surfaces
Scratching the surface of design
David Brailsford, new product introduction manager at Altro, discusses how climate and light, as well as social and cultural conventions, are affecting specification of surfaces in healthcare settings around the world
Thankfully, we now have a huge
range of options that satisfy these requirements, while offering far more flexibility when it comes to aesthetics. Unsurprisingly, the advent of greater
design choice – more-extensive colour palettes, designs and finishes – brings about a melting pot of creativity and style, even in a sector such as healthcare, where function must remain the highest of priorities. Getting the colour palette right is a
hugely-important part of any new product introduction, made even more complex if those products are to be used in different countries across the world.
T
he healthcare sector has traditionally posed challenges for designers and architects when it
comes to specifying materials that can be used on floors and walls. Products and finishes have to
meet stringent criteria, including enhanced safety requirements, hygiene of the highest standards, and legislative obligations.
34
healthcaredm.co.uk
The science of colour Colour temperature, in its most simplified definition, is a method of describing the colour characteristics of light and is measured in degrees Kelvin. Designers are well versed in
considering colour temperature when it comes to interior lighting, using warm or cool lighting to create mood or ambience, as well as providing artificial light of the correct colour temperature
to help those with visual impairment. We see this played out on a much-
bigger stage with nature’s variations in colour temperature around the world. Essentially, colours are not fixed. In
reality, an object’s appearance results from the way it reflects the particular light that is falling on it. For example, an apple we see as red appears red under white light as it reflects light in the red portion of the wavelength. If a filter is used to remove red from
the light source, the apple reflects far less light and could appear black. We see the same principle (though a
far-less-extreme version) played out in the way colours look in different countries. As you move North away from the
equator, natural light becomes bluer, and has proportionally less red light. As a result, ‘warm’ colours that look lovely and vibrant nearer the equator look less intense in the northern hemisphere; and the further North you go the more evident the change. ‘Cool’ blues and greys, however, are
complimented by the light balance in the northern hemisphere and, as a result, look more desirable.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61
