Changing Perceptions with Colour

The clients for a large residential/commercial project in Manly had two key aims. Firstly, change the institutional vibe of the long corridors on each level and make these appear more welcoming and shorter. Secondly, update the foyer with only minimal changes to the underlying neutral palette.

The long corridors in this Manly project all have Fire Hydrant doors at the far end and only some of the corridors have natural light. Specific colours including beige and achromatic colours are associated an institutional vibe and these were avoided for this project. In addition, bright, saturated colours have a tendency to appear to advance and these were included as potential colour options. Bright colours also have the capacity to enliven the built environment, adding a welcoming, friendly ambience. A number of colour options were provided to the clients and these were selected to provide a visual link with the project’s beach and harbour-side location – blue and greenish/blue hues to reflect the colour of water; green hues to reflect the colours of natural foliage; yellow to reflect the colours of sand and bright orange to reflect spinnakers.

The main foyer featured a number of architectural details and colour was used to enhance these details and make the large foyer appear even more welcoming and gracious.