Colour Palette, Living with Buildings, 2018

Giles Round
Colour Palette, Living with Buildings, 2018
Colour Palette
Dimensions variable

“There is no question that colour holds a strong appeal, either consciously or subconsciously, for all people. It has the power to create a satisfying and cheerful environment, to aid seeing and, by being made either exciting or subduing, to promote moods favourable to recovery.”

COLOUR IN INDUSTRY TODAY, Robert F Wilson, 1960.

'Artist Giles Round has been commissioned to respond to the exhibition and produce a body of work that employs colour and light, exploring their role in health.

Interested in the intersection of architecture, design and artistic practice, Round’s work directly interacts with the exhibition structure. The walls and cases provide surfaces onto which he maps colours taken from a palette devised from his research. Sources include the colour plans from Alvar Aalto’s tuberculosis sanatorium in Paimio, Finland – the highly coloured interior of which was intended to bring sunshine inside the building for the benefit of the patients resident there.

Colour in Industry Today, a mid-20th-century guide to incorporating colour in British industrial settings, also provided inspiration for the exhibitionpalette. This publication offered advice on how best to create productive, healthy environments in newly constructed factory buildings – as well as in hospitals and communal areas. Judicious use of colour could influence the mood and tone of each space, stimulating in some cases, soothing in others. In 1946, the British Colour Council – an agency set up to define colour standards in the UK – produced a leaflet entitled ‘Colour and Lighting in Factories and Offices’. The relationship between colour, light and health is emphasised within it. It claims that “well chosen colours and efficient lighting can be means of improving health, stimulating morale and increasing motivation”.

Round’s work re-establishes these principles in the gallery. The richly coloured surfaces frame the exhibition, with the ultimate aim to make us feel better.''

Emily Sargent, curator, Living with Buildings

Photography by Giles Round 1-9 and Thomas S.G. Farnetti 10-11