Voices of Colour

Abstract: 

‘The thing in itself’, in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is a thing because it is independent of any conceptualization or perception by the human mind, postulated by practical reason but existing in a condition which is in principle unknowable and unable to be experienced. In this paper, I will explore ‘the colour in itself’ in the context of architectural discourse, specifically by application to natural and architectural places. I will show that in reality, we very rarely experience colour in isolation. And even when we are immersed in a colour, say, in a forest of green, or the blue city of Chefchaouen in Morocco, the variations of singular colours, are both infinite and in a constant state of flux.  These environments are always experienced as Gestalts of colour, whether through the photographic gaze, or embodied perspectival perception. However, places that do not read as Gestalts that consist…