INTRODUCTION · INTRODUCTION DECODING COLORS OF THE YEAR FOR As the region pandemic world moves into the New Normal, changes are happening around us. Social distancing becomes a significant

INTRODUCTION

DECODING COLORS OF THE YEAR FOR

As the region pandemic world moves into the New Normal, changes are happening around us. Social distancing becomes a significant factor reshaping people’s lives and behaviors, affecting human activities in public spaces and private routines in their own homes. Therefore, creative thinkers look for new possible ways that design can offer to handle the happening and impending changes.

TOA COLOR DECODINGTRENDS 2021

As a color expert, we realize the power of colors can create a better living space. Colors are everywhere around us. They are an integral part of many aspects of people’s everyday life, particularly their homes and surrounding built structures. As people are spending more time at home, making these private spaces more pleasant and livable has become a way out, a solution that helps make the New Normal lifestyles not just bearable but pleasant.

The exploration of new color schemes for painting that will help people fulfill their happiness in the era of New Normal be developed to TOA’s COLOR OF THE YEAR 2021. TOA analyzes the concepts proposed by Thailand’s leading designers and architects from the given theme of ‘TOA COLOR DECODING TRENDS 2012’ for new normal lifestyles and living spaces.

Colors have always had deep connections with people’s emotions and sentiments. Colors are a pivotal factor in architectural creations for their ability to affect people’s feelings and reactions towards a certain building or environment. Colors impact people’s emotions. They provoke energy and calm people. They enable human recogni-tion of things around them. Choosing a color for each composition, architects and designers often consider the influences colors have on interior spaces and exterior structure. TOA Color Decoding Trends 2021 welcomes the participation from 10 leading design and architecture studios as we embark upon the search for the inspiration behind their incredible use of color and amazing mood boards, from which creativity and new works of design are conceived.

Amidst this transition into the new normal lifestyle, as the distance between our physical spaces gradually creeps into our hearts, TOA fulfills the expanding void with happiness with TOA Color Decoding Trends 2021.

TOA COLOR DECODING TRENDS 2021

COLOR TRENDS: THE RESEARCH

PAGE

PAGE

PAGE

3

2325-

34

CONTENT


THE DECODER

AMATA LUPHAIBOONPrincipal at DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE CO.

ANONYMPhongphat Ueasangkhomset: Co-Founder and Design DirectorParnduangjai Roojnawate: Co-Founder

CHANA SUMPALUNGDeputy Managing Director of ARCHITECTS 49 HOUSE DESIGN LTD. Partner of ARCHITECTS 49 LTD.Managing Director of ARCHITECTS 49 (PHUKET) LTD.President of THE ASSOCIATION OF SIAMESE ARCHITECTS UNDER ROYAL PATRONAGE

JERAVEJ HONGSAKULPrincipal Architect / Founder of IDIN ARCHITECTS

JUN SEKINOPrincipal at JUNSEKINO INTERIOR DESIGN CO., LTD. & JUNSEKINO ARCHITECT AND DESIGN

KIJTANES KAJORNRATTANADECHManaging Director / Founder of TASTE SPACE CO., LTD.

MANATSPONG SANGUANWUTHIROJANAArchitect and Design Director of HYPOTHESIS

PHTAA LIVING DESIGNPonwit Rattanatanatevilai: Principal Architect / Co-FounderHarisadhi Leelayuwapan: Interior Design Director / Co-FounderThanawat Patchimasiri: Interior Design Director / Co-Founder

VARUDH VARAVARNPrincipal Architect / Founder of VIN VARAVARN ARCHITECTS LTD.

VASU VIRAJSILPPrincipal Architect / Founder of VASLAB ARCHITECTURE

ROOM SCENESPSYCHOLOGYCULTURE & LIFESTYLEEXPERIENCEELEMENT DESIGN & MATERIALSCIENCE

COLOR SUMMARIZE:NEW COLORS / COLOR FLOW

AMATA LUPHAIBOON is the co-founder of Department of ARCHITECTURE, a design firm with a portfolio that is growing in diversity with projects ranging from architecture, interior design to landscape architecture. With the approach that incorporates data and studies of social milieus, cultures, the environment and exper-iments on materiality to design, Amata’s impressive track record encompasses projects in Thailand and overseas.

COLOR --------DECODING

01 AMATA LUPHAIBOONPrincipal at DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE CO.

0103 TOA COLOR DECODING TRENDS 2021

“When it comes to Modern Architecture, colors are no longer prioritized in the design process. Colors are not the principal element. We don’t approach a design, thinking that this color would look good on a certain building.” Amata Lhupaiboon clarifies his approaches to designing as an architect. “If we’re going to use a certain color, it’s often originated from some-thing else rather than a beautiful-looking visual. We want colors to be used in a more meaning-ful way than that.”

Colors and light work collectively for the de-sign of The Most Hot Spring Hotel in China. Amata chooses to transform the building’s overall color scheme and its interior space into a canvas waiting to be painted by the reflected light. “The story from which the project is originated is color-relat-ed. We design a building with a double skin that is this mass of stain glass. When the light shines through, the colored glass will dye the interior space as well as the entire architecture,” explained the architect. “This explains why the architecture and interior space need to be in muted color so that they can be the backdrop for the filtered light coming through the stain glass façade.”

Apart from the design that tells a story with specific shades of colors, most of Amata’s modern architectural creations focus mainly on functionality, user experience, space and struc-tural form rather than colors. Most of the time, the colors used in our work are in a muted tone, which doesn’t attract much attention. But even if that is the case, the role of colors isn’t exactly diminished. “You can see that a majority of our

The Right Shade for the Right Emotion

While bold colors are not the primary focus of his architecture, hidden behind the simplicity, subtlety, and at times, disguised expressions of colors are the results of his attentive search and consideration. The right shade is then chosen because it perfectly conveys the right sentiment and the architect’s intent. “It’s very sensitive. We don’t need to use bold colors to convey a message. It depends on how we want people to feel in each space. For example, there are many shades of gray, and each shade has its own values and differences. There’s the bluish grey that gives this chilling, lonely feel, a then there’s the brown-grey that has this warm, comfortable vibe, and there’s also the neutral grey that doesn’t convey any feeling at all.”

Apart from the colors of a built structure’s surface, a material’s natural nature is an important element in contemporary architecture. The pairing between a material and a chosen color is considered a challenge for the architect. “It starts with an emotion or an expression I want to convey, then the colors and materials follow,” Amata elaborated. “It could be the other way around. I could choose the materials first because there’s such a vast array of grays, so it’s easy to choose the right shade for the material instead of finding a material that would match the chosen shade of gray.”

Inspirations and Colors

Inspirations come from different sources. For the architect, appreciating various types of art keeps his body of knowledge growing and broadens his perspective in creativity and design. “My inspirations are quite interdiscipli-nary, and I enjoy it that way. I like many fields of art and when I see something I like, I will store it in the mental library in my head. When there’s project whose methods or solution is something that would work with what I have in that library, I can just retrieve it. I didn’t mean that I have a specific image about how a space will look, but it’s more of an emotional inspiration.” I’m a film lover. It’s very common for me to take inspirations from the movies I watched. A lot of the interior spaces I’ve done were inspired by Installation Art pieces in museums. They were rarely seen, or sometimes were at certain places temporarily. I want to make them permanent, in the form of spaces where people can use. For example, the fabric ceiling of Hilton Pattaya’s lobby was my intention for users to feel like they step inside a sculptural space. I muted the colors to point where everything is almost colorless, but it’s actually the color of sands. That allows people to see the different texture of the fabric rather than the contrast of colors.”

COLORS AND MODERN ARCHITECTURE

works are somewhere between white, grey, nude and black,” said Amata. “But the reality is that even grey has tens or even hundreds of shade. Not to mention that there are greenish grey, pink grey, purple grey, brownish grey, and so on. So I think we’ve had quite fun playing with the sensitivity in the differences between each shade of grey.

AMATA’SMOOD BOARDS


1. Children of Men A film about humanity and its dying light of hope uses grim colors that reflect despair and desperation in the most captivating way.

2. Hero One of the films in which colors are used to symbolize the characters with scenes filled with breathtakingly beautiful monochromic images.

3. Blade Runner The film with the most impeccable cinematog-raphy and music. The use of colors, the surreal imagery and the incredibly poetic storyline can genuinely capture your heart.

4. Apocalypse Now One of the best war movies ever made with the cinematography that renders such a stylish and tasteful depiction of war.

5. Blade Runner 2049 Gorgeous cinematography throughout the entirety of the film as expected with this cool yet unforceful architectural element.

6. Her The sweet color palette is such a unique con-trast to the film’s satirical mood that you almost couldn’t believe that such a colorful movie can feel so lonely.

7. Moonlight “In moonlight, black boys look blue.” Colors are profoundly and beautifully used as the core of the film’s narrative.

8, Call Me By Your Name The pastel colors of the Northern Italy summer depict the warmth, the melancholic and nostalgic longing so delicately.

9. Shadow The graphic element of the high contrast of black and white images are so cool, incredibly sharp and strikingly gorgeous that they overshad-ow the story and character entirely.

10. The Fall A visually beautiful film whose every frame stimulates your sensory experiences through an intriguing combination of style and architecture.

1.

4.

8.

9. 10.

2.

5. 6.

7.

3.

