exterior – A Splash of Color

A City Divided by Color

If you were to walk down Peachtree Street at night. You would be walking in a well lite area, surrounded my restaurants and businesses filled to capacity. The outside of these places would be vibrantly lit by their signs. All of these colors and lights would be flashing in your face. You could walk freely because you would not have to worry about tripping on an uneven sidewalk or being mugged unexpectedly. You would have no worries because Peachtree Street is a high-class area with upper-class residents and excited tourist. As you were walking down this grand street you would be mindful not to a venture to Auburn Ave which crosses parallel to Peachtree Street. If you did happen to mistakenly walk down this street, your surroundings would be dull boarded up buildings. There is very little light in this area and color is, even more scare. This street is known for its crime, poverty, and the dreaded minority. As you walk you would not see businesses full with people, you would instead see broken and uneven sidewalks lined with homeless individuals.

When comparing these two built environments, the two elements that mainly set them apart are color and lighting.

12th and midtown toward the end of peactree street

The vibrant colors and lights that a person sees embedded in the exterior built environment of Peachtree Street when juxtaposed to the dull and dilapidated colors and lights of Auburn Street showcase the wealth and class disparity between both environments

This is the intersection where Auburn Ave and Peachtree Street collide. This picture was taking in the 1940’s when both streets were equal regarding economic and social status. (Just image the color hiding behind the black and white film.)

Auburn Ave and Peachtree Street were once at the same social and economic level. Residents and users of the spaces were for the most part well of. Each of these built environments had the same basic elements. Both with building that were different shades brown, gray, or tan. With colorful billboards and store signs, along with bright lights to make the streets more vibrant. The only difference between the streets was that Auburn Ave was utilized by minorities mainly African Americans and Peachtree Street were utilized by whites.

As time went on Auburn Avenues economic status dropped, and the billboards and bright signs started to come down as businesses began to close, and buildings became boarded up. As this happened, Peachtree Street continued to thrive and expand increasing its lights, bright colors, and flashy appearance annually.

Color is a fundamental aspect of the very built environment. Because it reflects the viewpoints, dynamics, and status of the people in that particular built environment.

Every street in a city, including Atlanta, has it a color scheme that is unique to its residents and those that are occupying the space. Which means that Peachtree Street/s color scheme compared to Auburn Ave’s color scheme would naturally be different. In an article written by a group of researchers found that color is reflective of the lives of people. In their study they talked about a scientist, named Green, who defined color in an unusual, yet remarkable way. He describes the local color as “all sights, sounds, smells and tastes, impressions of space and time, physical meetings and social interactions that individual experiences in space”(Zybaczynski). From his point of view, color effects, and reflects everything in a built environment. His viewpoints refer back to Peachtree Street and Auburn Ave. For instance, the lack of color in Auburn Ave reflect the social and economic status of the people. That lack of color also affects them in numerous other ways.

Color affects many elements of the people that it surrounds. The main aspect that color effects in people’s lives are their moods. Psychologist Jamie Hyodo studied this phenomenon in depth with a very detailed experiment. Him and his team showed colors to various groups of people and recorded how the different colors made the people react. His founding revealed that the same color can mean something different to various cultures, genders, and races. However, no matter the individual’s background, in general, cool colors (red, orange, yellow) make people feel pleasure. And, warm colors (blue, green, purple) make people feel excitement (Hyodo). All of these colors are rarely seen on Auburn Ave unless they are on some of the few businesses on the street or in the gratify on the abandoned buildings. However, these colors can be seen up and down Peachtree Street.

These finding, when combined with Greens statement, show that that the lack of color on Auburn Ave reflects its inhabitants the economic status, but also the affects the everyday well-being of the people living on that street. The vibrant colors of Peachtree Street reflect the status of those living on and being tourist on the street but also affects the overall experience of the street.

center of peachtree street — Peachtree Street

Much of the color showcased on these two streets is through lighting. Many signs have light bulbs in them so that they will visible at night. Peachtree Street has far more of these lights than Auburn Ave. There was an extensive experiment done on the effects of outdoor lighting on judgment and emotion. Various people were tested on their facial features and reaction from people exposed to a certain amount of light. The finding showed that subjects responded better with good lighting than made light. Moreover, their facial expressions revealed that when they experience more luminescence, they felt more positive(Fotios).

These findings show how the copious amounts of lights on Peachtree Street make people in the area more alert and feeling positive while the lack of light on Auburn Ave make the residents feel less alert and less happy.

It has been proven that color and lights have an effect on the general mood of the people in a built environment. Also that the color in those built environments reflects different aspects of the residents in those built environments. All of these aspects show how color and lighting showcases the differences between two built environments.

