An approach for the facade colour design in settlements

Building façade colours, one of the most important design criteria, together with the other architectural features, play a crucial role in determining the urban identity. In order to have efficient and significant building façade colours, it is necessary to utilize "urban colour master plans" prepared for every settlement, and constructed under a colour design process that proceeds from macro (urban) to micro (single building). In order to prepare Urban Colour Master Plans for a determined settlement, every colour design factor of the settlement, from macro to micro scale, should be examined and evaluated. Particularly, when considering macro scale settlements, it is not practically possible to have all the examinations and evaluations done by the person who is going to realize the building façade colour design. Therefore, the need of a wide approach that can be a guide to municipalities, colour designers, urban planners and architects, is very clear. However, in the literature, there is no approach that covers all the steps of the urban colour planning that sets relations between these phases, that examines and evaluates in details factors regarding colour perception and natural-built environment in which the building stands, that helps the colour design process and that covers the process as a whole. With a clear explanation, there is no a holistic approach that can contribute to the preparation of Urban Master Colour Plans. In this thesis, in order to evaluate the factors that must be taken into account during the building façade colour design process and to prepare Master Colour Plans in urban region and building scales, an "Approach for Building Façade Colour Design" has been developed. The main purpose of this thesis is "to determine the phases needed to prepare Master Colour Plans in urban region and building scales and to develop methods to be used in these phases". The phases of the study are set on mainly four steps which are; determining regions and buildings that have priority in colour designing, making colour analysis of these regions and buildings, determining and evaluating features that affect building façade colour perception, preparing colour suggestions for urban regions and buildings. Accordingly, the First Part of the thesis covers the studies in the literature that are about the subject matter, the purpose of the study and the hypothesis to be tested within the study. The Second Part covers principal information about colour perception and façade colour design. The Third Part of the thesis covers a detailed explanation of the approach developed for Building Façade Colour Design, an overall view of four main phases and the purposes of the determination of these phases. The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh parts of the study cover methods determined and/or already existing in the literature for each of the four main phasis of the Approach for Building Façade Colour Design and a detailed explanation of the actions realized to apply these methods. The Fourth Part of the thesis covers the authentic method formed for "Determining Regions and Buildings that have Priority in Colour Designing" and the public survey and its results made within the method. For the second phase of the approach - "Making Colour Analysis of the Regions and Buildings that have Priority in Colour Designing", the Fifth Part covers an examination of two basic studies present in the literature and a sampling of natural environment colour analysis realized by using the methods of these studies. The Sixth Part covers the authentic method developed for the third phase of the approach – "Determining and Evaluating Features that Affect Building Façade Colour Perception" and the experiment realized within the method is explained with its results. The Seventh Part covers general colour design information present in the literature for the fourth phase of the approach – "Preparing Colour Suggestions for Urban Regions and Buildings" and basic steps for making colour suggestions made by data obtained from the prior phases of the approach. The Eighth Part of the thesis, which is also the conclusion covers an evaluation of the results obtained from the studies made for the four main phases of the Approach for Building Façade Colour Design.