CO

LOR

---

----

-DEC

OD

ING

ANONYMPHONGPHAT UEASANGKHOMSET:Co-founder and Design Director

PARNDUANGJAI ROOJNAWATE:Co-founder

02PHONGPHAT UEASANGKHOMSET and PARNDUANGJAI ROOJNAWATE are the two co-founders of Anonym, the architecture firm with a drive to facilitate connections and balance between humans, space, nature and surrounding contexts. Anonym’s architecture possesses an idiosyncratic character that naturally intertwines built structures and human inhabitants. The simplicity in Anonym’s definition involves functional details, tactility and human senses and emotions.


Shade of Anonym

“When our design is subtle, the color tones we usually use aren’t exactly bold colors. We like the timelessness of plain colors such as black, white, grey, and try to control the house’s overall look to be in the same mood and tome. It allows us to play with other elements, from the landscape, lighting to furniture and decorating items. It adds more volumes and dimensions to spaces. As an architect, we need to leave room for the owner to have fun with their own house, to play with the materials, the furniture or the decoration the way they want, so that the place truly contains their identity.”

“Some people are very vibrant in character but prefer to live in a space that looks like a simple background to accentuate their presence. Some people have this fun character and love to live in colorful spaces. So when it comes to color tones, in addition to all the aesthetic attributes, the mood they create for dwellers are also imperative.” They exemplify BAAN Y. The building is in the white, gray, black and brown tone, whereas the owners bring in the fun, colorful element through fabrics, carpets and cushions, which are all changeable through different seasons, for example, the bright tones of yellow and red of summer.

ARCHITECTURE OF EMOTIONS

Favorite Color

“We like harmony and nature, whether they’re natural color tones, natural light and wind, trees, and so on. We feel that natural color tones last longer. Take a white wall, for example. With just a presence of natural light, it immediately be-comes more interesting. These natural elements can bring great harmony to a house. A tree can grow even in a house’s smallest space, and trees can make living spaces look and feel complete. Harmony and nature can stay with you longer, and it’s the same with natural color tones. Decorative objects can be a fun mood for living spaces.”

Design Trends

“We’ve seen the use of arch lines and sil-houette in architecture and the Mid-Century aesthetic, particularly with retail and commercial spaces such as cafes. The viral tone at the mo-ment has to be pastel. However, with residential spaces, it’s more about clients’ more specific demands. For example, a work table needs to be at this particular length. The design gives more emphasis on spaces, whether it’s the interior or exterior. It reflects how the time spent at home during the pandemic makes people more aware of living space-related problems. The favorite color tones are the ones that create this calm feeling. But people will want something that can boost their energy after being left in this stillness and simplicity. Maybe it’s possible for us the introduce color trends that can bring more movements.”

“It’s interesting how a house may no longer reflect the owner’s characteristic, but more of their intention about what kind of individual they want to become in the future, and the house is only a beginning.”

“One of the common characteristics of our works is ‘subtlety.’ There are details that are sometimes invisible, but you can sense them somehow. To us, designing a residential space with the right amount of simplicity and thermal comfort is more challenging than creating a beautiful, modern-looking home.”

Almost the entirety of Anonym’s portfolio is residential design. Their design repertoire revolves around the incorporation of the owner’s personality into the architecture. Such an approach makes each house they created possess its character, just like the individuality of human nature. “We bring the owner’s characteristics into the design because we want them to feel that the house genuinely belongs to them. We look into miscellaneous details in every project that we have our hands on, including factors such as light, wind direction, functionality, etc.


ANONYM’SMOOD BOARDS

1. Reflection After COVID-19, we have this urge to be out in the sun and the rain. This image gives us hope and inspiration. Surrounded by nature, it’s the reflec-tion of the glass’ green tint, and when complemented by the colors of the trees, it’s the perfect combination between natural light and colored light of the glass. The fuse gives birth to the color tone people long to see from nature, from the emerald green or the leaves’ fresh green.

2. A Day For Anonym’s lighting exhibition at Bangkok Design Week 2019, we took inspiration from the lighting effects of Blue Hours and Golden Hours. The two colors clashed, and we feel like both tones give incredible energy. It also leads to an observation about the changing phenomena of the sky, how the light we see in the morning, noon, and in the evening will change. After COVID-19, have people’s perceptions of the sky’s varying lights and colors changed somehow?

3. Texture We feel like, from now on, people will give greater significance to their homes and nature. People who live in the city will crave nature more than ever because they want to balance the urban life and the feeling of being sur-rounded by nature and spending time with themselves more. We’re seeing a rising trend of natural color tone having a more significant influence on peo-ple’s everyday lives, especially those who live in the city. We have a special love for eucalyptus wood because the texture of the wood grains is in the same tone, and it happens to be the colors we like to use with our design.

4-5. Neutral The color tones we like to use with houses and living spaces are mostly neutral such as white, beige, warm grey that contrast with dark gray or dark brow. It isn’t 100% pitch black but a mix of other colors. Neutral color tones are visually pleasing, and they work won-derfully with natural light. We can see how natural light changes throughout the day and how it affects the colors.

1.

4.

8.

9.

2.

5.

6.

7.

3.

6. Tropical The background colors such as warm grey, light grey, and white complement the darker shade of natural wood, creating this warm feeling while the mood is brightened up with the green, making the tropical vibe more complete.

7. Craft The woven tones of natural colors and the intricateness of handmade objects.

8. Cordoba It’s the tone that reminds one of the beautiful coolness of the water stream and the sun’s warmth. There are diverse shades within the same color tone, from brown, yellow and beige of the stones and blue of the water. The image has such interesting layers of materials and color tones.

9. In Love with Scarpa The red-dyed teak wood has this lively energy, and it brings distinctiveness. We use it with the table at our office, and it reflects the livelihood after being surrounded by this stillness. So is it possible for us to change a trend to express that we’re moving forward? For example, red embodies power and stimulus. We name the table ‘In Love with Scarpa’ because we love Carlo Scarpa, and his work has been such a great inspiration to us.

10. Nostalgia What we like most about this image is the color of the velvet curtain and how it exists alongside the dark wood tone and the con-trasting pair of colors. It’s the hotel design that makes us feel incredibly nostalgic.

Photo Credit: Anonym10.


03CHANA SUMPALUNGDeputy Managing Director of ARCHITECTS 49 HOUSE DESIGN LTD.

Partner of ARCHITECTS 49 LTD.

Managing Director of ARCHITECTS 49 (PHUKET) LTD.

President of THE ASSOCIATION OF SIAMESE ARCHITECTS UNDER ROYAL PATRONAGE

CHANA SUMPALUNG, the veteran architect with over thirty-year experience, has many roles and responsibilities. He’s one of the partners of ARCHITECTS 49 LTD., Deputy Managing Director of ARCHITECTS 49 HOUSE DESIGN LTD., Managing Director of ARCHITECTS 49 (PHUKET) LTD., and the current elected President of The Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage (2020-2022). His professional success surpasses the credentials and awards he has received from countless outstanding projects in and outside of Thailand. What’s fascinating about Chana’s architectural creations lies in his daily achievements from new designs and interpretations of space, a constant search for new colors, all to create a different work from yesterday, one step at a time.


The initial stage of most design processes can begin with broad inquiries about owners’ tastes, pref-erences and likings in design and functionality, as well as colors before it eventually proceeds to perspective sketching. However, Chana takes a different approach in bringing out the owner’s character, personality and demands and incorporating them into the design. “The aim is to see the reactions and the look on their faces when they see different aspects of design solutions. It’s a psychological process that encourages clients to express what they like and don’t like. It’s pretty much like we’re helping the owners explore and found their preferences instead of asking what type of room they like. My approach focuses on facilitating a conceptual participative interaction. Once the owner feels that they’re now a part of the design process, it considers it a success on my part.”

The way I work is like a game.

“I create architecture thinking of it as a game that everyone can play. As a team, the architect and owner can brainstorm, participate in design development and genuinely be a part of the creation. If we create ar-chitecture that matches each client’s individuality and their lifestyle, their very own color, your work will never be the same. At the same time, I’ve

CONCEPTUAL PARTICIPATIVE INTERACTIONSnever really felt bored with my job even though I’ve been doing it for 30 years now, because there will be new clients to work with, and I’ll get to work on a new space, new colors, creating different works. It’s all because I’ve never interpreted my clients from my mindset. I think of it as research.”

One of the examples Chana mentions is the book BAUHAUS THE WORLD’S GREATEST ART. The book deals with art’s influences and its connection with architecture, interior design and furniture design. “I think that art has a great deal of influence on Modern Architecture.”

“I collect toys as a hobby. Often, the inspirations from art and toys are translated into the architectural works that I design. There is this object I like. It’s made of coconut shell but with a turquoise texture that looks like it fuses with some sort of metal (a result of grooved and polished texture). I use this shade of colors with the wall of a house but instead using the mixture of concrete and copper powder. The wall was then washed with acid so that the copper changes into this unique, green color.”

A harmonious fusion of Tropical Modern

The Modern or Modern Tropical characteristics in most of Chana’s

works are reflected through the design, materials including colors. Everything is meaningfully and styl-ishly integrated; architecture and the environment, materials and natural colors. “While concrete, wood and steel are materials with timeless charms, the primary, natural tones also have that classic timelessness are white, black and grey. They can blend well with the surroundings, but there are great varieties and diversity of shades and textures that contrib-ute to each color’s appeal within the plainness and simplicity.

