
A misconception in general language is that colors are bright. People often think of liking colors in terms of bright, loud, highly saturated colors. There’s more to it than that really. Most colors we see aren’t bright pop art colors. Most colors we see are normal, like sky, the pavement, the buildings that make up our cities and towns. And, we don’t always want loud colors you can’t ignore in a city. Tony Owen Partners created an apartment block, Eden Chipendale, in Sydney that’s there, but not in an ‘in your face’ type way. It’s colorful, but it’s not bright. It blends in, but isn’t the same. They call it the Art Wall.

Using colored panels on the facade, Tony Owen Partners has added a wave in the city, determining the colors using a flag as inspiration. In the graphic example below, you’ll notice that this facade is built up of many tones and shades, just like the waves a flag makes will have. It’s part of Sydney’s city scape now, and local residents choose their prefrence of design in an online poll. They preferred this art wall over amongst other options an attractive blonde. I guess just like color lovers not necessarily liking bright colors, people don’t always like to see attractive blondes.



