Interaction of Colour in Space
Workshop at the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat in Bottrop, Germany, 27-28 June 2026
In collaboration with DEUTSCHES FARBENZENTRUM, ICA-Belgium invites architects, designers, artists and all colour lovers to an exceptional two-day workshop at the renowned Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop - a unique setting to explore colour where art, theory, and architecture meet.
Led by two internationally acclaimed experts, the workshop brings together outstanding voices in architectural colour research and practice: Maria Zurbuchen-Henz, architect based in Lausanne and Professor at Haus der Farbe – Fachschule für Gestaltung in Handwerk und Architektur in Zurich, and Juan Serra, PhD architect, Full Professor at the School of Architecture (ETSA) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and Sub-Dean of Research at ETSA.
Rooted in Josef Albers’s groundbreaking theory of colour interaction, the workshop goes beyond academic discourse to focus on practical, architectural applications. Through hands-on exercises, critical discussion, and applied research, both lecturers offer their distinct interpretations—translating colour theory into spatial experience, material expression, and design strategy.
This is a rare opportunity to engage deeply with colour as an architectural tool, exchange ideas with leading experts, and gain new perspectives that can directly inform design practice.
Places are limited to 25. Register for the waiting list to be among the first to be notified when registration opens.
PROGRAMME
27 June, Saturday
11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Introduction and guided tour of the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat by Dr. Linda Walther, the director of the museum.
1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Workshop by Juan Serra: Albers in Depth: From Homage to the Square to the Cube.
28 June, Sunday
11 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Lecture by Maria Zurbuchen-Henz: Polychromy of interior rooms
11:30 a.m. - 14:30 a.m. Workshop by Maria Zurbuchen-Henz: Between testing-machine and wonder-box: Experimenting colour-concepts by means of models.
3 p.m. - 4 p.m. Public Lecture by Juan Serra: Architectural Spatial Colour Interactions: Albers's Unique Homages to the Square at RIT
Exhibition of the works produced during the two-day workshops.
WORKSHOPS OVERVIEW
Albers in Depth: From Homage to the Square to the Cube
By Juan Serra
Homages to the Square can be interpreted as exercises of colour layering with surfaces that can act as squares or frames, transparent or opaque, closer or more distant to the observer. In the multiple lectures of one same Homage in depth, we experience the claim for the relativity of colour by Josef Albers, as well different atmospheres, from subtle transitions to marked contrasts.
This hands-on workshop focuses on the transformation of Homages to the Square into homages to the cube, with alternative spatial solutions that refer to the same original. Participants bridge the gap between simulated depth and physical depth, experiencing firsthand how colour interactions evolve when liberated into three-dimensional space.
Contents
Square in depth. Visual analysis and personal interpretation of colour layering on two-dimensional Homages to the Square exhibited at the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat in Bottrop
Square into Cube, in depth. Colour transfers from two dimensional surfaces into transparent and opaque physical layers. Experimentation with colour mixing by superimpositions and overlapping.
Cube in depth: Experimenting with lighting effects on physical models, colour transformations and shifts in depth perception.
Between testing-machine and a wonder-box: Experimenting colour-concepts by means of models.
By Maria Zurbuchen-Henz
Polychromy of interior rooms
Colour harmony or colour kitsch, how colourful can architecture be? This introduction is dedicated to the question of how different colours interact, how they can be made to harmonize together or how a colour strategy can be established.
Floor, wall, ceiling – it is worthwhile for architects to explore the great potential of colour in interior design. Should colour strengthen and clarify the architectural form, comment and interpret it in a playful way or even manipulate it? What is certain, however, is that colour design is very important because it has an immediate effect on our senses.
For a better understanding of the spatial phenomena we could ask Le Corbusier. For him, colour in architecture means: “Structuring and dissolving volumes – forming and changing spaces – creating and stimulating spatial moods.”
Workshop
Between testing-machine and wonder-box: experimenting colour-concepts by means of models
The workshop focuses on the eminently architectural question of the relationship between volume, space and colour. In order to approach this question in a playful way, the participants will be able to work directly on shoe-box sized cardboard models with the aim of testing polychromy of interior rooms.
The spatial arrangement of the models is reminiscent of the perspective effect of Josef Albers’s paintings Homage to the square. As a supplement to the experimentations on the first day, the coloured models enable us to take another step forward to the third dimension.
Contents
Comparisons between painterly and architectural design principles: perception of colour in two-dimensional pictorial space and in three-dimensional architectural space (Josef Albers, Le Corbusier, Luis Barragán)
Experimenting with colour and light effects on models (colour contrast, light-dark contrast, body colour and light colour, sharpness versus blurring, light and shadow)
Architectural colour palettes and strategies
Materials for the Workshop
Materials available at the Museum:
Cardboard sets for the models (28 x 14 x 14cm), coloured paper strips
Please bring with you:
Little cutting mat, cutter, ruler, set square, adhesive tape, white glue and stick, pencil and eraser.
Bios
Maria Zurbuchen-Henz is architect in Lausanne an professor in Haus der Farbe Fachschule für Gestaltung in Handwerk und Architektur Zürich in Switzerland. She conveys colour culture in public spaces and buildings and leads workshops on the subject of colour and space at Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart (2026/2024), Pavillon Le Corbusier Zürich (2021), Universiteit Antwerpen (2019), Université de Strasbourg (2017/2016).
maria.zurbuchen@mbarchitectes.ch | www.mbarchitectes.ch | www.hausderfarbe.ch
Juan Serra is PhD architect, Full Professor in the School of Architecture (ETSA) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) in Spain, and Sub-Dean of Research at ETSA. He is co-chair of the Study Group on Environmental Color Design of the International Color Association (AIC), and a member of the Color Research Group in Architecture of the Heritage Restoration Institute (IRP-UPV). Editor in Chief of VLC Architecture: Research Journal (UPV), and member of the editorial board of Color Research and Application (Wiley). He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the Munsell Color Science Laboratory (RIT 2023) and visiting researcher in Oxford, Milan, Paris, Lisbon and Lima. He is a regular contributor to the AIC Color Congresses, and the Architectural Graphic Expression International Congresses (EGA). He has been researcher in competitive national and international projects about color restoration, color integration of buildings, color perception in interior architecture, color for wellbeing and performance, and neuroarchitecture. He has published numerous papers in indexed research journals and is author of the book “Color for Architects” (NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2019).
juaserl1@upv.edu.es | Orcid | Grupo de Investigación del Color en Arquitectura IRP |