“To me, white and black are neutral colors. They don’t express their char-acteristics through colorful physicality but reflect psychological character-istics. For example, with white, there are light white, dark white or greyish white, which alters through time with more noticeable changes comparing to other colors. But most people can’t distinguish how a tone of white from others unless you’re well-trained architects. They can sense when the white is too bright that it becomes visually disturbing to the eyes. So most of the time, architects tend to add a little bit of grey to the white used for the exterior surface of a building.”

“Thirty years ago, we would find that most buildings are painted in white, and then one day (before Tom Yam Kung crisis), grey buildings were

starting the emerge, which were such a stark contrast with the bright blue sky of Thailand. I find it to be fascinat-ing how buildings changed their color code. There were probably many rea-sons behind them. Grey also becomes one of the popular colors for today’s built structures. It blends well with the surrounding environment, and it’s fashionable still, considering how many condominium projects in Bangkok are pained in grey.

Colors of the Future

While white has a reflective qual-ity, black color now has the recently invented blackest black in the world called Vantablack that can absorb up to 99.965% of visible light. In other words, the color almost entirely non-reflective to human’s visual perception. Chana questions the mysterious, pitch-black color, which he considers one of the colors of the future and its impact on architecture. “It’s interesting what possible types of emotion does the black color makes people feel. I used to question what it could affect people’s feelings and experiences if it were used in architectural space where there was absolutely no light. It would probably feel somewhat similar to when one’s floating in space. It kindles imaginations and possible ways in which the color can be used to create spaces for peo-ple who look for the ultimate relaxing, completely undisturbed experience. Is

it possible that the color of the future perhaps has some sort of variety in itself, but just a simple color, but something more dimensional? Maybe it generates all different shades of color when painted on a surface. It could fulfill particular psychological demands for users who like the diver-sity of colors in natural materials.

Color Trends

“It’s a difficult question to answer, but there’s a broad idea that can be provided. People like to see the diver-sity of colors. Nobody wants to create products or use colors that have been done countless times before. And in this connected, globalized world. We can easily see how architecture concurrently evolves in different parts of the world. While a group of people follows a trend, there’s another group who chooses to escape from trends and innovate. It’s a challenge for every designer. To me, throughout almost three decades in the architectural pro-fession, I’ve been exploring all different kinds of nature and environment. From now on, I want to look for a novel color skim coat that has never been used before, or perhaps bringing back colors from the past and use them in a contemporary context. Maybe, there will be experiments on my long-time favorite colors that I haven’t had a chance to use with my work, such as navy blue, orange or the color that I

think represents my childhood, such as red. That would be interesting.”

Chana makes a final observation about how people can be inspired to look at colors and architecture differ-ently. “Most homeowners usually want the color or materials of their buildings to remain the same as much as possi-ble. I always say to my clients; nothing can last forever, no matter how ad-vanced the technology is. Naturally, the physicality of colors or materials is going to change. What users need to learn to accept and appreciate is the beauty that changes through time.”

New Normal Architecture

“We shouldn’t be calling it the New Normal. I think it’s the normalcy that hasn’t been completed. Architecture from now will have to focus more on user circulation and interior waste cir-culation. New technologies need to be developed to improve hygiene stand-ards; for example, elevators may have self-sanitation features or innovative colors that can eliminate germs from the surface it’s painted on or have the self-cleaning ability. The architecture will develop to have higher safety and hygiene standards. That’s one of the possibilities of the architecture of the future, which involves a lot of factors. COVID-19 is another catalyst that causes architecture and technologies to develop faster.”


CHANA’SMOOD BOARDS1. White I have a personal liking for white. If there’s one color I have to choose, it’s usually white. It has this charm that gives this feeling of comfort. It can change through different times, lights, and light-ing temperatures. There are so many emotions hidden in the textures, from glossiness to matte or the diversity of shades. For example, marble

2. Black What’s appealing about black is the mystery. It’s the color that can accentuate an artwork’s characteristics. If you compare white and black on the same surface, you can see more details and lines more if the work or the object is black. So black isn’t the complete darkness like many people understand.

3. Grey Grey is a neutral color. It’s one of the colors that people feel comfortable being in, and it has been frequently used with architecture. It gives a natural feel through the textures of exposed concrete, stonework or even porcelain.

4. Wood I like the color and temperature of teak wood. It’s classic and visually comfortable. The natural characteristics of teak wood have such various shades of brown, from light to dark, not to mention the beautiful patterns. I think that’s why people rarely dislike its charm. When you use it as a color code, it still gives this pleasant mood and tone.

5. Blue Porcelain was originated in China several hundreds of years ago, and its aesthetic can still be applied to today’s design. The pairing of white and blue is something that I have never used in my work before, but I am interested to see how porcelain can be used in Modern Architecture. We still need to figure out how it can be applied to tell stories through forms and spaces, as well as the feelings it can bring to a work.

6. Yellow Yellow gives the feeling of speediness and being active. It’s one of the colors I often think of using with industrial design, for example, the 49 Hub’s office at 112 Warehouse in Soi Sukhumvit 26. While the color characteristics of the structure from old wood to black steel frames are kept, we choose yellow for the floor because it keeps the employers energized and active.

7. Turquoise This art object is made of recycled coconut shells. Its carved pattern is painted in turquoise. The polishing technique and the color create this attractive green color with a hue of copper fused into the texture. It’s the color that inspires an idea for a house I designed. I created the green color of the rusted copper as a part of the walls’ concrete texture.

8. Navy Blue/OrangeI like toys, and I’ve always loved the navy blue on this Gundam model, but I’ve never really used it with my work before. If I had a chance to design a futuristic building one day, I would use this navy blue color. While Modern Architecture books often associate futuristic with silver. Personally. I don’t think that’s the case. I think navy blue and orange express the futuristic aesthetics as you can see different shades of orange in many sci-fi movies. Both colors also reflect the future industrialism, but you don’t see them being used in architecture much.

9. Red When I was a kid, I would always choose a toy or clothing piece that came in the color red. This red Robocon is one example. Growing up working, I rarely use red with my work. I think red has this psychological connection with my childhood. It also reflects the energy, speediness, the past and future.

10. Sand Stone The colors of sand, such as limestone, beige, or dark sandy brown, are the color tones I use frequently. They give a similar but more luxurious mood and tone to wood. There’s also something comforting about these colors, and they’re classic and timeless. With white, even you add the grey, it will still be pretty bright when exposed to sunlight, but if it’s sandstone, it’s always visually soothing and delicate.

1.

4.

8.

9.

10.

2.

5.

6.

7.

3.

Photo Credit: A49, Chana Sumpalung


JERAVEJHONGSAKULPrincipal Architect / Founder of IDIN ARCHITECTS

04

JERAVEJ HONGSAKUL is the founder of IDIN ARCHITECTS, a design firm behind many incredible works of architecture. His design process begins with finding solutions to functional demands through program analysis and developing functionally fulfilling spaces, which give birth to beautiful architectural forms.


The Obscurity of Color Shades

There are times when obscurity makes things strangely interesting. Blue with a green hue, the black that isn’t entirely black; these ambiguities kindle conversations. The anonymity of color shades becomes a factor that adds a more charm-ing dimension to a design. “Everything is blended together. Sometimes, you look at something, and you have to take a moment to think about what color it is. Is it green with a blue tint or blue with a hue of indigo, or is it red with a tiny bit of brown in it? I like the way things are fused. Not like the iridescent jewel beetle color. That would be too glossy. Instead of just a plain green or red, I like the type of colors that look a certain green when touched by a ray of sunlight, but there’s also this blue hue to it.”

From the concept of obscurity, Jeravej usually chooses colors that are mixtures of different shades. “I like colors that are quite obscure when it comes to buildings. I rarely use bold colors. Most of the time, the colors come from materials such as wood and steel. But you can see a lot of white in my work, and then there are darker tones used with some of the parts. I like how white is clean.”Pairing the Colors

The grey stone wall and light yellow of pine wood are paired up, rendering a warm, delicate vibe to the new addition of the tea plantation in Chiang Rai. In the meantime, the green of the leaves bears a nice contrast with the yellow floor and black wall, creating a peaceful world inside of urban office space. Paired colors can give birth to fascinating phenomena and emotions. In the hands of IDIN Architects, each architectural element interestingly hides the beautifully blended pair of colors.

In design theories, there are plenty of color schemes that can be created. But theories can sometimes be merely a guideline for designers to experiment and explore something new and beyond the conventions. “We don’t always follow the theories. In some cases, theories are like the standard; the final blow. But you don’t always have to go for the standards. Colors are about feelings. If it feels beautiful, then it’s beautiful. Think of the scenes in The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water. They’re phenomenal. All the props are masterfully curated color schemes, and when they’re in the frames together, they’re gorgeous.”

Colors and Lights

Colors and lights complement each other. Varying temperatures of light affect how one per-ceives and experiences colors. Choosing colors for architecture inevitably involves the lighting context. “Choose the color at where you’re going to use it,” explained Jeravej. “If you pick the color for the bedroom at a showroom when it’s painted in the actual space, it can end up looking like a different color from what you wanted in the first place.”

