“In our modern-day world, visual effects that originate from our – most comprehensively understood – environment are of particular importance and gaining prominence. These visual aids are not necessarily embedded in a high level of visual culture. Research focusing on the significance and impact of colours is not a recent endeavour and, as a discipline, colour science has produced significant research results and knowledge. This paper does not deal with colours, their usage nor effects in general but focuses on a well-defined area, that is, the colour of the façades of historic buildings.
However, it seems necessary to emphasize here, at the very beginning, that the professional colouring of historic buildings is not a function of arbitrary design or customer taste. Since colouring should strive for historical authenticity, it must follow the rules defined by the architectural system of a given age/style.
This primarily means that related elements, rather than being fragmented, must also be synchronized architecturally with colouring, while taking into account that not every age and style applied or applies the architectural tool of polychromy. Eclecticism (historicism), for example, typically only made use of one colour, albeit well-chosen to achieve the desired aesthetic effect. The ‘a posterior’ over-colouration, which unfortunately is very much widespread today and even in a sense “popular,” is not only unhistorical but also inappropriate from an aesthetic point of view. The topic of this study has been of interest to the author for several years, even decades, and the essence of what was said in his lectures within the framework of postgraduate education has already been formulated, in part. Furthermore, I recommend this work, the scope of which is intentionally limited, to all those for whom an aesthetic and historically authentic environment is important.” (Foreword)

“Through his own work, research and experience, the author enriches us with knowledge that helps us to enjoy well-resolved building-colouring with our eyes during our travels, but also in our own environment, and to recognize what may have been confusing or uncertain so far, but we could not have justified it.” (Zsolt Máté, architect)

In the book review video, we sought answers to the following questions:- What are the professional criteria for determining the colour of the facade of a listed building?
– What is the colour range to choose from and how many colours should be used for a façade?
– In the case of privately owned listed buildings, what are the rights of the owner to have a say?
– How permanent and timeless are they, and how flexible are the rules on the renovation of listed buildings?

183 pages

Price: 4.900 HUF

ISBN: 978-615-5742-17-0

The book is Hungarian-English bilingual.

Table of Contents.

Order from the Publisher: click on this LINK. Postage equivalent to the sum of current postage rate is to be paid by the customer.

If you would like to order online (ProsperoD), the book is also available here. (The website is in Hungarian only.)