With that being said color and lighting are not the only factors that showcase this divide in social and economic status. There are number of other things can be looked at like family size, particular businesses in neighborhoods, birthrate and so on. However, color and lighting are the most obvious dividing factors between these two built environments.

If a person was to walk down to streets that were identical. One street had vibrant colors such as red, green, and bright blue and walked down another street that has dull colors that are only dark brown, gray, and darkish red tones. That would make them feel more down and less happy.

So it is no coincidence that the people in the colorless environment ,that are a lower economic and social level, and are proven to be least happy. So color reflects and affects emotion, which is exact representation of residents of both Peachtree Street and Auburn Street.

These findings are broader than Peachtree Street and Auburn Ave it can be seen throughout America. The US has one of the largest wealth disparity gap in the world. Subsequently, the color divide can be seen through the various cities in America.

In America, especially Atlanta places with vibrant colors are associated with higher class areas. Thus, color reflects economic status. Neighborhoods like Dunwoody, Buckhead, and Peachtree Street have vibrant colors. Moreover, areas with higher poverty rates like West End, College Park, and Auburn Ave have less color.

Color is everywhere in the world and is an essentially part of daily lives, even if we fail to notice it. Everyone deserves color even those with low economic and social statuses.

Work Cited

Fotios,S. Lighting Research & Technology. May2015, Vol. 47 Issue 3, p301-315. 15p. 2 Black and White Photographs, 2 Diagrams, 5 Charts, 1 Graph.

Hyodo, Jamie. Advances in Consumer Research. 2011, Vol. 39, p858-867. 10p. 6 Charts. , Database: Business Source Complete

ZYBACZYNSKI, Veronica Maria. Urbanism. Architecture. Constructions / Urbanism. Arhitectura. Constructii , 2014, Vol. 5 Issue 4, p87-92, 6p. Publisher: National Research & Development Institute URBAN-INCERC.)

Outline: Built Environment Analysis

The vibrant colors embedded in the exterior built environment of Peachtree Street when juxtaposed to the dull and dilapidated colors of Auburn Street showcases the wealth and class disparity between both environments.
Auburn
- color is gray, and different shades of brown
- People create their own color with graffiti
- Poorer neighborhood
- More crime
- inhabitants minorities

Peachtree Street
- has brown and dull colors on certain buildings( law firms), but they are clean and crisp not like Auburn Street
- Color can be seen on signs for restaurants, roads, signs. The city and owners create colors
- Richer neighborhood
- receives a lot of money from city
- Less crime
- Tourists and those who live there are not minorities

Both started out flourishing
- Auburn- blacks
- Peach tree street- white
- Both had vibrant colors
Now Auburn isn’t thriving lost its color
Peach tree street still thriving has color

intro
map of peach tree and auburn
description of history( talk about color)
talk about how auburn went down but peach tree street stayed the same and in some ways got better
different colors in each of those places and what they look like now
why those colors are the way they are
and how that represents the minorities and wealth gap

ALL: Annotated Bibliographies

This article puts an emphasis on the importance of preserving color and the effects that it has on the local environment with local color being the most important aspect. Green defines local color as “all sights, sounds, smells and tastes, impressions of space and time, physical meetings and social interactions that individual experiences in space”. Essentially local color distinguishes one city from the other giving each city its own identity. The factors that help in this process are historical, culture, technological & economical, and social factors. The older and more complex the city the more of an identity it will have. The author suggested that the identity of a city can be seen through various characteristics like the color of streets, buildings, traffic signs, vegetation, and vehicles. This article does a good job of exampling the identity of a place but it would of been more effective if Green had pictures to example what it is saying. The article also ties in perfectly with the research of the effects of color and lighting that I am currently researching, by showing how color can positively affect the exterior built environment of a particular place.

A picture of an exterior built environment in Atlanta. The park has many different colors lighting top the night giving it a certain feel.

Hyodo, Jamie. Advances in Consumer Research. 2011, Vol. 39, p858-867. 10p. 6 Charts. , Database: Business Source Complete

The author begins by stating that color is clearly everywhere and depending on the variations in the color scheme it can have a different effect on a person’s mood. He then explains a very detailed experiment and calculation of the effect of color. Which emphasized that “cool colors lead to affective pleasure responses more strongly than the warm colors and warm colors lead to affective arousal responses more strongly than the cool colors.” The author then explains how the same color can mean something different to various cultures, genders, and races. But no matter the person’s background, in general, cool colors make people feel pleasure. And warm colors make people feel excitement. An example is then used to show how this happens, it’s exampled how stores and businesses use this to attract consumers. This article relates directly to the past source that I researched of the effects on color in the exterior built environment. This article did a wonderful job of exampling the different aspects of colors and its direct relation to mood, which connects to the research that I doing on color in a built environment.

This is a picture of a very colorful restaurant. Every aspect of the built environment has some sort of color in it. And from one place you can feel a particular mood.

