Labyrinth of Colors

Takumi Ota

• Arquitectos

We designed a showroom for a Japanese paint manufacturer.

Deliverables included a space to showcase the appeal of paint colors by giving a second life to soon to be discarded paint sample strips in a creative fashion. We envisioned a space filled with vibrant tones featuring waves of colors in the form of lines and arches.

In Japan, the changes brought by each season foster a diversity of hues that liven the landscape with colors. Since the four seasons are the result of a tilt in the Earth's axis of rotation, we drew lines of various colors on the walls at an angle matching said axis, thereby rhythmically filling the space with the colors of the rainbow.

In the center of the space is a beautiful series of arches decorated with paint sample strips, creating a labyrinth-like space that naturally invites visitors to enter a world of color. The colorful bundles of paint samples are interlaced along the arches, showing lively and transient aspects that create a colorful landscape endowed with depth and breadth.

Depending on the position of the visitor and the angle of his or her gaze, the bundles of colors flowing along the arches and the rainbowlike lines of the walls appear to subtly overlap or contrast dynamically with each other.

Diverse textures and rhythms punctuated by these expressions resonate throughout the space, spreading beautiful echoes of color. Like a natural melody woven by the changing seasons, the result is an environment that enhances the enjoyment and pleasure of visitors immersed in this rich chromatic tapestry.　