Cold got you down?  Not a head cold but the COLD weather?  My prescription for my “seasonal affective” dislike of gray skies and the dirty white snow stretched like a sheet on the NJ landscape, is to hop a plane to Florida.  Every year I have the pleasure of speaking about “Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Places” at the University of Miami’s School of Architecture.

Driving from the airport I wonder, what happened to the playful aqua and pink deco buildings of the ‘ideal’ Miami I remember from my childhood?  The blue sky and sunshine are terrific but my Great Escape from white has failed: Sleek white skyscrapers, white malls, municipal and museum complexes have high-jacked Miami’s skyline.

White can be magical.  WHITE = TROPICS = PARADISE  but. . .  does all of white heaven have to look the same? Once on foot walking though a desert of low, white-swept dorms, I look up and see a mirage.  An almost Moorish looking white tower emerges from behind a floating cloud.  Like a lighthouse, the tower guides me in.  Down a gray path, embraced by a hypnotic promenade of white arches, gray-rhythmed at their base, I arrive at my destination: Glasgow Hall designed by Leon Krier.    WHITE  = LANDMARK = A SENSE OF PLACE. 

TIPS:

Use white on the outside of buildings to reflect the sun’s heat.

When using white, combine it with:

• contrasting bright colors to create drama, playfulness and/or interest
• FORM THAT MAKES A BUILDING STAND OUT, thereby creating a landmark that helps people feel they aren’t lost but “some place like home” 

Copyright Toby Israel, 2009