems and the development of theoretical and methodological tools for the trans-disciplinary understanding necessary to solving them. Special emphasis is put on the spatial interaction of colour and light in architecture.

The work has the form of seminars /workshops where colour and light specialists from different academic disciplines (six Nordic universities) and companies (light sources, paint, colorimetric standards, window glass) examine different aspects of the problem complex. Sub-projects deal with the epistemology and concepts of colour and light, with methods for analysing colour and light in existing architectural spaces and with the relationship between energy efficiency and light quality.

This paper presents part of the research project Greyness and spatial experience. Its main objective is to discuss the concept of neutral grey and to investigate the preconditions for perceiving neutral grey colours in different situations. Neutral grey is defined as having similarity only to black and white, not to the chromatic elementary colours.

Greyish colour samples have been observed with different backgrounds and in different light. One of these series is presented in detail in the paper, the conclusions from others are considered in the discussion, together with relevant literature. Greyish colours are seldom perceived as neutral, but rather tend to get a perceived hue, which depends on the observation situation. Inherent neutral grey colours are not found in nature. In production of materials and artefacts no tolerance level can assure a total lack of hue.

In conclusion we suggest that neutral grey should be considered as an abstraction, its unique but in practice unobtainable quality lying in its absolute lack of hue and chromaticness. 

In the project Greyness and spatial experience1 we have studied visual qualities in grey/greyish colours “on location” in the - spatial - world around. We have carried out a number of observation series not only aiming to investigate variation of greyness in different spatial situations but also to develop a methodology and equipment for such studies. In this paper perception of greyness is discussed in relation to our own observations and to scientific and scholarly references. We make some basic reflections on colour in spatial context and in relation to traditional colour theory.

In spatial context colours with low chromaticness, near the grey-scale, play a more significant role than distinctly chromatic colours; hence they are very important in design of built spaces, both exterior and interior. The logically balanced distribution of greyness in shadows and in surfaces against the light produces a spatial feeling of coherency, and greyish inherent colours generally form a subordinated background to colours with high chromaticness. Simultaneously greyness to a high degree conduces to differentiation of spatial experience; an over-all spatial experience of greyness normally offers subtle but distinct contrasts of hue.

In the field of colour most scientific research deals with colour phenomena as such. If focusing on colour as spatial phenomenon, colour theory can be given theoretical connection to intuitive understanding of the world around and be part of a wider field of aesthetic research.