New Normal and the Changing Design

The New Normal lifestyle directly affects build-ings’ design programs. People are spending more time at home; they also have new demands and different behaviors from the past. “There are sev-eral changes in the functional aspect of the New Normal. We are seeing new requests being made. For instance, an office space inside a home needs to be online-meeting ready, or a restroom, which used to be located further inside, is now moved towards the front so that people can step inside, take off their shoes and wash their hands. Some condominium projects are considering having a drop point for delivery food where once the food arrives, a resident comes down to pick up the food at the UV-sterilized area.”

Due to the uncertainty of things that comes with the New Normal lifestyle, flexibility becomes a crucial factor in the design of functional spaces. “A living space has to be open and use of a lot of loose furniture that is ready to be moved or adjusted because things can change and be unpredictable. I think white and light basic color tones help a space to be adjusted easier. More importantly, they need to be the colors that each owner feels comfortable living in in the long run. These are the colors that homeowners should go for with the New Normal lifestyle they’re adapting to.”

Nevertheless, what I think is more important than color shades are new technologies that can fulfill requirements and standards regarding hygiene and safety. In the post-pandemic world where everyone is conscious about washing their hands, wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing, people have become more interested in colors that can help their living spaces more com-fortable and safer. “From heat prevention paints, self-cleaning paints or bacteria resistant interior paints, it all comes down to the quality. Whether it’s a dark or light shade, these qualities are more important than what the color looks like visually.”

On IDIN Architects’ ongoing journey, every work they have created comes from the same beginning, a critical analysis of a building’s design program and utility. “At IDIN Architects, we emphasize on the program first and foremost before we move on to space. We approach a project from the solutions, the functional aspect of a building, then we develop the space to resonate with the program. Eventually, everything collectively renders into architectural forms,” said Jirvej. “When people are outside, looking in, they see it in reverse order. They don’t see the program or space because, for most people, the most discernable thing they can experience is the form. They see the form first, and they begin to appreciate the space before they finally try to understand the idea behind everything.”

The program-focused design project results in the details of architectural forms that genuinely reflect a building’s functionality, from a riverside resort to hilltop buildings in the middle of a tea plantation; all are developed from the same principle. “Looking back at the origin of these forms and spaces, we feel like a form should be honest and straightforward with the solutions and genesis. So our works don’t use that many colors. We tend to blend the colors and keep everything simple because we want the building to be beautiful from its form and spaces.”

FROM THE DESIGN PROGRAM TO FUNCTIONAL SPACE ANDARCHITECTURAL FORMS

JERAVEJ’SMOOD BOARDS

1. The woodblock print ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Hokusai and its transition of colors from navy blue to light blue.

2. The combination of the colors of the sea, the sky and trees into the perfectly fused shade of blue and green.

3. Dark Grey: The color of burnt wood turned charcoal with dimensional blackness and texture that bespeak the charm of natural materials.

4. Leaves and Different Shades of Green: The complementing presences of the green and the yellowish tone of the interior wooden floor create a perfect mood.

5. The color of the sky during the golden hours and the shades of blue brought about by the setting sun: The waves of color that appear only once a day.

6. The unique dark grey color and perforated texture of the bricks made from ashes, rice hulls and sawdust.

7. The natural oxidation process conceives a beautiful rusty red color.

8. A perfect marriage between the yellowish baked pinewood and the grey stones.

9. The idiosyncratic shade of yellow of the wall constructed using a special formula of Ram Earth and the luscious green of a tamarind tree.

10. Black-Orange: A paring of black and orange gives an interestingly classic and dynamic result.

1.

4.

8.

9.

10.

2.

5. 6.

3.


7.

Photo Credit: Jeravej Hongsakul, Pinterest, Behance

CO

LOR

---

----

-DEC

OD

ING

JUN SEKINOPrincipal at JUNSEKINO INTERIOR DESIGN CO., LTD.& JUNSEKINO ARCHITECT AND DESIGN

05

JUN SEKINO, the winner of the 2018 Architecture Asia Awards, is known for his outstanding architectural creations that pay attention to every detail and dimension of space and its connection with humans. His works are the embodiment of the harmonious union between architecture and interior decoration.


NEW NORMAL AND BACK TO BASIC

Local Colors

The inherited wisdom in different localities has its own characteristic. Local materials contribute to local products’ varying shades of colors. When architects take inspiration from vernacular cre-ations to their contemporary design creations, conceived as a result are the interesting Thai color characteristics. “Each place has its signature. It can come from the materials’ natural colors or the colors you get from the production process and the surrounding environment. Sometimes, when you see the colors, you immediately know this is from the south, the east or the northeast. Lately, I have projects in provinces outside of Bangkok, whether it’s the southern or northeastern region. I have been pretty blown away by the colors I’ve experienced.”’

When social distancing still complicates inter-national traveling, looking back at what closes to one’s life with a different perspective can bring about new discoveries. “People are going back to appreciate craftsmanship, which is how they value things that are human-made. So colors don’t always come from Pinterest or far-away sources. In the time when parts of the world are forced to disconnect from each other, I’ve been working on domestic projects more. I’ve seen so many things in all these different localities that I’ve never seen before. The colors I saw don’t come from industrial production, or CMYK or Photoshop. These colors come from the actual creation processes. This burnt sugar color or a particular shade of blue or green come from vernacular techniques and contexts, and I find them to be very interesting.”

Colors: Personal Perceptions and Preferences

While colors affect people’s emotions and feelings, each individual’s experiences impact the way they perceive colors. Within the same con-text, one’s sense towards a color may be varied by different factors or personal preferences. “When a color is used, it involves a person’s personal liking as a background. There are a lot of emotions and feelings involved when it comes to color, what a person likes or dislikes. Colors are very complicat-ed. It isn’t just like you could just throw anything in and be done with it. People tend to think that colors come afterward, but I think it should be included right from the early stage of the design process. How you use color has a great deal of impact on your work, and it’s never easy to decide. If it’s black or white, all you have to do is control the texture and tactility, but when you deal with colors, there’s harmony, pairing, contrast, or the emotions you want people to feel because colors have that kind of effects on people.”

Colors and the Elements of Life: Cycle of a Day

Each time of day has its own colors. Jun Se-kino explains the connection between changing shades of colors and human’s streams of emo-tions and feelings varied at different parts of life into three colors. The beige derives from the warmth of mornings, marking new beginnings. It transitions into red, reflecting the seriousness of one’s work and possibilities during the day. The intensity eases off as the dusk sets in, and one returns to their private world, which is expressed in the shade of navy blue. “They’re the moods invisible to our eyes, but we can sense them. Colors are emotions. A day in my life cycle is like this. Colors are elements of life. They represent different periods of this cycle of a day. They seem unreasonable at times, and different people may see different colors but these three colors are what I see.”

Humans’ interests in architecture never cease to stop. Principles and concepts change, evolve and circulate through the passing courses of time. A decorative item popular at one point in time becomes an excessive vanity as time passes. And creators continue to explore for new excitements. “I think it’s basically about periods in design. Every five years, you’d see something change. Green was in every conversation for a while, and there were times when forms were a subject of our dialogue, then it was sustainability, and lately, we’ve been talking more about materials,” Jun Sekino interesting observed. “Now, with the New Normal being the main dialogue, people are starting to talk about going back to basic.”

In the New Normal era, where everyone is adjusting to the post-pandemic lifestyle, many limitations have become a catalyst for people to look for inspirations from things surrounding them. People see something they once overlooked in a new light and appreciate their long-hidden charms and beauty. “COVID-19 really gets people thinking about their interests. Eventually, we’re starting to think about how we can twist, renovate or readjust the things we already have. An adjustment is a form of change, and colors are the easiest change you can make.”

Colors have been used in all kinds of design and art forms, from fashion, graphic, cinema. We have witness great diversity and quick changes of colors in certain fields of design, such as fashion. The changes in color trends in architecture, however, are more gradual. When the time comes, and all the needed elements align, architects are ready to propose new colors in building decoration. “I used to have to control the color tones carefully I would use with my work, but younger generation designers are bolder when it comes to the use of colors in architecture.


JUN’SMOOD BOARDS

1-3. Basic Beige

From Jun’s perspective, it’s the familiarity in the surrounding environment; the beige of the lumi-nous morning sun’s rays, hidden in the furniture, the food, trees and grasses. “For me, beige is the fundament. It’s the basic color of life. Everyone can feel the friendliness of beige. We wake up in the morning, and the first thing we see is the sunlight, touching a piece of furniture. It’s in the dried leaves in the beautifully crafted products. It’s one of nature’s true colors. When I see beige, I feel relaxed. It’s also the basic color from which other colors are created. When I design, I would add beige first, following by other colors. Beige can perhaps account for 50% or 20-30% of my works. It depends.”

4-6. Red Takes Control

There is this uniqely blazing energy about red. While the use of red in his architectural creations is far from frequent, in the time that requires Jun to think and make decisions, red is the color he sees when it comes to the professional portion of his life “If you use red with something that is mass in number, you can see its incredible power to persuade and motivate people. It’s the color with great controlling power. It has such a strong iden-tity, and it boosts self-confidence. I choose red to embody the time of day when I work because it keeps me alert, and it conveys individuality. I used to avoid red. It used to be one of the last options I would pick, but when I try using the color that I used to feel uncertain of using, it’s refreshing. When I see red being used with a material, it gives such a different feel. Red can really accentuate its neighboring colors. But it needs to be in the right proportion. If you use red with everything, it could be too overwhelming. Apart from the color, I also like the effects ref gives. The red light, for ex-ample, exudes this uncompromising energy that can straightforwardly control people’s emotions. If you see red in my work, whether it’s a vase, a piece of furniture, or a wall, know that this part of the space is important. When I use colors, I use red with the part I want to emphasize.”

