Design Inspiration: Building with Light and Color

Throughout time, artists, architects, and even exhibit designers have created opportunities for people to play with light and color.

A beautiful example of this is Sainte-Chapelle, the royal chapel completed in the year 1248 in Paris.

It is amazing to step inside the chapel surrounded by multi-story stained-glass windows.  The light and color shifts and changes as you move around inside the space.  In some ways, it feels like you are actually inside a stained-glass window!

A more modern take on employing light and color in architecture is artist Olafur Eliasson's installation called Your rainbow panorama.

Situated on top of the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum art museum in Aarhus, Denmark, Your rainbow panorama invites you to experience the familiar (a city skyline) in unfamiliar ways. Olafur Eliasson's creation consists of a 150-meter-long and three meter-wide circular walkway in glass in all the colors of the spectrum. Your rainbow panorama is mounted on slender columns 3.5 meters above the roof of ARoS with a diameter of 52 meters.

Here's a quote from Eliasson about this work:

“Your rainbow panorama establishes a dialogue with the existing architecture and reinforces what was already there, that is to say the view across the city. I have created a space that can almost be said to erase the boundary between inside and outside – a place where you become a little uncertain as to whether you have stepped into a work of art or into part of the museum. This uncertainty is important to me, as it encourages people to think and sense beyond the limits within which they are accustomed to function.” 


Architect Keiichiro Sako takes the playful aspects of light and color into the design of this kindergarten building in China.

The lucky students are completely surrounded by rainbow colors -- on the stairs, in windows, and inside their classroom spaces!

Of course, the most fun is building and playing with light and color yourself. For that purpose, I'd suggest getting some colorful, translucent Magna-Tiles  (You can get them here at Amazon, or at other online stores.) I hope your days ahead are filled with light and color!

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Paul Orselli writes the posts on ExhibiTricks. Paul likes to combine interesting people, ideas, and materials to make exhibits (and entire museums!) with his company POW! (Paul Orselli Workshop, Inc.) Let's work on a project together!

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