The Power of Color: a cool blog with regard to Design & Architecture

The Power of Color
Found a cool website showing architecture design use with COLORS.

Black and white are the safe choices in the design world. The color of luxury is elegant and subdued. Yet, at the same time, even top-tier designers, artists and luxury brands have always used bright colors as well. It is not about either or. It is not black-and-white or color.

Just try telling those who love Dale Chihuly’s art, Versace interiors, Karim Rashid’s Corian eco-house or Renzo Piano’s Central St Giles facades in London that the “designer look” is always predominantly black and white.

And although bright color is often associated with being a sort of primitive, wild, folk-art aesthetic, and therefore black and white would seem the serious and civilized alternative, color is not just wild, frivolous, and primitive.

Just think of your favorite brand’s logo and you will most likely visualize some color. Imagine a weekly market at a Peruvian mountain town, an Indian wedding party, a Norwegian fishing town, Marimekko fabrics, a Cirque du Soleil show or Avatar, and you cannot avoid feeling uplifted and happy because of the colors.

Click here to explore: http://www.thecoolhunter.net/design/

The Most Colourful Tree on Earth

Written by Simone Preuss
From: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/

Photo: Jeff Kubina
Rainbow Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta)

The Rainbow Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta) or Mindanao Gum is the only species of Eucalyptus tree found in the northern hemisphere. As if that weren’t extraordinary enough, the up to 70-m tall tree also shines in the colours of the rainbow: its bark can take on a yellow, green, orange and even purple shading!

Nope, no crazy abstract painter has put a paint brush to this tree:

Photo: Lisa Jacobs

The unusual phenomenon is caused by patches of bark shedding at different times. The different colours are therefore indicators of the age of the bark: Freshly shed outer bark will reveal the bright green inner bark. This darkens over time and changes from blue to purple and then reaches orange and maroon tones.

Like a natural camouflage pattern:

Photo: carvalho

One would think that a tree this pretty and unusual should, well, if not be worshipped, at least be put on public display in parks and forests. Sadly, that is not the case. Rainbow Eucalyptus trees are cultivated around the world mainly for pulpwood creation purposes. Wood pulp is the most common ingredient when making paper, white paper that is. The pulp can be chemically or mechanically separated from the wood. It is a dry, fibrous material whose fibres disperse and become more pliable when suspended in water.

Rainbow Eucalyptus trees at the side of Hana Highway in Maui, Hawaii:

Photo: Forest & Kim Starr

Pulpwood’s here to stay though as it is considered a source of green energy, and demand has increased over the last few years. Currently though, trees cultivated specifically for pulp production account for only 16% of world pulp production. About 9% comes from old growth forests and the remaining 75% from second-, third- and more generation forests. That’s a lot of tree years wasted for a bit of pulpwood! However, reforestation and specific cultivation for pulp wood purposes are on the rise, making the trees a renewable energy.

Colourful wonder:

Photo: Amelia

If you want to spot a Rainbow Eucalyptus tree live and in all its glory, you’ll have to travel to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea or the Philippines, the tree’s only native places. However, it has been introduced worldwide as an exotic wood in South America, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, China and other countries.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

© Simone Preuss

Leaf Color Spectrum

From: http://www.kontraband.com

Come autumn I am definitely going to have to try this out when bored in a park

Color-Shifting "Master of Disguise" Cuttlefish Inspires Hyper-Energy Efficient TV

by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada

Image: Getty & Samsung

Biomimicry Strikes Again
Scientists at MIT are studying color-changing cuttlefish, and with an understanding of how these fascinating creatures (see the 3 videos below) can change color in less than a second, they're building electronic-ink and TV screens that could "use less than one-hundredth the power of traditional television screens" yet be cheap, easy and safe to make using "dirt cheap polystyrene" . If it all works out, it would be a great example of how biomimicry can help us develop greener products.

From Discovery News:

The current screen prototype is several square inches across but only one micron thick. Crammed into that narrow space are 20 to 30 layers of alternating "dirt cheap polystyrene that doesn't do anything," said Thomas, and "responsive" poly-2 vinyl.

At rest, with no electrical charge, the screen is clear. As the voltage increases, the poly-2 vinyl expands, becoming thicker and thicker while reflecting ever longer wavelengths of light, starting with blue and finishing with red at 10 volts.

Of course there are some drawbacks; viewing angle can be limited, and since the screen is reflecting light, you have to use it in a lit room. But it's still early and maybe those problems can be fixed, or maybe the "cuttlefish" screens and electronic-ink can be used in certain specialized applications where those things aren't a problem.

Videos of Cuttlefish Changing Color and Camouflaging
For your viewing pleasure, here's a couple videos of a cuttlefish going all Star Trek with the active camouflage:

Via Discovery News