1.

7. - 8.

9.

10.

2. 5.

6.

3.

4.

7-10. Blue After Six

After spending his power on work, the sky turns into this beautiful blue color. It symbolizes the hours of personal time and relaxation. As an architect, Jun Sekino explains this particular time of day using navy blue. “I feel that my personal time begins after six o’clock when the working hours are over. It’s the time of day when I feel like I can calm down and listen to some music. When I drink, I can sense the vibe of navy blue. It’s the Soul After Six type of sentiment. Personally, blue is one of my favorite colors. I like looking at the sky. But we have our favorite shades of blue. There are the blues in the morning, afternoon and evening sky, or the cloudy sky’s indigo blue. There’s bright blue, and there’s navy blue. I like navy blue because it calms me down. I have a lot of clothes that are navy blue. But you won’t find it being used that much in my architecture. When you see blue used with wood, you can still tell that it’s wood even though it’s colored. I used to think that we could only use white with wood because it looks natural, but colors can sometimes make wood more interesting.”

Photo Credit: Jun Sekino, Thorr Living, Lifestyle Asia, Inkagu, Pinterest

CO

LOR

---

----

-DEC

OD

ING

06

KIJTANESKAJORNRATTANADECHManaging Director / Founder of TASTE SPACE CO., LTD.

KIJTANES KAJORNRATTANADECH is the interior designer and founder of Taste Space, the design studio with the restaurant being its area of expertise. Kijtanes works by incorporating each owner’s identity and character into the design. He also takes inspiration from signature dishes, translating them into a design language that creates incredibly unique and meaningful works.


At Taste Space, Kijtanes Kajornrattanadech leads a team of designers who are the minds behind many restaurants and cafes’ designs, meaningfully conceived from the owner’s love and passion. To design a restaurant or a café, the designer looks deep and gets to know the owner’s real personality. Careful analysis and interpreta-tion ensue as he begins to facilitate a genuine connection between the owner’s individual char-acters to that of the establishment they will be operating. “We look for inspirations from whatev-er surrounding and interpret them into a concept. We choose the colors from this conceptualized idea, which derives from the owner’s personality, including what they want to be included in the design. If it’s a cafe, the first couple of things we will ask are something along the line of what type of coffee will you sell, what’s your story and back-ground. When we talk about cafes, every café sells coffee but at the end of the day, what differenti-ates your place from others? You may use this specific type of coffee beans from the north, which leads to the next questions of what makes it specific, and from which part of the region they come. We want to know about the people who harvest the beans, the place where they are grown. This is the type of concept we want to use because we want the establishment to respect the people who grow the coffee.”

Kijtanes’s design concepts can be explained from the various inceptions of his projects. He gets to know these details to understand and connect the origin of a project to the design’s objective. This explains why his works hold a more profound dimension that goes beyond appear-ance. “Mostly, we like to take inspiration from what

ORIGINS AND DIRECTIONS: CONNECTING THE DOTS IN DESIGN

a place wants to be. For example, there’s a seafood place in Chiang Mai with the business idea gen-erated from the owner’s ability to procure fresh seafood. When you think of seafood products, you think of piers, but you see plenty of restau-rants with the fisherman boat and beach concept. We looked for other aspects that we could ex-plore, and then there was this idea of fishermen sailing out into the far-away sea at night because nighttime sounded more exciting. That’s how the midnight ocean concept was developed, and the decision to use the deep blue color ensued.

Uniqueness, Identity…Designer and Owner as a Combined Formula

Differences make one unique. In design, being distinctive has to derive from both creativity and practicality. To develop an idiosyncratic design for a café or a restaurant, Kijtanes chooses to reflect the owner’s identity into the design and decora-tion. “Instead of incorporating our design identity, we try to bring out owners’ characteristics and personalities as much as we can. At the end of the day, it’s them who will be looking after the businesses. They are going to be making a living from these places in the long run, so we can’t create designs that are 100% us. It’s a fifty-fifty formula. We add our inputs to make the work more fun and interesting,” explained Kijtanes. “For instance, with GRADIENT Toast Cade, we re-searched the owner’s background and found out that they had this business manufacturing de-formed steel bars. We looked further into the manufacturing process of these steel bars and saw how there were steps in how the steel was heated and cooled down. While they were left to

Colors, Inspirations and Tastes

Some people eat not just to enjoy the tastes but the presentation. Colors and decorations make food look more appetizing. When designing a restaurant or café, Kijtanes always looks for and borrow inspirations from the kitchen, creating the dining atmosphere that intertwines a restaurant’s core value—the food. “Restaurants, cafes and bars are our areas of expertise, so most of the refer-ences are food pictures because they have a di-rect connection to the designs. When searching for inspiration, information or colors, I usually look at a project’s big picture and the food. Colors gradually derive from there, and they eventually link to the varying natures of food, which is some-thing people are already familiar with but has never really thought about.”

Rice’s white color, the orange of crab shell, the black of coal, and the blue of butterfly pea flowers all have distinctive colors. Looking closers, Kijtanes has discovered each dish possesses its own color shades, equally impressive as the taste. “Crusta-ceans turn orange when cooked no matter which colors they are when they’re alive. I’m interested in that because seafood is one of Thailand’s strongest points, whether it’s the aspect of local cuisine or natural resource. I think it’s interesting to play with the colors, crab shells’ gradient from white to orange. I love the terrazzo textures of these aquatic animals,” said Kijtanes. “Rice is such an essential ingredient in Thai food. When I think of white color, I think of rice, which is relatively uncommon. When most people think of white in food, they think of eggs white or milk. Rice has a different delicate feel. It has this visually soothing and beautiful white tone.

Color Conscious and the New Normal

Everyone dreams of living in pleasant surround-ings, the kind of environment that makes one’s heart content with joy and happiness. But during this dire and problematic time when we are forced to stay at home more than we were used to, limi-tations become driving forces, and people look for ways to create new environments. “I think the New Normal affects the way people see and use colors. As people spend more time at home, they’ve be-come more attentive to what shade of colors would best suit them and their homes or which color makes them feel safe and calm. In the New Normal Era, people will look for the colors that help fresh up the space and their mentality. Look at the Scandinavian design. You can see many interesting uses of colors because Scandinavian countries are in a colder climate, and they get a minimum amount of sunlight throughout the year. In certain months, they have only four to five hours of sunlight so people spend a lot of time at home because it’s dark outside most of the time. Colors are used to keep the living space fresh and vibrant.”

cool down, the bars would have this lava yellow color, and then they would get redder and eventually become dark steel color. We used the process as the starting point of the color scheme and the overall idea of the design.”

The Right Colors and the Favorite Colors

Everyone has their favorite colors, but not every color can be used with interior decoration. In developing a design with a concept that genuinely conveys the owner’s identity, finding the right color is a compli-cated step. As a designer, Kijtanes always looks for ways to search for the most suita-ble shade for each project; something in-between the right and the favorite colors. “An owner may like certain colors, but that doesn’t mean they are the right colors for the project. There are times when the pre-ferred color scheme comes with the brief, and we have to find a way to adjust the tone or shade to best suit the business’s charac-teristics. There are also occasions where the chosen colors are usable, but we have to make dew adjustments so that everything falls into places better, with links connecting a well-established story that comes from their background and who they are. We have to discuss with our clients to see if certain ideas are possible. If not, then we have to talk to them that with the link that we have, it may be hard to go to where you want the work to go unless you can accept that you may have to take the other direction, and that will be where we’re heading.”


KIJTANES’SMOOD BOARDS

1. Rice Rice is one of the most critical ingredients in Thai food, and it has this visually soothing and beautiful color that is different from other shades of white.

2. Charcoal This natural element has been a source of heat since ancient times. Its blackness comes with an attractive hue of grey.

3. Kan Chu Pieng A signature dish that cooks blue crab meat with several ingredients in three different temper-atures, creating beautiful shades of red and or-ange of crab fat, meat and shell.

4. Curry Paste The bright red and orange colors embody the fiery taste of curry paste. These are the colors behind many great dishes in Thai Cuisine.

5. Seawater A breathtaking fuse of blue and green of the waves in the sea where depth and wind miracu-lously render varying shades of colors.

6. Blue Rust When a particular type of steel is exposed to oxygen and humidity, rust appears in a unique patina blue color.

7. Prawns and their Fat The dish’s mouthwatering orange shades come from the hot juicy prawn fat served as a beautiful dressing over the perfectly grilled meat inside the crispy, smoky shell.

8. Boiled Crabs The color and texture of crab shells, when perfectly cooked, are both visually appealing and delectable.

9. Butterfly Pea Flowers Their dark blue color is rarely found in nature. Their juice, when mixed with fresh lemon juice, turns into this lovely purple color.

10. Rose Lychee Roll Cake This colorful dessert comes with a delicate taste that perfectly combines the sweetness of rose and lychee’s unique sourness.

1.

4.

8.

9. 10.

2.

5.

6.

7.

3.

Photo Credit: Kijtanes Kajornrattanadech, Homedepo, The Guardian, Pinterest, Twitter


MANATSPONG SANGUANWUTHIROJANAArchitect and Design Director of HYPOTHESIS

07 MANATSPONG SANGUANWUTHIROJANA is the architect and design director of Hypothesis, the design studio that strives to develop different hypotheses through questions and the search for answers, finding the right solutions for architecture, interior design, and environmental design, including the use of colors.


