The color application of Chinese ancient architecture

    1 Introduction 介绍

中国古代建筑具有传统悠久的历史和辉煌成就。古建筑艺术也往往是艺术鉴赏的对象。该论文研究了古代建筑的色彩理论，分析了从中国古代建筑的色彩角度的表现，然后通过典型实例（紫禁城）来具体的分析总结结论。Chinese ancient architecture has a long history of tradition and glorious achievements. Ancient architectural art is also the object of Art Appreciation. The papers studies the ancient architecture in perspective of color theory, analyzing color performance in the Chinese ancient architecture, and then through typical instance (Forbidden City) coming to the specific analysis conclusion.

    2 Color applications in ancient architecture建筑色彩应用在古代

    2.1 Color attributes色彩属性

    从心理学角度来说颜色被分为红色，黄色，绿色和蓝色，也称为四种基本颜色。通常红 - 绿，黄 - 蓝称为心理补色。白色来源于四原色，黑色也混入从其它颜色。红，黄，绿，蓝，白，黑是基本的心理色彩的感觉。观察到颜色的使用在日常生活中很大程度上受到心理因素的影响，即，心理色觉的形成。例如，红色象征热情，性感，权威，自信，能量充沛的色彩。但有时给人一种血腥，暴力，嫉妒的感觉;黄色高亮度可刺激与焦虑有关的大脑区域，具有警示（Southfield的，MI2003）的效果。

故宫有金黄色的琉璃瓦顶，其下是绿色调的装饰画，行红柱红门窗低于屋檐，整个宫殿位于白石底座搭配深灰色铺筑地面之上。总体而言，故宫的色彩效果的色彩效果是明确和坚定的。The color is psychologically divided into red, yellow, green and blue, called four basic colors. Usually red - green, yellow - blue are called psychological complementary color. White comes from the four primary colors, black is also mixed from other colors. Red,yellow, green, blue, white and black are the basic psychological color feeling. Color observed in everyday life is heavily influenced by psychological factors, that is, the formation of the psychological color vision. For example, red symbolizes passion, sexy, authoritative, confident, abundant energy color. But sometimes it gives people the feeling of gore, violence, jealousy; yellow with high brightness can stimulate the area of the brain associated with anxiety, has the effect of warning (Southfield, MI2003).

    Forbidden City has golden glazed tile roof, under which is the decorative paintings of green tones, rows of red columns and red doors and windows are below the eaves, the whole palace is located on top of the white stone pedestal with dark graypavingground. Overall, the color effect of Forbidden City color effect is clear and strong.

    Most of the buildings adopt yellow roof and red body, it is related with the color attributes.Yellow is one of the five colors. In ancient doctrine of yin and yang, the five-color match with five parties and five elements, earth is located in center,thus, yellow is thecentral color. The red gives hope and meet, engendering a sense of beauty, so the public will be red also as a festive color. In such perspective, the Forbidden City takes the red and yellow as the main color is inevitable according to the feudal society of the ritual.

    2.2 Color contrast色彩对比

    The color layout of Forbidden City is scientific. Emperor requires the building gorgeous, as far as possible to reflect the power and majesty of the feudal emperors.Thus, the color of the buildings used color contrast techniques.

    In color science, the contrast is the warm and cold contrast and complementary color contrast. The complementary color is what two kinds of shade mixed stack to become white, or reconciling the two colors together into a gray and black, the shade or color is referred as complementary colors, such as red and green, yellow and purple, blue and orange. By combining cold and warm colors or complementary colors together, it can play off each other's role, making them appear more vivid and lively, the effect is more visible and prominent. Moreover, because of the regulatory role of the human vision, the two contrasting colors will be balanced (Southfield, MI2003).

    The color contrast is widely applied in the Forbidden City building. Under the blue sky the buildings is decorated with the same color of yellow glazed tile roof, green paintings and scarlet palace walls, the white stone base and dark ground, forming a blue and yellow, green and red, white and the stark contrast, the overall color effect of building is extremely distinctive and. 

    There is also another way to reconcile the warm and cold colors contrast, which is the use of black and white. The objects completely absorbthe natural light and reflect as black while the total reflection shows as white, black, they can be put together with any other color without being abrupt, making other colors graced in the painting and clothing. China's ancient craftsmen also used the contrast in the Forbidden City. In the Juanqin Lent, eaves and beams are mainly painted with green color, with strong and stiff contrast with the red pillars and doors.Here, in addition to the green pane and tempera with a red color, the black is especially used. Both ends of the tempera are painted with black ink line, inhead of the veranda is black door frame. Although this doorframe in red pillars seemed more prominent, it coordinated with the above joist made, playing the role of the transition in the two parts of the strong contrast tone.

    2.3 Color culture色彩文化

    The color of the building also contains a wealth of cultural connotation. The generation and development of color reflects the historical process of the development of human life and consciousness. In feudal China, the architectural color has a strict hierarchy. The architectural colors have their own maverick characteristics in a certain ideologies (Wendy, B 1998,Mubeen, M2006). The Confucian makes "benevolence" as the core idea, trying to use the "Confucianism" to regulate the society, the color has also become a ritual system specification. The Confucian makes red, yellow, green, white, black as orthophotography, thus forming the traditional Chinese five-color system.

    Architectural color level requires a complete set theory: roof of the palace should be yellow which is the most distinguished, dedicated to the emperor authorized the construction; the main building of the temple can be painted in red, secondary timbered is painted with green, thus, the Forbidden City buildings  mainly adopt red and yellow.

    3 Conclusions总结

    The paper analyzed the color theory application in Chinese ancient architecture. The color performance of the architecture was showed. Different kinds of color design skills was used in the architecture design, not only a beautiful style of the architecture was showed, but also the culture of Chinese performed in the design.

    REFERENCES

    Southfield, MI2003, Color in Architecture: Design Methods for Buildings, Interiors, and Urban Spaces. McGraw-Hill,USA.

    Wendy, B 1998, Culturability: The Merging of Culture and Usability, viewed 03Feb 2013r

    Mubeen, M2006.Are You Selling the Right Colour? ACross-cultural Review of Colour as aMarketing Cue, Journal of Marketing Communications.Vol.12, pp15-29.