The restoration of color in the French historic cities: approaches, methods and experiences

Abstract

In the years following the Second World War, the French historical centers appeared marked by the absence of colors as well as by a globally sad image. However, with the onset of the cultural heritage safeguarding policies at urban scale developed since the ‘60s, this trend has been progressively subverted.

Today, the color is considered as a necessary condition for the understanding and characterization of urban spaces and to improve the people’s quality of life. For these reasons it is therefore subject to special care. Inside protected areas –abords de monuments historiques, secteurs sauvegardés, zones de protection du patrimoine architectural, urbain et paysager e/o aires de valorization de l’architecture et du patrimoine - specific devices govern the use of the colors.

Nevertheless, such requirements or “color plans” have given conflicting results. If in several cases, they have determined a kind of homologation - many historic centers look similar to each other due to colors considered “pleasant” but not necessarily forming part of the historical tradition and of the urban and architectural lexicon of those places -, in other occasions, better reasoned interventions ruled by architects, urban planners or associations more sensitive to the preservation of color heritage, have given surprising outcomes.

From the “opération couleur” carried out in the villages of the Ain Department to the restoration programs of the Nice Facades made by Bruno Goyeneche and the Diagonal association, numerous are the examples of interesting safeguarding of the colors of towns and regions of France that this essay intends to analyze. The objective is to highlight peculiarities, strengths, limits and shortcomings of a regulation which seems globally confirm the hypothesis of an effectivity, closely tied to the quality of its actuators.