Hue saturation lightness and building exterior preference: An empirical study in Turkey comparing architects' and nonarchitects' evaluative and cognitive judgments

Abstract

This study investigated architects' and nonarchitects' evaluative and cognitive judgments of color on building exteriors. Thirty architects and 30 high school teachers living in Izmir Turkey participated in the study. The experiment had two phases. First participants viewed eight images in which the color of a building exterior was manipulated with hues selected from HSB (hue saturation and brightness) color space. Participants were then asked to rate each image on 7-point semantic differential scales measuring preference (like-dislike) arousal (arousing-sleepy) naturalness (natural-artificial) and relaxation (relaxing-distressing). Second participants viewed the same building in nine saturation and lightness levels for each hue and picked the most preferred lightness and saturation level for each hue. Findings showed that for a building exterior: (1) yellow and blue were the most liked colors (2) some hues were rated as more arousing more natural and more relaxing over the others (3) gender had an effect on color preference and semantic ratings of naturalness and relaxation (4) architects and nonarchitects differed in their color preference and semantic ratings of arousal and naturalness and (5) full bright and moderate to low saturated colors and full saturated and moderate to high bright colors were preferred more. The results have practical implications for architects and urban designers. A successful coloration of a building exterior may increase its use frequency and economical value. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals Inc. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.