Case Studies of Color and Texture

The pearlized finish played a central role in the design of the Sport and Medical Sciences Academy in Hartford, Connecticut. Designed by DuBose Associates, the college preparatory middle school and high school were designed to be two separate schools in one building to accommodate the nearly 500 high school students and 250 middle-school students, according to says Craig Saunders, a partner with the firm.

“Aside from spaces the kids could take turns using, such as the library and lunchroom, the middle and high schools had to be separate from each other,” says Saunders. “It's tricky to design a building that creates a physical separation but doesn't seem separate.”

Vibrant planes of color played a large role in the architectural solution, according to Saunders, helping to set the school's overall tone, assimilate the children into both a sports and academic environment, and to bring the design concept to life. “Bright colors were used for the sports-related environments and neutral colors were for the classrooms,” says Sherry-Ann Oxley-Williams, interior designer with DuBose Associates, many of them specified with a pearlescent-finish, high-pressure laminate. The memorable colors include a deep blue based on corundum (aluminum oxide) crystals found in nature, as well as a brilliant gold that seems to be based in a nickel-titanium yellow.

The colors extended to the building's exterior, where metal wall panels and painted windows and door trim feature silver and bright blue. As user types go, students tend to appreciate bold colors, say experts, and Saunders agrees: “Everyone really liked it. The kids were running around with their cell phones, photographing everything.”

For the Sport and Medical Sciences Academy in Hartford, Connecticut, designers at DuBose Associates used neutral colors for classrooms and bright colors—a deep blue based on corundum (aluminum oxide) crystals found in nature, and a brilliant gold—to enliven the college preparatory middle school and high school. Photo courtesy of Lamin-Art

This contrasts with the sophisticated modern homeowner—someone like the high-end developer Elaine Culotti of Santa Monica, California, who has been throwing parties in her 10,000-square-foot mansion known as “House of Rock” to generate publicity and prime a sale of the property.

Filled with posh furnishings and finishes, House of Rock contains rooms inspired by such rock stars as the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and Tina Turner. It is also appointed with party tools such as expensive music equipment, hard-wired microphone panels, fiber-optic cables, soundproofed ceilings and a recording studio, according to The Los Angeles Times. The property has been listed for sale at a price exceeding $20 million.

Yet the house is also a serious work, designed in 1926 by noted Pasadena-based architect Elmer Grey, who designed such Southern California landmarks as the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Huntington Art Gallery, and the Pasadena Playhouse. Chicago-born Grey's contribution—much of it in partnership with Myron Hunt—expanded the vocabulary of a new American design idiom in the early 1900s to be in “harmony with nature” by building in ways he saw as appropriate to the local climate, soils, and flora.

For decades, the House of Rock was home to the actress and singer Kathryn Grayson. When Culotti bought it, she brought expertise in renovating at least a dozen homes in the Los Angeles area. Her own design firm, Porta Bella, would develop the overall renovation design, with help on specific rooms and suites from such well-known designers as Ralph Pucci, David Bromstad, and Sami Hayek. The concept was to explore the notion of “marrying not just rock but all kinds of music to lifestyle and classical architecture.”

The bones of the house were restored and expanded. In the wine cellars, for example, the glam and glitz yield to a more natural yet still contemporary and modern feel, with a stacked-stone motif in manufactured, adhered masonry panels. With a birch-hued palette, the flat stone look has the contemporary edge while fitting in with Grey's naturalist leanings. Elsewhere, however, the glitz predominates: chain and crystal chandeliers, peacock-blue upholstered banquette, a sofa in silver leaf and brown leather, and a Lucite piano.