Like its name, the studio’s modus operandi encompasses developing a hypothesis for archi-tecture, interior space or environmental design or programming strategy, questioning, experiment-ing, and finding solutions from basically everything in the surrounding. The studio studies the past to understand the present better and speculate the future. It’s the same approach to colors and design. The studio starts by making a hypothesis, followed by contextual interpretation and various interconnected elements of design, emotions and a space’s characteristics.

“With every project, we try to design a time-less piece of architecture. We use warm color tones such as white, grey, beige or lighter tones of natural colors with residential projects, simply because they last longer. There are times when we create new colors for specific spaces.

Manatspong exemplifies Factoria, the space where Hypothesis’ office is located. He designed his studio’s workspace to have the color tone that corresponds with the space’s overall image. “Origi-nally, the place is in white-gray-silver tone because the initial intention was to create a neutral-looking common area. But we revamped the space to be more mature and luxurious, so the midnight blue tone is used with an additional green of trees and copper from the metallic surfaces. Lighting design is also brought in to adjust the space to serve the desired contexts because Factoria houses a café, a restaurant and an event space. Lighting allows the space to adjust the mood and colors to suit clients’ different corporate identities. This is why we put a great deal of emphasis on colors and lighting because they have 100% impact on the space’s character.”

Another example Manatspong mentioned is a condominium project that aims to attract young generation clientele. Hypothesis uses fun and fresh color tones by parting the colors of light at different parts of day, such as purple-yellow, dark blue-orange, and dark blue-yellow.

Truth to Materials and the Changing Stages of Colors

“…the color of steel that changes from black, to rusty brown and eventually orange color, green leaves turn light brown and dark brown through

FROM HYPOTHESIS TO DESIGN

times, skies’ bright blue hue to violet with a tint of orange…” The changing stages of colors are what Manatspong finds interesting. Materials’ natural colors and seasonal colors of nature are what Manatspong frequently uses with his design, from the transforming surfaces and colors of steel of Villa Vinotto, IR-On Hotel, and Vivarium, a restaurant on Rama 4 Road. He incorporated the red from Red Masala (an Indian spice) to stimulate people’s dining experience with Vivarium.

Colors of Nature

“Most of the colors I’m drawn to are from the surrounding natural environment. For example, purple used to be a tough color to find. The origin of the word ‘purple’ is the name of a deep-water shell with this purple blood. That’s why in ancient times, purple was exclusively used to make clothes for kings and emperors. I was in Spain, and I saw this golden cross being wrapped in this beautiful dark purple fabric. I was informed that purple still has particular symbolic meanings in Christianity. The color also has other symbolic implications.”

The rebranding project he did for Bangkok Christian College, which included redesigning the school’s corporate identity and color scheme of the graphic design and architecture, had this naturally originated purple tone as the inspiration.

From Past to Future Trends

“I did my master degree in history so I feel that architects shouldn’t just look towards to the future. We need to understand the past and how it’s re-lated to humans, and the way people in the past thought. When you know your ground, it’s easier to take a step into the future. It’s the same thing how having a true understanding in the present will enable us to speculate the future. When it comes to choosing colors for each project, I tend to look back at the past first, or study my clients’ identity, personality and preferences.

Colors and Identity

“Personally, I don’t like to be in the space that is too visually clean and bright. I like spaces with solemnity and mystery, with a corner tucked away from the spotlight. My preferred color tone for furniture is dark, which comes with an upside because it will conceal traces of usability after a period of usage. I also like jazz and blue when it comes to music, so if they were colors, they would be the darker tones, not the bright ones.”

Color Trends and Design

“I view colors like fashion trends that are continually changing and sometimes circulate. Architecture is the same. You can see the return of arches and curved lines, one of the prominent characteristics of Mid-Century (the 1940s-1960s) design language. In terms of form, we’ve seen Mid-Century design making a come back. With colors, I think people are going back to bright color tones, natural colors with fresh, invigorating feelings such as the colors of dawn, dusk, contrast pairing of colors, or bright colors that we associate with childhood memories, including pastel colors. You can see more colors in recent collections of smartphones.

Color & Emotion

“To me, colors can have significant impacts if you’re looking to change something without wanting to invest a lot of money. A changed color can have great effects on people’s emotions. What today’s people often lack is that they like to look at numbers, quantitative results, graphs and tables, but they never really look into the emotions behind things—colors that are more than just codes or numbers but human feelings.”


MANATSPONG’SMOOD BOARDS1. Different Taken in Antwerp, Belgium, the picture reflects a clash be-tween Western and Eastern civilizations. Both unique, striking yet fit surprisingly well together. Hypothesis, too, often ask paradox-ical questions with the hope to discover and create something new and different that can coexist with the same context and time.

2. Soft/Rock A picture of Pamukkale, a travertine mountain in Turkey. The natural spring water flowing over the mountain top for thousands of years leaves the soft-looking carbonate minerals. It’s one of nature’s miraculous paradoxes, reflecting the mightiness hidden behind the sweet, delicate colors.

3. Light This picture was taken inside the Atomium’s tube in Belgium. The stimulating glow-in-the-dark surface creates stories. They’re bright, colorful and complementary with the contrast so stark that it’s visually exciting.

4. Together The water’s surface and colors of the trees at Lake Como, Italy, unify, creating a painting-like image with an infinite vanishing point.

5. Hot/Cold The materials’ surfaces’ contrasting colors depict a perfect clash of warm and cool tones.

6. Lead/Direct The light piercing through the opening maintains its trajectory with varying intensities and colors.

7. Fun The use of colors adds fun elements to a space. The rightly controlled brightness of each color and color tone to be in the same direction is where the fun begins.

8. Man/Made The amalgamation of nature and humanmade creation, the sky and built structure, differences of forms and colors all seem to work well together somehow.

9. Reflect The thick, solid concrete wall and the reflective mirror wall, embellished lighting and colors, create a perfect direction of reflected lines and images. Different interpretations and materi-alizations of two similar things, even in the same colors, render different outcomes.

10. Strong/Gentle Found within the strength of architecture are gentle elements of curved lines and delicate colors.

1. 4.

10.

2.

5. 6. 7.

3.

8. 9.Photo Credit: Manatspong Sanguanwuthirojana

CO

LOR

---

----

-DEC

OD

ING

08

PHTAALIVING DESIGNPONWIT RATTANATANATEVILAI:Principal Architect / Co-founder

HARISADHI LEELAYUWAPAN:Interior Design Director / Co-founder

THANAWAT PATCHIMASIRI:Interior Design Director / Co-founder

PHTAA Living Design was founded by three designers, PONWIT RATTANATANATEVILAI, HARISADHI LEELAYUWAPAN, and THANAWAT PATCHIMASIRI, PHTAA LIVING DESIGN navigates the realm of design through questioning, interpretation, adaptation and combination. Created is the language of interior and architectural design that reflects their fundamental conceptual characteristics; Sculptural, Autonomous and Ambiguous.


“There are quite diverse uses of colors in our works. White is usually the primary color we go for because it serves as a perfect background for different activities and functionalities the space is going to have. With one of the studio’s projects, AUBE Wedding Avenue, PHTAA embraces curved lines to minimize the presence of sharp edges and corners. The clean, white tone acts as the perfect backdrop, similar to the white screen inside a pho-tography studio, enabling brides and grooms to shine on their special day. The dimension of light and shadow reveals itself from how the architec-ture interacts with natural light, always keeping the white space dynamic and interesting. “We don’t actually have any limitation when it comes to colors. Each project has its own characteristic color. We often use materials’ natural colors and perhaps another color that a client wants. If it’s a house, we look at the owner’s personality or adjust the tone according to their preferences. With non-residential projects, the colors we use would follow each organization’s branding identity, so the challenge lies in choosing the right color to complement the building’s overall visuals. The design PHTAA did for Chulalongkorn University’s stadium sees the use of pink, the university’s official color, with construction materials’ natural colors, which reflect new beautiful shades when touched by the light. “For us, pink is probably the most difficult color to work with. What we consider important when it comes to using color is paring natural materials to create the most satisfying result.”

COLORS IN THE WORKS OF PHTAA LIVING DESIGN

Color & Texture

“In addition to using plain background colors, another approach we often take when working with colors is by using materials’ textures to create differences and diversity. The beauty of colors can come from textural details. For example, when a certain color is used with this particular texture, it looks softer and more complete. One of the examples is how the sand wash surface’s textural dimension with reflected light and shadow can make the color yellow darker.”

Re-appropriate: A Concept

“Re-appropriation is the use of new methods with things that already exist. The method cre-ates new functionalities and roles for a certain thing without going through the customization process. It automatically eliminates steps in the construction process and pollutions. For instance, instead of using plastic to cast an entirely new, custom-made chair, we can build a chair using leftover cornices. By applying the unused resourc-es and re-appropriate them without having to use more new materials, you can lessen the process and pollutions.”

Experimental Project; Creating New Colors through the Eyes of the Color Blinded

“We want to find a new, interesting set of colors. We developed this experimental mood board with one of our employees who is color blinded but can excel in his role as an architect without any problems. The experiment wants to find out what the missing colors are and how he sees these colors. The colors appear to be darker, sepia tones through his eyes(the result may be varied with other color-blinded individuals). We think it’s an interesting point of view on colors.”

