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DAY CENTER
Trepés Arquitects studio addresses me whit a specific proposal: To establish a therapy of colour to intervene the whole of a Day Centre in Maceda, Ourense.
Mi work, as a plastic artist, focuses on the use of colours establishing theories of application in the projects called "Espacios Terapéuticos Personalizados". The psychology of the colours is one of my fields of work where I try to concrete perceptive sensations for the human being. The project I am working nowadays is entitled: "From cold to heat, from heat to cold, going through warm". One of the aims is to observe the colours of cold and colours of heat.
The centre to intervene consists of five housing units: Rehabilitation and Consultation Room, Reception, Multipurpose Rooms, Dining Room, Staff Rooms. Talking into account the concrete activities of each unit, utility, time of stay, activity to be developed, type of user, I establish a chromatic quality for each one.
I design a range of colours attending the conceptual, psychological qualities of the colours. I mainly pay special attention to the dialogue and visual perceptive overlap between both of them, making the final decision for each colour to be conditiones by the unit and the complementarily of all of them.
-CURATIVE GREEN Rehabilitation and Consultation Room
-SUNNY YELOW Reception
-ENERGETIC GREEN WHIT BLUE SKIN Multipurpose Rooms
-INTENSE ORANGE Dining Room
-ACTIVE BLUE Official Rooms
The choice of this range of colours tries to create comfortable as well as energetic or relaxing places. Once inside, the user would move from one place to another without harshness, finding in each of them what needed for each activity.
Sunny yellow
The first encounter whit the interior of the day centre occurs in the entrance hall, in the lobby. These is the point where the distribution towards the rest of the centre is initiated. The sun is an energy element par excellence providing life whit the light it needs. In Galicia, it is not a usual as we would like, so that an extra dose of sun is always welcome. The sun is conciliatory, it invites the friendship, the encounter, the beginning of the working activity. That is why this point of reception is this colour.
It is a luminous rather than an intense yellow, seeking to concentrate the light of a sunny, mild and pleasant day.
Energetic green whit blue sky
The multipurpose Rooms are the spaces where the elderly who go to the centre spend most of the time. Green is a relaxing colour, it reminds of nature; if we add a energetic quality to it, whit more yellow, it becomes a pleasant colour encouraging to a moderate activity. When we add blue sky to green -the ceilings and part of the walls are painted blue sky- we make use of reference to the nature that green makes by itself, boosting it. The ceiling of the rooms will be painted in different hues of the chosen blue making a composition of squares and rectangles starting from the placing of the ceiling illumination. We thus create an especially pleasant place conducive to permanence and enjoyment.
Curative green
The rehabilitation, consultation, waiting and resting rooms will be green. For me, an aseptic and at the same time intense green would be the most appropriate colour for the places of curative intention. The green chosen as a curative colour would facilitate peace as well as wellness and positive stimulation to feel better.
The choice of the green colour for the Multipurpose Rooms and Rehabilitation and Consultation Rooms, seeking some very specific qualities in each of them, tries to integrate the medical part in the everyday working activity. The elderly frequently need to attend the medical consultation, rehabilitation; that is why the chosen colour will make them feel closer to a place of positive references such as the multipurpose rooms.
Intensive orange
The dining room is a place whit a specific function, to eat. The time of permanence in this unit is limited and relatively short. The choice of orange responds to these premises. Orange is one of the most energetic and stimulating colours. For me it is perfect for the dining room as it activates the appetite and provides the necessary energy for such an important living process. Orange is a very active colour, suitable for places of relatively short but intensely active stays, The chosen Intense Orange responds to this stimulus, based on the observation of a ripe, appealing, edible fruit.
Active blue
The staff space in the building is a dynamic space, a work space. Stimulating as well as pleasant for the development of a working day.
Blue is a cold colour that conveys peace, facilitates clear and lucid thought. It is mainly related to the precious blue skies and the immensity of the sea. If we choose an active blue, we will have a very suitable colour for a place of work.
Range of colour
The chosen colours make an appropriate range of colour, they talk among each other allowing a harmonious flow in the day centre, spanning the whole of a working day:
Sun Yellow-Energetic Green whit Blue Sky-Curative Green-Intensive Orange-Active Blue.
