(1) --- from Derek Roff <[log in to unmask]>
There are many factors to consider. One is energy efficiency. White
paint can reflect twice the amount of light of the mid-tone values for
interior shades of blue, green, red or intermediate hues. Therefore,
lighting a room that is painted, for example, a medium blue, will cost
substantially more in electricity than lighting the same room when
painted white. Assuming that the lighting is designed or adjusted to
produce identical amounts of usable light for the people utilizing the
room.
Another factor is maintenance and reparability. Lighter colors need to
be cleaned more often, to avoid looking dingy. On the other hand,
deeper colors tend to fade, so repainting chips and gouges may present
color matching problems.
Color has emotional impact that varies from person to person. It also
affects our perception of temperature. People are more likely to think
a red or orange room is too hot, or that a blue room is too cold, even
if the actual room temperature is identical. Many people find white to
be boring, sterile or clinical.
My preference is to paint with a bright white, and then to bring in
lots of color accents with photographs, graphics, and colored panels or
painted shapes. In this scenario, the room can be "updated" and
changed just by changing the pictures and rearranging the colored
elements. I like to display large, engaging photographs of other
cultures and countries, and this is most effective/flexible on white
walls. I like the fact that I can freshen a room with a few hours of
rearranging decorative elements, rather than waiting for the fairly
long periods between full room repainting. However, my building
coordinator likes painting various walls in various strong and fairly
deep colors. I find many of the chosen colors to be hard to live with.
We've generally ended up with a compromise in the labs, with one wall
painted a strong color, and the other walls white.
Having good control over the lighting, with a wide range of possible
adjustments, is a major plus, regardless of the colors chosen. Since
your video viewing rooms are windowless, I would stay with white paint
plus accent colors for those, too. It should be easy to get the rooms
dark enough just by turning down/off the lights.
Derek
(2) --- from Lucinda Miller <[log in to unmask]>
Sharon,
I know I've heard that screening rooms are supposed to be dark. But my
personal opinion, as someone who works in a suite of windowless rooms, is
that the small rooms should be as light as possible. Presumably the
students will be there only while they're editing their videos, but I've had
people get claustrophobic in the recording booth, which is a 10' by 10' room
with a big window. It was a dark gray color when we got it, and everybody
hated it so much that we had to paint it immediately. Lighter seems less
closed in.
Lucinda
--
Lucinda Miller, language materials coordinator
Center for Language Technology and Instructional Enrichment
Indiana University
Ballantine Hall room 114
1020 E. Kirkwood
Bloomington, IN 47405-7103
(812) 855-0005; fax: (812) 855-5656
(3) --- from "Roosa, Kathy" <[log in to unmask]>
Sharon,
I know I've heard that screening rooms are supposed to be dark. But my
personal opinion, as someone who works in a suite of windowless rooms, is
that the small rooms should be as light as possible. Presumably the
students will be there only while they're editing their videos, but I've had
people get claustrophobic in the recording booth, which is a 10' by 10' room
with a big window. It was a dark gray color when we got it, and everybody
hated it so much that we had to paint it immediately. Lighter seems less
closed in.
Lucinda
--
Lucinda Miller, language materials coordinator
Center for Language Technology and Instructional Enrichment
Indiana University
Ballantine Hall room 114
1020 E. Kirkwood
Bloomington, IN 47405-7103
(812) 855-0005; fax: (812) 855-5656
(4) --- from [log in to unmask]
Sharon,
Not sure about what colors you should choose, but I would be sure to let the
architects and Facilities know well in advance that for both areas you want
to have lighting in the warm spectrum, rather than the cool fluorescent. I
don't know what choices there are these days (maybe there are no longer any
warmer choices), but they should be told to find the warmest lighting they
can, especially for the collaborative area -- and have them (or do yourself)
lay in a supply of replacement bulbs. Nothing worse than mixed spectrum
lighting (some cool and some warm) in a room because there are no more of
the original warmer bulbs left.
In any case, I would avoid any of the cool green shades for the paint in
both rooms. If you do end up having cool lighting it makes everything in the
green shade range look so garish. (It makes everyone in the lab look like
this: *http://tinyurl.com/63vzk5 )*
Best,
Ed Dente
"Canaries in the morning, orchestras
In the afternoon, balloons at night..."
- Wallace Stevens
<<Academic Discourse at Havana>>
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