Kaleidoscope of Polychromy – Munich in a rapture of colour
On the occasion of the Munich Creative Business Week, the largest design trade fair in Germany, and of the blogger market 2018, the bdia (Association of the German interior architects), in cooperation with the Munich city magazine MUCBOOK, organized a unique event on March, the 3rd in the temporary hotel THE LOVELACE in the center of Munich. Here, the creative and architectural scene met for cross-industry networking and extensive celebrations. At the heart of the event were 9 large colour prisms, which were displayed as a screen system in the foyer of the former Landesbank (i.e. regional bank) in Munich.
With these colour panels, the interior design office meierei created an extraordinary visualisation with a special highlight: the colour design was implemented with all 63 colours of the Architectural Polychromy by Le Corbusier on a total of 18 panels. These stood on a mirrored pedestal, which was designed exclusively for this event by the bdia.
Dorothee Maier, who heads the interior design office meierei with her husband Andreas Utzmeier, explains the concept of the prisms and how they create a tangible colour noise with the implementation and the colour concept.
Walk-in colour bath
The colour constellations are arranged with the goal of creating an intense colour dialogue for the viewer. "Our focus was on showing the colours in all their glory without that anything might be distracting, so we decided to combine the colours on nine panels each with seven Le Corbusier colours." Mrs Maier did not want to give up on any of the 63 colours, even if some very habitual combinations arose. But the break in aesthetics is desirable: "It was very appealing to us to put together colour combinations that we did not expect to see, especially the historical colours in modern forms. We wanted to arrange the colours in such a way that a spatial impression was created. This is supported by the geometric shape of the triangles, each colour chart is twice, but it is tilted by 180 ° on the back - so the variety of colour effect is enhanced."
Depending on how one moves between the panels or looks through them from the outside, an interplay of colours begins, they literally jump from the left to the right. "A walk-in colour bath, which creates a true noise through the axially mounted elements. I feel the installation like a coloured kaleidoscope - an optical washing machine, where the paint sucks you in, you just have to let yourself be flushed throug it!"
"Our concept was not a colourful arrangement, but that some of the panels work harmoniously tone in tone, while others of the colour combinations are very loud and fancy." Maier explains that a surprise or a provocation should be deliberately caused by the unusual constellations, the monotony of homogeneity should be interrupted. "You have to get involved in the provocation when you look at the prisms and feel disturbed by their colour combination and then ask yourself: What is colour doing with me?"
"Colour is about seduction!"
- Dorothee Maier -
"Of course, light also plays an important role in the staging of the elements," explains Maier: "The goodness of the colour is created by the light that falls on it - the pigments shine downright - the play of reflection and light colour creates a completely new aspect. The interaction of the colours is seductive, I think colour is always about seduction."
In fact, the presentation of the installation in Munich is a relaunch of the prisms created in 2015 for KEIM's booth at the trade fair HOGA. The Architectural Polychromy is a world of colours built on each other and whose combinations are as numerous as harmonious, the interior designer says. "We wanted to bring the colours to life and show their maximum impact, so we chose KEIMFARBEN's poLyChro® line, a high-quality mineral paint applied to the boards by a painter."
During the design process of the colour panels, the interior design office decided to place some light switches from JUNG in the same Le Corbusier tone. "We were thrilled that the switches are actually the same colour as the wall and so literally disappear on it, and the surface is also unique in its feel - a very high-quality product!"
Read another article of an extravagant interior design of the meierei here: Interior architecture as a full-body experience – Dramaturgical elements of an interior
