Abstract:
Colour plays a significant role in elements in the built fabric, where by it can enable a
symbolic relationship between the people who comes in contact with the spaces. Thus colour
can stimulate the minds of the people. Hence the effects on the perception of colour are
interesting phenomena on the perception ofspatial quality and human response to it, by those
who come in contact with the spaces.
Nevertheless colour in built fabric can be a unifying thread in urban design where it can
resemble the historic features, with a sense oftime, and the evolution ofthe urban forms and
street scopes depicting the life style and the activity pattern ofthe people in relationship to the
townscapes in cities.
A holistic perception of colour can be the determinant factor in the street facades and the deep
rooted socio cultural aspects in the evolution of cities. In modern planning of cities it is
important to respond to the effects of colour in the design development guidelines and
regularizing the planning trends where by the evolution of new building and structures can be
done in an orderly passion in harmony with the historicism embedded in the built fabric.
This dissertation indents to cany out an in-depth study, of the impacts of the perception of
Colour in the city of Kandy, which is geographically located in a plateau surrounded by lush
green mountain ridges, in the central hill of Sri Lanka. Where it was the bastion of the last
reins, of the Sinhalese Kings, where it is a naturally fortified city which was a necessity to
protect from the foreign invasions. Afterwards the city was under colonial rule. The city
contains a deep rooted tradition, with the relationship ofthe users. The time period is reflected
by the, symbolic relationship between the people and the urban spaces in the city, and the
built fabric. The use of different colour shades, with its materials and textures resembling the
identity of the subcultures in the region. The intensity of the colour used with the materials
and elements stands out amongst the backdrop of the lush green mountain ridges and sky
forming a horizon amongst the built fabric.
The usage ofNatural, Cool and Warm colours in different blends in the Kandiyan region with
varying intensities resembles the deep-rooted tradition and culture creating a sense of place
and a scene ofidentity.
The inappropriate usage of colour can create a dilemma of style and threaten to dilute the
meaning and identity of the place and thus the importance of the appropriate colours in
relations to the inferences of the case studies are then dealt upon. Thereby the appropriate
usage of colour and thus augur in creating meaningful and aesthetically pleasing urban forms
with the built fabric which inevitably will be a catalyzer in creating a sensory perception in
cities with a sense of place with a unique identity.
