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. 

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. 

OPTIMA is a pilot study attempting to simultaneously involve all visual aspects of the room, with an analysis starting from the totality instead of dividing it into different parameters. Its primary aim is to develop and test methods for this, combining a scientific approach and experience based practices of art and design

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.

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. Alla deltagarna har dessutom arbetat med annan forskning och/eller utvecklingsarbete om ljus- och/ eller färgfrågor. I arbetet med SYN-TES har gruppen regelbundet hållit interna semina- rier där olika kunskapstraditioner kunde närmas varandra och där gruppen gemensamt formulerade grunderna för ett sammanhållet kunskapsfält som innefattar både färg och ljus. I anslutning till detta har det genomförs ett antal under- eller sidoprojekt kring avgränsade frågeställningar, delvis med finansiering från Energimyndigheten (projekt nr 32266-1 och 34528-1)

Det övergipande syftet var att skapa förutsättningarna för ett sammanhållet kunskapsfält som innefattar både färg och ljus, ur ett mänskligt perspektiv. I denna rapport sammanfattar vi huvuddragen i denna ”syntetisering”, med tonvikt på frågeställningar och processer. De mer konkreta resultaten av seminarier och subprojekt redovisas i en serie separata rapporter. 

This paper springs from a project about concept formation in the field of colour and light. It is based on own reflections and on scientific and scholarly references. It is an attempt to describe a conceptual approach to aesthetic experiences of colour and light relating them to different levels of experience: categorical perception, direct experience and indirect – cultural – experience. Art and design have a special and complex relation to the different levels of experience. Artistic works can serve as ”models” or “examples” – indirect experiences – for how we may attend to light and colour in our direct approach to the world. They are also, as appearances, direct experiences. The emotional content we can experience in a piece of art or a designed object is symbolic in a special way; perceptual patterns of colour, light and form, abstracted from their normal context in life, can be used as symbols for felt life in pieces of art and in designed objects. What we are used to calling formal aesthetics belongs primarily to the categorical – basic – perception. Adopting a reflective attitude we consciously attend to this perceptual process of understanding and open up for reflection on experiences as such.

PERCIFAL -Perceptiv analys av färg och ljus- presenterar begrepp och metodiska ramar för beskrivning och analys av visuell upplevelse i rumsliga sammanhang. Utgångspunkten är en metod för visuell utvärdering av ljus i rum, som utarbetats vid Arkitekturskolan, KTH i Stockholm av professor Anders Liljefors.Anders Liljefors har också medverkat som konsult i PERCIFAL-arbetet. Syftet är att möjligöra beskrivning och kommunikation kring färgens och ljusets rumsliga helhetsverkan; genom diskussion och analys av systematiskt insamlade data kan man lära känna sitt synsinne och få en bättre förståelse för hur färg och ljus formar vår rumsupplevelse. Arbetsprocessen ligger nära konstnärens; mindre väsentliga detaljer offras till förmån för helhetsintrycket. Härigenom kan man beskriva grundläggande viktiga estetiska och visuellt funktionella rumsliga kvaliteter, som man inte kan komma åt på andra sätt. 

: In our designed culture, every environment, object and picture is analyzed from the viewpoint of colour and light. Colour and light play an important role in social life and culture. This paper springs from an epistemological project about concept formation in the field of colour and light. Based on own observations and scientific and scholarly references it presents a graphic model describing possible constituent relations between colour and light experiences. Design is the art of using knowledge – implicit or explicit – about how humans perceive, experience, and relate to the world around. In design all senses are involved, but when dealing with colour and light we can confine ourselves to vision; designers must understand the conditions of visual perception. Human experience of colour and light has many sources; the given cultural context (conventional meanings of colour and light), the direct experience of the world around (colour and light expressions) and the basic perceptual functions (formal aspects of colour and light). There is need for distinct concepts and concise approaches to understand coherence of aesthetic and functional expressions. Design education calls for coherent and well defined structures that can be used to describe connections and distinctions between experiences of different kinds.

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.