PHTAA Living Design’s mood boards consist of two sets of colors; the original version and the one in the colors seen through the color blinded eyes. The mood-boards reflect PHTAA’s color ‘re-appropriation’ process-- creating a new set of colors from the existing one. The color-blinded vision acts as a filter, causing the colors to twist and become new blue-yellow color tones. Using the same images, the mood boards reflect these beautiful shades of colors viewed from a different pair of eyes.

1. Colorful/ColorblindThe poster of the film, La Montagne Sa-

cree, is chosen for its impressive use of colors and how it related to the storytelling and characters. There are symbolic implications that we find interesting, and the poster itself never seems out of date. We want to compare how people tend to choose colors that are timeless and raise this subject of ‘last long’ colors between non-blinded and colorblind people.

2. GradientThe aluminum grates commonly used as

utility hole covers are applied and used as the Blu 395 building’s facade’s construction ma-terial. The painted material renders pattern and blue-white gradient with varying visual effects when looked at from different angles.

3. FeministChulalongkorn University’s stadium’s de-

sign is challenging for the right shade of pick needs to be used for the work to feel accessi-ble by all users. The pink should neither look too feminine nor masculine. We decided on the pink with a tint of orange-brown, which gives a new shade of pink when touched by sunlight.

4. FrameA perspective from the atrium inside

Blu 395 where the arched canvas walls beautifully frame the view of the bright blue sky.

5. VariationWe design a lamp made of crystal trans-

parent and translucent beads, reflecting the variety with the color white.

6. AnonymousAn interesting arrangement of planters.

7. REAPPROPRIATEThe wall cornices turned umbrella stand

reflects the re-appropriation process, which gives new functionality and role to an existing object.

8. DIMENSIONThrough the lines of silhouettes of re-

formed arches, the clean, white space, when interacted with sunlight, renders dimensions of light and shadows with varying shades of color.

9. ReflectionPaver blocks become the material for

wall construction. The arrangement, which showcases the blocks’ edges, created a color scheme of red and orange, which becomes a green-yellow hue through the eyes of the colorblind.

10. FLOATAn Installation art piece at Silpakorn Uni-

versity’s the Faculty of Architecture entrance originates from the volume of the water inside the front pool. The installed foam balls of four different sizes have a combined vol-ume that equals the pool water’s calculated volume.

11. EffectivePHTAA’s works use a lot of white due to its

ability to bring dimensional light and shadow effects to a space, including how it changes colors when touched by natural and artificial light. This image compares how material such as wood can look warm and cold when inside a white space.

12. VariationThis drawing of Studio Project, a pho-

tography studio currently under construc-tion, clearly depicts how a colorblind person sees grey color with a tint of yellow in dark blue.

13. New-OldAcrylic replaces certain parts of an old

chair’s wooden frame, adding synthetic ma-terial elements while preserving the original characteristic and functionality.

14. DifferentA house’s model with a hostel building at

the front reveals the design’s details that play with curved and arched forms and reflect the color white in different materials.

15. In-OutA wall at Keaton Suits & Tailoring with the

graphic diagram pattern inspired by tangled treads found at the back of a clothing piece.

16. ABSORBThe green-blue tone of the reflective sur-

face of stainless steel is in the yellow-purple hue in the eyes of the colorblind.

17. TwistRattan, a common material for furniture,

is applied to architecture, and a beautiful pairing of colors.

18. DISTORTThe hotel’s lobby tells a story of reflection

through the metallic finishes of the acrylic walls and the distorted images they render. The original color of the stone floor’s pattern is in a warm tone of reddish brown while the light yellow with a tint of green in the other image is in a cooler color tone.


PHTAA LIVING DESIGN’SMOOD BOARDS

1.4.

10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

15. 16. 17. 18.

2.

5.

6. 7.

3.

8. 9.

Photo Credit: PHTAA LIVING DESIGNPoster Credit: Senscritique

CO

LOR

---

----

-DEC

OD

ING

VARUDHVARAVARNPrincipal Architect / Founder of VIN VARAVARN ARCHITECTS LTD.

VARUDH VARAVARN, the architect and founder of Vin Varavarn Architects, is the mind behind some remarkable hotels, residential and commercial projects. Through collaborations with many foundations, he has participated in several social projects, designing school buildings and renovated residential buildings for people in low-income communities. His architectural language utter accent beautifully blends in with nature, creating works distinctive not only for their designs and materiality but the human spirit.

09


“Colors or color trends have never really been the focus of my work. Colors appear through materials, whereas most of the colors I use with my design are in monochromic tones such as black, white and grey, which, in most cases, are used alongside materials such as wood, concrete and steel. Looking back at my past works, I find the unintentional presence of colors. They’re in the materials we use, whether it’s the earth coat-ing the walls, the rusty steel; all come from the materials’ very own natures.” Varudh Varavarn’s examples are from one of his past projects in Khao Yai, where the local earth was used for the walls’ finished surface, creating a natural red-brown tone that beautifully embraces the surrounding landscape. There’s also a renovation project where he demolished an old building’s walls before using the bricks salvaged from the demolition to construct the project’s new decorative wall. The colors of old concrete and bricks combine and create a new color shade.

COLORS AND DESIGNColors Through Materials

“I was thinking about what colors from which materials that I like, what are the colors of the surroundings or moods and tones that impress me, what are the color tones hidden in the pic-tures I took and whether they would reflect who I am somehow. I found that the colors I like are in nature, whether it’s the roadside landscape I came across while traveling or materials with their natural colors. Every material on earth contains different shades of colors, blended and superim-posed. The colors that I like but have never really used in my design are such as earthy brown, green in the surrounding nature and the blue of the sky before the night sets in.”

Vin Varavarn Architects and Colors

“When I talk with my clients, I’ve never really discussed if they want their houses to be black or white. We talk about what materials we will use, such as concrete, wood or bricks. I’ve used a few colors in my works, and they’re mostly white, grey and black simply because they can better accen-tuate other materials. I use white with grey tones because I’m not fond of beige all that much. I also like grey. It has this calmness, especially when it has a bit of a brown hue because it gives a similar feel to concrete. I use these color tones with other materials such as wood and concrete, which give different shades of brown and grey. Looking back, I’m starting to want to use other colors if I can.”

Design at a time of the New Normal

“People’s growing demands in residential design are more pronounced than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic forces people to spend more time at home, and everyone wants the living space to accommodate their needs and comfort more appropriately. They want an office where they can have online meetings without being disturbed. There’s also a demand for additional access points such as an outdoor living area to accommodate visitors, or a delivery point, to filter visitors and control who comes inside the house. Even public buildings require a more complicated entry pro-tocol with areas for visitors to wash their hands, take off their shoes and check their temperatures.

Colors and Future Trends

“There are several factors involved. Which type of buildings are you referring to, what are their purposes and functionalities? But in gen-eral, I think we’re looking at simpler color tones, something that visually and emotionally soothing because the lives we’re living today are stressful and exciting enough (laugh). I’m thinking of plain colors that can match well with materials such as wood, bricks and concrete.”

VARUDH’SMOOD BOARDS

020

1. Earth’s natural color: The earth is taken from a local area and used for a building’s exterior surface.

2. The colors of Ping River at dusk were captured when I was on a business trip in Lamphun.

3. Colors generated from a translucent wall, an element in Baan Klong Bon’s school building design.

4. The colors of the steel wall inside Vin Varavarn Architects’ office.

5. The colors of grass field in the picture I took while traveling to a school in Baan Kaeng Kor.

6. The colors of the brick wall inside an old building. After the exterior surface was taken down, the wall is re-used in the new design.

7. The colors of dried up earth look almost like a black and white photo (taken at the site of one of the projects I worked on)

8. The colors of a rusty wall inside my own home.

9. The colors of the sky captured during a family trip to grow a mangrove forest in Chanthaburi.

10, The colors of demolished old wood reused in a renovation project.

1.

4.

8.

9.

10.

2.

5. 6.

7.

3.


Photo Credit: Varudh Varavarn


VASU VIRAJSILPPrincipal Architect / Founder ofVASLAB ARCHITECTURE

10

VASU VIRAJSILP, the principal architect and founder of VaSLab ARCHITECTURE, runs his architectural laboratory with inspirations and tenets from Modernist artists and architects. His design philosophy reloves around the emphasis on space and form, varied by each project’s different context. VaSLab ARCHITECTURE’s diverse architectural repertoire consists of projects from residential, office to hotel buildings.


From the chilling concrete texture of La Jolla, one of Louis Kahn’s masterpieces, to the sculptur-al form and metallic surface of de Young Museum by Pritzker Prize laureate, Herzog & de Meuron, the thought of using colors feels like a taboo. But that’s merely a superficial observation. Looking closer, one of the hidden elements of these iconic works of Modern Architecture is ‘colors.’ They appear through the grey of the concrete surface, the rustic steel wall, and they all contribute to the building’s expressed sentiment and emotion. Colors also encourage interactions between the architecture and its surrounding context. Such unique natures of Modern Architecture can be found in VaSLab ACHITECTURE’s design language. Sleek, streamlined forms with exposed, unpainted surfaces straightforwardly reveal materials’ actual physicality. “I have to admit that I’m quite obsessed with concrete, which is why I like to use the ma-terial by exposing its true nature, and it explains why you can’t find that many colors in my works. Most of the colors I use are plain colors such as grey, white and black,” Vasu Virajsilp elaborated. But even buildings that seem color-less, with unique textural details and the simplicity of colors that comes from the materials’ natural colors, be there concrete, aluminum, stones or wood, everything is meticulously selected as the design delicately render a perfectly proportional presence of surfaces and the colors they possess. The stones’ dark grey and the wood’s brownish shade accentuate the sea’s emerald green be-yond Jomtien beach, surprisingly making Mason Resort look even more striking. The pale grey tone of Overlapping House looks and feel more enigmatic when situated in the middle of the expansive green field in Khao Yai.

