8 buildings where color steals the show

From towering temple gateways painted in vivid shades to a library wrapped in soft pastel ceramics, architects worldwide have applied color to turn buildings into experiences that residents remember long after they leave.

Key points

• Completed in 1908, the building was designed by Lluís Domènech I Montaner and combines Art Nouveau with Romanesque, Gothic Revival, Moorish and Valencian influences.
• Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple – Tamil Nadu, India Few places demonstrate the power of color as dramatically as the Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Tamil Nadu.
• Designer Adam Nathaniel Furman and author Kate Mazade explore that idea in their book, Chromatic Architecture The Craft of Colour in Design.
• Designed by Adam Nathaniel Furman in 2003, the 50-meter colonnade features 16 sizeable columns and two walls covered with thousands of handmade porcelain tiles.
• Completed in 2005, the nine-unit residential complex was designed by Shusaku Arakawa and Madeline Gins in memory of disability advocate and writer Helen Keller.

For centuries, color has supported buildings tell stories, express identity and create emotion. While medieval churches applied stained glass to fill interiors with shifting light, ancient civilizations covered temples and monuments with pigments.

Renaissance artists transformed walls and ceilings with elaborate frescoes, and modern architects have continued that tradition with bold tiles, painted surfaces and unexpected combinations.

Notably, the idea goes back even further. Early humans and Neanderthals applied natural pigments to decorate cave walls, showing that the desire to surround ourselves with color is far older than formal architecture itself.

Today, architects are pushing that tradition in new directions. Color can create a building feel welcoming, energetic, spiritual, playful or even rebellious. In some cases, it can completely change how individuals understand a structure.

Designer Adam Nathaniel Furman and author Kate Mazade explore that idea in their book, Chromatic Architecture The Craft of Colour in Design. It highlights buildings where color is central to the architectural experience. Here are eight striking examples from worldwide.

1. Guardian Building – Detroit, Michigan Detroit's Guardian Building proves that even a financial institution can have a solid sense of drama.

Completed in 1929 and designed by Wirt C. Rowland, the Art Deco skyscraper is often called the "Cathedral of Finance."

Its exterior is covered with almost 2 million orange-toned bricks and terracotta tiles. Inside, a three-story vaulted lobby is decorated with a striking arrangement of brightly colored tiles.

Notably, the bold design reflected Detroit's economic confidence during the city's industrial boom while celebrating the craftsmanship of the Great Lakes region.

2. Palau de la Música Catalana – Barcelona, Spain Step inside Barcelona's Palau de la Música Catalana and it can feel less like a concert hall and more like a colorful dream.

Almost every detail contributes to its visual richness. Colorful mosaics, stained glass, decorative columns, sculptures and intricate architectural elements work together to create an interior filled with movement and symbolism.

In practice, the building demonstrates how color can turn a functional space into an emotional experience.

3. Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple – Tamil Nadu, India Few places demonstrate the power of color as dramatically as the Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Tamil Nadu.

Construction of the sprawling religious complex began in the first century and continued under successive dynasties for centuries. The result is one of the world's largest temple complexes, covering more than 150 acres.

Its 21 towering gopurams, or gateways, are covered with brightly colored sculptures and intricate three-dimensional details. The layers of color, figures and decoration create an almost overwhelming visual experience, drawing visitors into an environment designed for worship, reflection and wonder.

Here, color is not simply decoration. It is part of the temple's spiritual identity.

4. De Bijenkorf Department Store – Eindhoven, Netherlands Gio Ponti turned a potentially dull department store into one of Eindhoven's most distinctive landmarks.

Completed in 1969, the building's sizeable, windowless exterior is covered in a colorful grid of tiles. Ponti reportedly drew inspiration from the patchwork appearance of Dutch farmland viewed from an airplane.

Instead of allowing a massive concrete wall to dominate the cityscape, he applied color and pattern to provide the building a sense of movement and character.

In practice, the result is a structure that feels closer to a giant piece of modern art than an ordinary department store.

5. Reversible Destiny Lofts – Tokyo, Japan Some architects employ color to produce a building beautiful. The designers of Tokyo's Reversible Destiny Lofts applied it to produce individuals think differently concerning how they live.

For context, the apartments combine brightly colored spheres, cylinders and cuboids with uneven floors and unusual room shapes.

For context, the unconventional design was intentional. The architects believed that environments should challenge individuals rather than allow them to become completely comfortable and inactive.

Meanwhile, the result is a sensory experience in which color, shape and movement are impossible to ignore.

6. Croydon Colonnade – London, England In East Croydon, color has transformed an otherwise ordinary pedestrian route into a vivid public space.

For context, the tiles shift from deep blue at the bottom to creamy white at the top, with rich translucent glazes creating depth and movement.

In practice, the design draws on centuries of colorful architectural ceramics from places including Egypt, Portugal, Turkey, Iran and ancient Babylon.

7. Maishima Waste Incinerator Plant – Osaka, Japan A waste treatment facility might not sound like a place worth visiting for its architecture, but Osaka's Maishima plant is anything but ordinary.

Designed by Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the facility resembles a brightly colored fantasy castle.

While red details, rounded structures and an aqua-colored chimney provide the industrial complex a playful appearance, yellow stripes appear to flow throughout its walls.

Hundertwasser rejected the rigid lines and uniformity associated with conventional modern architecture. At Maishima, he treated an industrial facility as an opportunity to experiment with color, nature and imagination.

8. Leganés Central Library – Leganés, Spain A library does not have to look quiet or conventional.

Completed in 2019 by BN Asociados Arquitectos, the Leganés Central Library and municipal archive uses a rounded façade covered with sizeable pastel ceramic panels.

Meanwhile, the soft colors offer the building a distinctive identity in a neighborhood that needed a robust cultural landmark.

As sunlight moves throughout the curved ceramics, the colors and textures change, creating an effect that resembles sheets of paper an especially fitting visual reference for a library.

These buildings may be separated by thousands of miles and centuries of history, but they share a simple idea: color can change the way individuals experience a place.

For now, 8 buildings where color steals the show remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.