Color Grammars: The Representation of Form and Color in Designs

Recent developments in the use of formal grammars in design are summarized here. A particular kind of formal grammar, called a shape grammar, has been used widely over the past decade to understand the spatial composition of designs in architectural and other languages. Recently, an extension to the shape-grammar formalism has been developed that allows qualities such as color, texture, material, function, and so on, to be incorporated into the rules of a shape grammar. This new kind of grammar, called a color grammar, can be used to represent simultaneously the composition of spatial and qualitative aspects of designs. Simple, pedagogical examples of color grammars are presented. Issues that arise with the representation of color or other qualities in grammars but do not arise with the representation of spatial form are discussed.