Changes and Interests in Colors

When design is about constantly evolving creativity, the courage to change and experiment with new things is a pivotal part of every designer’s creative mechanism. Colors become Vasu’s latest experiment. “I never really liked this type of colors, but you can see certain colors being used with the interior spaces of my newer works. I’m starting to appreciate blue and green more. They’re natural colors of trees, skies and seas, not construction materials. Green has this effect that makes us feel visually soothing, while blue can lift our mood. There are psychological impacts behind these colors, so I’m starting to feel braver when using colors. Nevertheless, they need to have reasona-ble origins and directions.”

COLORS IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Sometimes, the origins of colors in the design are more than just physical appearance or emotions. In architecture, colors are used to convey specific meanings. “There projects where colors are need-ed, for example, a startup tech’s office we did was a renovation of an old brick building. The client had a special connection with the building because it belongs to his family. The design we came up with expresses modernity and speediness, and at the same time, representing the old context. We used the color red of the building’s old bricks and terra cotta roof tiles. The client loves it.”

Travelling and Color-Inspired Ideas

Inspirations are everywhere. Expanding and exploring new territories increase the chance of discovering new motivations. Journeys into the world of colorful experiences are crucial for one’s creative mind. “Being an architect, you need to look and see as many things as possible. Images in books and websites aren’t enough. Experiencing something from a picture and the actual space is entirely different. Traveling to places allows you to see the real deal, the settings, the natures, and people. These things broaden and deepen your understanding, especially when it comes to colors. I don’t think that looking at beautiful pictures will be enough. You have to see what something looks like in reality. When you look at something with your bare eyes, you will remember the feeling of being in a place. I remember the distinct shade of Green of the ocean when I was standing on Bondi Beach in Sydney and how it was like no other seawater colors I’ve seen. I remember the fading orange of bricks in Venice, the grey that changes through different times of day Tate Museum’s brick walls. When I use colors, I like that feeling of remembering being in a certain place and the images I imprinted in my head. Real colors and what’s captured on camera are different things. Seeing colors in real places with your own eyes is very important. It’s a memorable, valuable and impressive experience.”

The New Normal and Effects on Design

The New Normal is now a part of the contem-porary dialogue, and people’s changing behaviors are affecting Modern Architecture in aspects beyond physical appearance. “When you think of the New Normal and working from home, you need to think about how do you want the expe-rience and feeling of working from home to be? If you think your home is your new workplace,

you need to incorporate the environment you experience from commuting to the space. I like driving or taking the skytrain to work because I like observing people. These are the elements that we need to bring to the New Normal living space. I’m not talking about the entire living space but maybe just the working room. You wouldn’t want the working room to have the same color as your bedroom. It needs to have a different mood because when you work, you need inspiration. Do where do inspirations come from? They’re from the things you see and feel passionate about, so they have to be something you like or drive you. A workspace shouldn’t be the room that makes you sleepy or relaxed because you wouldn’t get your work done. This is very important, and that’s why colors play a crucial part.”

Each shade conveys different meanings, and when it comes to choosing a color for a room, several aspects need to be considered, from functionality to personal preference. “I like white, black and grey. I like the color of concrete, so it isn’t strange that the rooms I use, while they have a similar mood and tone, are different in terms of functionality. But for most people, colors have a great deal of the impact of the New Normal lifestyle. For example, green is used with eh living because it makes people feel lively and relaxed, visually and emotionally. When you work, there are emotions involved. If you want a serious, for-mal look, you go with grey and black with a bit of wood to keep everything a bit brighter and nicely balanced. White is a good option for restrooms because it looks hygienic. Blue is good as well because it’s something you relate with water. If you’re going all out with the New Normal lifestyle with a space for a house party and everything, you can try red or orange. It’s how you play with the psychological effects of colors.”

022

VASU’SMOOD BOARDS

1. The color of the ocean at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, is a unique green color like no other.

2. The material’s metallic black is dark but not entirely black, a fascinating reflection of VaSLab’s architectural identity.

3. At La Jolla, one of Louis Kahn’s masterpieces, the pale, chilling color of concrete that bears a stark contrast with the bright blue sky becomes a memory imprinted in my mind.

4. The interior space’s raw industrial aesthetic is coated with a layer of artificial light, rendering a perfect futuristic feel and ambiance.

5. The brick walls of a building in Venice reveal its timeworn pale orange surface.

6. The concrete’s color with varying levels of intensity caused by light and shadow express different emotions.

7. The light and shadow bring an exciting mood and tone to the steel brocks, dyeing the aluminum into attractive dark grey and blue shades.

8. The feeling of calmness exudes from the ve-neer wood’s delicate color inside a hotel’s interior space.

9. Herzog & de Meuron executes a masterful rendition of colors in the form of de Museum’s walls’ rusty texture in San Francisco.

10. Porsche’s unique Basalt Black color’s iridescent surface reveals the presence of brown and grey that alters when touched by the changing angles of light.

1.

4.

8.

9.

10.

2.

5.

7.


6.

3.

Photo Credit: Vasu Virajsilp, Pentagram, Spaceshift Studio

TOA COLOR DECODING/TRENDS 2021

10 NEW COLORS, inspired by 10 groups of leading architects and interior designers

Exploring diverse concepts of colors from the ideas of 10 leading groups of architects and interior designers, TOA, a leader in the paint and coatings industry, our color specialists work on ideas and data to analyze the tendencies in colors and their relations to people’s attitudes, tastes and living contexts. Presented here is the 2021 Trendscope, comprising of five following categories:

Psychological effects of colors on people’s sentiments and emotions, from warmth, relaxing and calm to stimulating, empowering and reassuring.

Inspirations from colors through art, food, cinema and food culture.

Impressions and moments from personal journeys get translated into colors of memories, reminiscing stories imprinted in the minds.

Colors of natural and synthesized materials, shades and tones from different elements of design, from weight to varying dimensions of colors in myriad forms and structures.

The conception of new colors through scientific principles and experimental processes, from refraction in different dimension to novel perspectives derived from medical stories and human health and abilities.

COLOR FLOW


PSYCHOLOGY

CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

EXPERIENCE

ELEMENT DESIGN & MATERIAL

SCIENCE

Color Flow reveals the color schemes within the TRENDSCOPE with corresponding hues and values these are developed to the new 10 colors for Trends2021

MUTED CHROMA

TOA 21007(R191 G92 B66)

TOA 21009(R61 G74 B94)

TOA 21010(R43 G97 B117)

TOA 21006(R223 G224 B72)

TOA 21008(R43 G100 B137)

TOA 21001(R245 G242 B233)

TOA 21003(R191 G186 B174)

TOA 21002(R221 G200 B178)

TOA 21004(R138 G127 B116)

TOA 21005(R77 G84 B89)

TOA 21001SPECTACULAR WHITEReflect every shade; change through times and light temperatures

TOA 21002THE BEGINNINGThe warmth in every detail of your surroundings

TOA 21003IN MY MINDSteady, calm and memorable

TOA 21004SECRET OF BROWNThe timeless appeal of solemnity and mystery

TOA 21005BACK INTO SPACEAbsorb every color; enigmatic yet accented in every detail

TOA 21006REAPPROPRIATE GREENExperimentations for novel changes

TOA 21007WAKEN HEARTEDExude confidence and motivation

TOA 21008OPTIMISTIC BLUEColor phenomena and the magic hours of lights

TOA 21009POWER OF SOULAppealing illusion of color

TOA 21010DRAMATIC GREENDesirability and full of positive thinking

The simplicity of neutral tones commonly used as the favorite colors in design which encouraged color harmony also able to matching with different materials

Fulfill emotional voids with bold, vivid colors for the livelier New Normal lifestyle

NEW COLORS


*The color shown in this book are approximate only.


RO

OM

SC

ENE

RO

OM

SC

ENE

TOA 21001



RO

OM

SC

ENE

TOA 21002




TOA 21003

027

RO

OM

SC

ENE

RO

OM

SC

ENE


TOA 21004



RO

OM

SC

ENE


RO

OM

SC

ENE

TOA 21005


RO

OM

SC

ENE


TOA 21006*The color shown in this book are approximate only.

RO

OM

SC

ENE


TOA 21007

TOA COLOR DECODING TRENDS 2021 032031

RO

OM

SC

ENE

RO

OM

SC

ENE


TOA 21008


RO

OM

SC

ENE


RO

OM

SC

ENE

TOA 21009

TOA COLOR DECODING TRENDS 2021 034

RO

OM

SC

ENE


TOA 21010


RO

OM

SC

ENE

Documents

INTRODUCTION · INTRODUCTION DECODING COLORS OF THE YEAR FOR As the region pandemic world moves into the New Normal, changes are happening around us. Social distancing becomes a significant