Poore, Patricia. Old-House Interiors. Jun2012, Vol. 18 Issue 3, p58-61. 4p. , Database: MasterFILE Elite

The author focuses on the color schemes that people choose when they decide paint their homes. He gives a series of the do’s and don’ts in picking those colors. And suggests looking out for different aspects before picking the color scheme of a home. The most empathized suggestion is picking colors that blend well with the existing color scheme of the neighborhood so that it doesn’t clash. The author does a good job of explaining exactly how to choose between the various colors. The article also tells the person to consider 5 major elements with the color scheme, which are body, major trim, minor trim, sash, and accents. An array of pictures are used to show the reader exactly how to utilizes these five elements. These pictures capture many homes from different vantage points. Showing the color on the homes as well as the background of the homes. In all of these pictures the homes tie together perfectly with its background. This was well written and fully exampled the concept, of color and its effects on homes. This ties in hand in hand with the research that I am doing on color and relates directly to the two previous sources that I have annotated. It especially relates to the one that I did on the exterior built environment.

This buildings incorporation of color is simple yet bold at the same time, and all the different homes tie together.

Lighting Research & Technology. May2015, Vol. 47 Issue 3, p301-315. 15p. 2 Black and White Photographs, 2 Diagrams, 5 Charts, 1 Graph.

The various authors of this article highlight the effect of outdoor light on judgement and emotion. There was an experiment held where various aspects were tested from facial expressions to reaction time. In the findings of the equation the subjects responded much better when there were good lighting verses when there was ok or low lighting. This is a credible source that is organized in a way that makes it easier for the reader to understand the complex experiment. The various charts and graphs help the reader understand the qualitative data and the pictures help the reader understand the quantitative data. I chose this source because I wanted to see the effect of lighting on a built environment. This article focuses on the exterior environment which will correspond well with the interior build environment. In my other research that I have done so for I have focused on color but realized that color and lighting tie hand and hand. I will do more research on lighting in the coming annotated biography’s.

A picture of a backyard at night. The mood that a person feels in the same place at 6 in the evening vs 8 in the morning will vary.

Lighting Research & Technology. Apr2015, Vol. 47 Issue 2, p192-209. 18p. 1 Color Photograph, 5 Charts, 4 Graphs.

The article focuses on how varied lightening conditions can contribute to the productivity in the workforce. There was an experiment held to see how lighting effects affect visual perceptions which in turn affect mood, alertness, and comfort. The experiment shows that brighter light/ mornings can make subjects more alert than duller light/ evenings. The one picture and nine charts help the reader to better understand the dense text. Though this is a great source the text which is somewhat boring in very drawn out. The author should of just went straight to point, which would have made for an easier read. I chose this source for the same reason I chose source four which was on exterior lighting effects. The reason being is I have focused on color and recently realized that color and lighten go hand in hand. All in all, this is a well written article that does an effective job of explaining the experiment.

A bright office. According to the office the employees will be alert and in a good mood because of the light.

Exchange (19460406); Nov/Dec2015, Issue 226, p40-43, 4p

The article talks about how environmental factors affect children’s stress levels in classrooms. It focuses on temperature and physical space, but the most interesting effect is lighting. The thing that sets this article apart from others, that I have researched, is that it suggests that instead of brightening classrooms, classrooms should be at mid lighting. The authors says that “Too much lighting can cause overstimulation and distraction, while dim lighting can cause headaches”. This article is good in the fact that it is easy to read and is less dense then other readings like the source from my fifth annotated biography. Though good the article still has its flaws, a major one is that the article could of gave more scientific information to back its findings, instead of just simply stating the facts. This would have made the article seem more valid. I choose this article because I wanted to understand the effects of light in classrooms and other spaces, and it gave me a great understanding of just that.

This classroom is very bright. The article would suggest diming the lights a bit.

Jonker, Gerco. Colorful Living? 2006. Flicker, Zaandam.

This is a picture of a colorful apartment building in Europe. Every color in the rainbow can be seen on each of the individual complexes. The built environment of this location is extremely colorful and interestingly constructed. The photographer Gerco captured this picture at a perfect time of the day when the sun was shining on the colors of the building. I choose this particular photo because it relates directly to my analysis of color in the built environment. This is perhaps the most extreme example of a splash of color in an exterior built environment because every inch of the building has color on it. Though this photo is great, there are a few small problems. If the picture were taken from a higher few looking down the viewer would be able to see more of the building as well as the exterior of the building. This photo relates directly to my other sources that I have read because they all have to do with color and lighting. On one of my previous annotated bibliographies, it talked about how color affects mood. When looking at this photo, it made me wonder what the residents of this apartment feel when the exit their buildings every day. Does it make them feel joy? Alternatively, are they annoyed by the color? All in all, this photo is great and made me question a lot and had me analyzing for some time.

