Color induction in the restoration of architecture in historic city centers

Abstract

In the restoration of historic facades, specialists need to tackle the problem of colors applied to the ornamental elements that appear different on a facade than if they were isolated, because the colors of the surrounding surfaces influence them through color induction. This study evaluates the difference between the colors of ornaments observed in isolation, which we call nominal colors, and on different background colors, which we call induced colors, considering the historic color palette of Valencia as studied by the Color Research Group in Architecture of the Universitat Politècnica de València. The study consisted of the evaluation of 108 color pairs painted on physical cardboards, rated by 26 female students (average age 26.5), under natural lighting conditions, and using the Natural Color System (NCS) Color Atlas for the color match. Results indicate that induced colors have lower NCS blackness compared with nominal ones, and slightly higher or no NCS chromaticness shift. Nominal colors with low chromaticness exhibit an important hue induction effect and tend to shift to a hue that is located opposite to that of the background color in the NCS color circle, this effect being larger when the background has a warm color. The induction effect is larger when ornamental elements and background have similar nominal NCS blackness, and different nominal NCS chromaticness,with nominal hue difference no significant in the induction effect. The colors of ornamental elements that entailed greater induction were those with the lowest NCS chromaticness, and in the case of the background color, those with the highest chromaticness.