Yet many of the predictors of trendy, fashionable colors cut against this naturalist, neutral grain. "Right now, according to the September issue of Vogue, color is in: bright mix-and-match," says Jill Pilaroscia, IACC, a color expert and principal of Colour Studio, Inc. "Red pants with yellow shoes, with an emerald green accessory or blouse, is acceptable. This trend will result in more colorful interior environments, but it will not translate well into functional environments like healthcare or schools as trends will not support the specific behaviors and tasks that should drive public spaces."

So while mainstream architecture may not favor such Fauvist fancy, the mixing of colors and textures is now tending toward the higher value contrasts described by Truex. "Along with warmer neutrals, we are injecting bolder accents of color. Our once timid, muted accents are coming alive with more daring expressions of color and texture," says Orlando. Examples include wood finishes with more pop, says Trespa's Veraart, such as zebrawood.

As for texture, the latest consumer trends point to more variety and daring, adds Pilaroscia, an accredited color consultant who lectures frequently on theory and application. "For example, West Elm is offering accessory pillows in fur, textured felt and printed satin this season—the full range at hand," she explains. "Contract finishes include carpet tiles in a variety of neutrals with bold accents that pattern in unconventional ways. Some look like EKG tests or stock market fluctuations."

Exteriors and Façade Materials

For building façades and other exterior surfaces, color and texture preferences tend to follow material trends—not the momentary whims of fashion or consumerism. Yet this fact often sets up a tension between the material and its suitability for an architectural application. For example, wood exteriors have drawn interest, "yet there's strong demand for a natural look that requires very little maintenance during its lifetime, which is the opposite of real wood," says Veraart.

Fortunately, technology is filling the gap. "We're seeing many new manufacturing techniques reinterpreting the way we use materials," says Danny Pang, an interior designer with Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership, an architecture and interiors firm. "Porcelain tiles and laminates are made to look like wood, for use in locations where wood might not be suitable functionally."

Pang cites other examples including dimensional and sculpted glass, the novel application of laser cutting to metal, wood, resin and plastics, as well as expandable lightweight textile systems. "Many of these materials are changing the way we view a space and how a space communicates its character," says Pang. Others even allow for multiple colors on a single surface, adds Colour Studio's Pilaroscia: "One new system of metallic finishes employs a 45-degree angle of incidence, so as the viewer moves across the building exterior surface it changes colors, for example from grey to plum."

Color affects the spatial qualities of architecture, as seen in the open classrooms created for Summit Elementary School in Casper, Wyoming. Designed by New York City's Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership with RB+B Architects, unique textures and colors are used to orient children and add meaning to their daily environment. Photo by Fred Fuhrmeister

 

Novel applications of texture are also enriching the interior material palette for architects. On the one hand are materials typically expected to have smooth or very limited textures, such as high-pressure laminate (HPL), which are now gaining much greater depths and surface varieties. According to Lamin-Art's Goudreau, the finish of HPL is more frequently created by pressing with steel plates. Embossing films are also used to create wood grains, stone pattern, and a variety of surface effects. More recently, novel textures are being added through the use of inclusion materials such as banana fibers that are imbedded in the melamine face layer of the HPL, or by pressing such products as burlap cloth in the laminate sheet.

On the other hand are precast, panelized approaches to traditionally hand-applied surface finishes, a novel twist for creating 3D sculptural wall effects, says Armourcoat's Tweedy. Examples include a solid gypsum panel product using lightweight filler that is mechanically fixed to walls, corners and columns. The precast patterns, measuring up to a half inch in actual relief, add texture and seamless pattern at a scale that would be prohibitive, for example, with routed panels of medium-density fiberboard.

"Mass customization is affordable, so there is a degree of texture and detail that can be designed which previously could only be attained with a natural material," says Sven Shockey, AIA, LEED AP, design principal with A/E firm SmithGroup. "A custom perforated material can have a texture and tactility that a flat graphic cannot achieve."

Bringing Texture to Surface

These novel surface approaches reflect a growing tendency, says Danny Pang, that emerged in the fashion industry: "In much contemporary architecture, there is a sense of movement either through form, material or texture."

Similar to fashion designers, architects can avail their works of two types of texture: optical (or visual) and tactile (or physical). According to design author and teacher, Joseph A. Gatto,¹ tactile texture describes actual surface variation as found in wood grain, sand, metal and the like, which can be felt by the hand. The illusion of optical texture can be applied to such materials as smooth laminate through the repetition of shape and line—often to imitate surface characteristics that exist in nature. A third category, implied texture, is a visual texture that has no basis in everyday reality, according to Northern Illinois University's Mary Stewart,² and the technique is often utilized in works of abstraction or surrealism.

"There are two ways to look at texture: haptic or optic," says Goudreau. "Haptic finishes are those that can be perceived by the sense of touch, while optic textures are perceived visually, and may appear to have a 3D or embossed effect while the surface is actually flat."

Both kinds of textured surfaces are "visually active," says Gatto, and they can impart personality by creating emphasis, rhythm, contrast and the like. "Light is an important factor," he adds, "because it can affect how a surface is viewed." Textures also have a distinct impact on interior acoustics.