Restaurant-Interior-Designs. Digital image. Designbuildideas. N.p., May 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

This is a picture of the inside a local restaurant in America. The picture captures the various colors in the restaurant. The lighting in this restaurant is very bright and flows through the entire restaurant. The color scheme of the restaurant is red, white, and different shades of brown. This particular color scheme makes the restaurant have a warm feeling. I chose this particular picture because it showed how color can affect the feeling and mood of an interior built environment. This photo doesn’t have any flaws. Because it was taking at a great time of day. And was taking from a great corner in the restaurant. This relates directly to many other annotated biographies that I have done in the past. Particular the one that I did on the effect of color and lighting in a classroom. It showed that a room with mid lighting and a good array of color can make students feel better and have a good mood. This proves that this restaurant that has good lighting and a good color scheme can make its customers have a good mood. In conclusion, this photo was a great one that portrayed the color and lighting in this particular photo.

Digital image. Thompson Turner Construction. N.p.,Web. 20 Mar. 16

This is a photo shows a bright and colorful classroom. The classroom is also very spacious and modeled for little children. I choose this particular photo because it relates directly to lighting and color on interior built environments. The photographer captured the various bright colors of the rainbow. As well as the extremely bright lighting of the classroom. This photo refers directly to many of the past annotated biographies that I have done in the past. Two, in particular, the one on the effects of bright color on mood. Moreover, the on effects of brightness on a learning environment. The bright colors must make the students in the classroom jubilant and alert. From what I learned to form the brightness source the extreme brightness of this classroom can be bad for the students, giving the heads or making them tired. All in all the photographer did an excellent job of capturing the essence of the room.

Wedel, Michel,Pieters. Marketing Science. Jan/Feb2015, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p134-143.

The red coca cola image is more important than the back ground.

This article focuses on the effect of color on an ad image. The authors conducted two experiments to see these exact effects. First the author conducts an experiment that manipulates the blur of a picture and its presence or absence of color in the ad image, during exposures that lasted 100 milliseconds (music). The experiment showed that blur didn’t affect the perception of the ad. The second study tried to see if color inversion of the background affected the perception of the ad. The experiment showed that it didn’t. These experiments provided that the color of the central object is more important than the background color. I choose this article because it relates to the built environment, in many built environments there are ads so that individuals can see. This article relates every source that I have accessed on and about color. From the sources that talk about color in mood to the ones that talk about in the built environment. Over all this particular source is a great one that completely examples its point. The only thing that could have been different was if the article itself had color in it to gets its point across.

Peachtree Street Description: Exterior

2-thumb_jpg Peachtree Street is located in a busy area of Atlanta Georgia. The street was built decades ago, but in the last twenty years it has developed into a busy area that is very well known throughout the country.

The street starts at Five Points in downtown Atlanta, through Midtown. It then turns into Peachtree road when it enters Bulkhead.Standing the middle of Peachtree Street the smell of car exhaust, burning from construction, and the collision of aromas from restaurants hit you the the face. This along with the of sounds of trucks, music from various business and talking people, can give person a sensory overload.

c208fe6dabe7632d9f0d63209fb62324 — Center of Peachtree Street

Peachtree street has many tall buildings, hotels, various restaurants, banks, and more.There is a tie between elegance and attractiveness throughout the street. There are tall crisp buildings that have people dressed in suits walking in and out. These buildings are bland in color usually white, gray, or brown.

This elegance can be seen from ground which has a bricked design on the sidewalk and street. To the intricate designs that are in the tall buildings.

There are also restaurants with huge colorful signs that have joyous people eating inside.The restaurants have mostly bright colors from red to green. These signs have to be bold because of monstrous size of everything else on the street, if it wasn’t this size the signs wouldn’t be noticed.

IMG_20160209_131448 [26868] — Huge colorful signs

Peachtree street is very easy to navigate, if you are walking or driving at a time when it is not busy. Though if you are there at a busy time it may take you awhile to get past that particular street to another. The analysis that I did at one o’clock in the afternoon was kind of difficult because I couldn’t stop to write my notes without having someone abruptly brushing past me. Though it may take you some time to walk down the street it is okay because Peachtree Street makes you feel happy or elegant either is great. Overall Peachtree street is a place for anyone who wants to have a great time, look wealthy, spend money, go to work in a suit, see flashy signs and colors, walk on cool sidewalks, or eat really good food. All in all, Peachtree Street is for everyone!

Digital Recording: Exterior

This is a clip of the sound on Peachtree street, which is very loud. The main sound that you can hear is cars. In the very back ground you can hear music from various businesses, people walking on the side walk, bags rustling, and much more. This a great example of what a busy day on Peachtree street would sound like.