The maintenance of finishing coats is usually thought of as an activity relating to how the outermost surfaces of buildings affects the quality of the environment, today considered a matter of strategic importance. Appearance has gained in importance in its relation to substance, and this new way of reading the streetscape has meant that colour planning is an increasingly important activity. In many new constructions, particularly in non-residential buildings once banished to chromatic empiricism, more and more attention is being paid to choosing the colour of the external surfaces. However, if we are witnessing a new renaissance in the colour of buildings, the same cannot be said about the maintenance of these colours. The finishing coat is considered to be either strictly dependent on the behaviour of the underlying layers or completely independent of them. In the first case the skin is considered independently of the colour, in the second the inverse: the hue of the finishing layer is the most important aspect, independent of the behaviour of the support. It should be remembered that there is a long-standing tradition in which the finishing layer is considered a ‘sacrifice layer’ that does not require maintenance. The common idea of maintaining coloured layers involves the removal of the old layer and/or the application of a new one. If this method of maintaining the skins of buildings was acceptable in the past, the introduction of new products for the creation of thicker outer layers or products made from particular materials means that a new approach must be developed for the maintenance of entire blocks of layers. It would seem that durability, or persistency, is no longer considered to be an essential factor. Hue, lightness and saturation are no longer aspects that need to be conserved. The maintenance of colour finishing coats is considered of fundamental importance only in the restoration of historical buildings. On a hypothetical scale of priorities, where should colour maintenance lie today?
The Maintenance of Color on Finishing Coats
ZENNARO, PIETRO;
2008-01-01
Abstract
The maintenance of finishing coats is usually thought of as an activity relating to how the outermost surfaces of buildings affects the quality of the environment, today considered a matter of strategic importance. Appearance has gained in importance in its relation to substance, and this new way of reading the streetscape has meant that colour planning is an increasingly important activity. In many new constructions, particularly in non-residential buildings once banished to chromatic empiricism, more and more attention is being paid to choosing the colour of the external surfaces. However, if we are witnessing a new renaissance in the colour of buildings, the same cannot be said about the maintenance of these colours. The finishing coat is considered to be either strictly dependent on the behaviour of the underlying layers or completely independent of them. In the first case the skin is considered independently of the colour, in the second the inverse: the hue of the finishing layer is the most important aspect, independent of the behaviour of the support. It should be remembered that there is a long-standing tradition in which the finishing layer is considered a ‘sacrifice layer’ that does not require maintenance. The common idea of maintaining coloured layers involves the removal of the old layer and/or the application of a new one. If this method of maintaining the skins of buildings was acceptable in the past, the introduction of new products for the creation of thicker outer layers or products made from particular materials means that a new approach must be developed for the maintenance of entire blocks of layers. It would seem that durability, or persistency, is no longer considered to be an essential factor. Hue, lightness and saturation are no longer aspects that need to be conserved. The maintenance of colour finishing coats is considered of fundamental importance only in the restoration of historical buildings. On a hypothetical scale of priorities, where should colour maintenance lie today?
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