In physical environments and cultural landscapes, we most often deal not with separate colors, but with color combinations. When choosing a color, we usually try to “fit” it into a preexisting color context, making the new color combination harmonious. Yet are the “laws” of color harmony fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural products that vary from country to country? To answer these questions we conducted an experiment with 599 participants aged 18 to 76 from eight different countries, including Algeria (MA = 26.2 years; SD = 8.8; 49 men, 26 women), Belarus (MA = 19.8 years; SD = 9.1; 19 men, 63 women), Italy (MA = 29.0 years; SD = 12.8; 23 men, 67 women), Mexico (MA = 20.0 years; SD = 7.0; 34 men, 23 women), Nigeria (MA = 34.7 years; SD = 10.5; 29 men, 32 women), Russia (MA = 24.6 years; SD = 6.3; 17 men, 72 women), Saudi Arabia (MA = 24.5 years; SD = 8.6; 28 men, 38 women), and Chile (MA = 34.3 years; SD = 15.1; 35 men, 43 women). To create experimental stimuli, we used 10 color combinations composed by the Russian avant-garde artist Mikhail Matyushin and his disciples for the Reference Book of Color (1932) based on shades that were typical in architectural design—yellow ochre, light umber, light ochre, and burnt umber. We removed the “intermediary” linking color from each of the selected color triads and asked participants to adjust the color of this band according to their liking. Mapping 2995 color choices into CIELAB and CIELCh color space to identify their chromatic characteristics (hue, lightness, and chroma), we demonstrate graphically that color triads in different cultures have a different “geometry” in CIELAB color space and on the color circle. We conclude that the revealed patterns of these relationships reflect cross-cultural “shifts” in human perception of color harmony. The analysis presented in this paper will facilitate opportunities for architects, designers, and other color professionals to create culturally specific harmonic color combinations in urban environments.

En el centro de la ciudad de Valdivia, contigua al río del mismo nombre, se ubica la feria fluvial, espacio público cubierto y abierto donde se comercian productos del mar y del territorio interior. Se analiza esta feria desde la perspectiva de su arquitectura y su color, planteando las siguientes preguntas: ¿qué caracteriza la arquitectura y el acontecer de la feria? y ¿cuál es su atmósfera cromática?. Para responderlas, se ha recurrido a la observación in situ y al registro fotográfico, planimétrico y gráfico mediante croquis en color. Desde el punto de vista arquitectónico, la feria se analiza como un espacio de arquitectura efímera, fluida, continua, transparente, de fuertes relaciones con el contexto urbano y natural circundante. Desde la perspectiva del color, se la considera un gran espacio multicolor que genera una atmósfera cromática propia, un espacio público coloreado único en el sur del país.