CADC Staff Member Publishes Book on Color in Architecture

A book titled Chromatic Architecture lies on top of an open magazine, both displayed on a blue surface.

Kate Mazade, the Communications Editor for the College of Architecture, Design and Construction (CADC), has published a new book exploring how color is crafted into buildings across the world.

Mazade, a design journalist and 2019 graduate of the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (APLA), collaborated with London-based designer Adam Nathaniel Furman on “Chromatic Architecture: The Craft of Colour in Design.” Published by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) at the beginning of September, the book celebrates how color can be used as a design tool, embodies both material and cultural identity and changes how people experience a space.

An open book displays colorful photos of ornate architectural interiors, including detailed ceilings, balconies, columns, and decorative patterns, against a red textured surface.
The book showcases long-standing polychromatic projects like the 1908 Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.

“The book emphasizes the seriousness and sincerity of color. Throughout my time in architecture school, design media and the creative industry as a whole, there has been a sense that statement ‘Architecture’ is white, neutral, monotone or ‘pure’ and doesn’t need color or ornament to tell its story,” she said. “This book is about showing how color brings a human touch to design and has a way of conveying emotion that can sometimes be limited by form or function.”

Chromatic Architecture includes an introductory essay of the major historical milestones of polychromy in the built environment, followed by 34 case studies that showcase architecture projects with color inherently crafted into the design. The projects—from the Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple started in the 12th century in India to a rammed earth multipurpose building completed by Suphasidh Architects in Thailand in 2024—show readers how terracotta, glass, ceramic, brick, metal and more can and have been used to create spaces with distinct identities.

Four-story modern building with layered concrete and stone facade, small square windows, and a large solar panel roof structure, situated on a street corner.
Suphasidh Architects built the Chonburi Multipurpose Building out of rammed earth in Thailand in 2024. Photo credit: Jessica Tang
A grand hall with a high, colorful geometric ceiling, large arched window, detailed walls, and a reception desk in an Art Deco-style building.
Completed in 1929, Detroit’s Guardian Building showcases Midwestern craftsmanship. Photo credit: Guardian Building
Modern building with exterior walls featuring a grid of colorful vertical stripes, one window, and a slanted glass section near the bottom right.
Sauerbruch Hutton completed the Brandhorst Museum in 2009 in Munich Germany. Photo credit: Museum Brandhorst, Haydar Koyupinar, Museum Brandhorst, Bayerische, Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich

Some of the core themes of the book trace back to lessons Mazade learned in architectural history, materials and studio courses as part of the Architecture program.

Completed in 1629, the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, Iran displays the vivid polychromy of the Saravid Empire. Photo credit: Diego Delso, delso.photo. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Symmetrical brick atrium with multicolored columns, geometric floor patterns, and a glass ceiling letting in natural light.
Peter Behren’s Hoescht Technical Administration Building in Frankfurt uses pigmented bricks in the vaulting central atrium. Photo by Lars Gruber Architekturfotografie
A brightly colored stairwell and hallway with red stairs, blue beams, yellow floor, and multicolored walls, lit by natural daylight.
Completed by Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins, Tokyo’s Reversible Destiny Lofts are flush with color. Photo credit: © 2005 Reversible Destiny Foundation. Reproduced with permission of the Reversible Destiny Foundation

“Color is less about frivolity or experimentation and more about boldness and a genuine enjoyment of emotion and identity,” Mazade said. “Architecture school taught me to look beyond the physical design of a building to see how space is both of and for the people who use it, and this book really celebrates that.”

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