Image clustering algorithm and psychological perception in historical building colour rating research: A case study of Guangzhou, China

Abstract

This study aims to construct a new method for collecting colours from Guangzhou historical buildings using the Natural Color Sytem (NCS) colour system for on-site comparison. It seeks to detect and classify the primary and secondary colours of the buildings through image attributes, and to analyse the group co-occurrence and clustering algorithm characteristics of the colours of the historical buildings, as well as the colour hierarchy based on the image clustering algorithm. The study further evaluates the colour ratings of the historical buildings through questionnaire validation, explores the relationship between colour attributes (hue, lightness, and chroma), and classifies the colour evaluation criteria into five tiers. It was found that the symbiotic clustering diagrams of the colours of the historic buildings in Guangzhou exhibited distinct colour rating relationships, with the clustering colour hierarchy showing a high correlation with the results of the colour ratings assessed by questionnaire validation. A close relationship between the computer-generated output and the perceptual judgement is demonstrated, further proving the reliability and accuracy of the computer model. The results of the study provide comparable data and practical tools for colour planning and management of urban historic building facades.

Keywords

Colour perception / Image clustering algorithm / Subjective evaluation / Guangzhou area / Hierarchical structure

References

[1] Burchett, K.E. , 2020. Color harmony. Color Res. Appl. 27 (1), 28- 31.

[2] Bustamante, P. , Acosta, I. , Leon, J. , Campano, M.A. , 2021. Assessment of color discrimination of different light sources. Buildings 11 (11), 1- 12.

[3] Caivano, J.L. , 2006. Research on color in architecture and environmental design:brief history, current developments, and possible future. Color Res. Appl. 31 (4), 350- 363.

[4] Chen, J.F. , Xie, H.N. , Du, Q.H. , 2015. Teaching performance evaluation based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and comprehensive evaluation method. Appl. Soft Comput. 28 (4), 100- 108.

[5] Cesar, J.C.D. , 2018. Chromatic harmony in architecture and the Munsell color system. Color Res. Appl. 43 (6), 865- 871.

[6] Cho, Y.J. , Ou, L.C. , Cui, G.H. , Luo, R. , 2022. New colour appearance scales for describing saturation, vividness, blackness, and whiteness. Color Res. Appl. 42 (5), 552- 563.

[7] Ding, M. , 2021. Quantitative contrast of urban agglomeration colors based on image clustering algorithm:case study of the XiaZhang-Quan metropolitan area. Front. Archit. Res. 10 (3), 692- 700.

[8] Dong, Y. , Xi, L.S. , 2007. Formation, evolution and development suggestion of urban color, example of urban color planning in Tianjin. Huazhong Archit. 12, 57- 60 (In Chinese).

[9] Deng, L. , Zhou, F. , Zhang, Z. , 2022. Interactive genetic color matching design of cultural and creative products considering color image and visual aesthetics. Heliyon 8 (9), e10768.

[10] Dong, C. , Wang, Y.H. , Zhang, X.Y. , Yuan, S.Q. , 2011. Research of Jingdezhen urban color based on the identifiability. Packag. Eng. 5 (3), 366- 373 (In Chinese).

[11] Ghandour, A.J. , Jezzini, A.A. , 2018. Autonomous building detection using edge properties and image color invariants. Buildings 8 (5), 2- 8.

[12] Gong, J.Z. , Chen, W.L. , Liu, Y.S. , Wang, J.Y. , 2014. The intensity change of urban development land:implications for the city master plan of Guangzhou, China. Land Use Policy 40, 91- 100.

[13] Gorn, G.J. , Chattopadhyay, A. , Yi, T. , Dahl, D.W. , 1997. Effects of color as an executional cue in advertising:they' re in the shade. Manag. Sci. 43 (10), 1387- 1400.

[14] Gouaich, Y. , Mebrouki, A. , Ghariri, R. , Belabbas, A. , Manav, B. , Serra, J. , Llopis, J. , Torres, A. , 2018. A novel method for assessing the chromatic integration of architecture in the Ksourian landscape of M'zab Valley, Algeria. Color Res. Appl. 43 (5), 760- 778.

[15] Gow, A.P. , Wang, J.B. , 2008. Research on the location characters of urban color plan in China. Color Res. Appl. 33 (1), 68- 76.

[16] Guo, H.Y. , Cai, Y.N. , 2012. Urban color composition characteristic in Guangzhou city. 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering, Architecture and Building Materials (CEABM 2012), pp. 174-177.

[17] Jagalrz, A. , 2023. Perception of color in architecture and urban space. Buildings 13 (8), 1- 10.

[18] Jiang, B.W. , Ling, Y.Z. , Ai, P.G. , 2020. Study of the color characteristics of residential buildings in Shanghai. Color Res. Appl. 46 (1), 240- 257.

[19] Jin, S. , Ye, H. , Wang, S. , Sedki, A. , 2022. Preservation and utilisation of historic buildings in old district of Guangzhou from the perspective of space syntax. Appl. Math. Nonlinear Sci. 2 (7), 931- 956.

[20] Juan, S. , Ignacio, C.A. , Ana, T.B. , Jorge, L. , 2023. Color induction in the restoration of architecture in historic city centers. Color Res. Appl. 48 (5), 497- 512.

[21] Kobayashi, S. , 1987. A book of colors:matching colors, combining colors, color designing. Color Decorating, fourth ed. Kodansha International.

[22] Lee, H. , Kim, D. , Hwang, J. , 2019. Color harmony integrationdriven design process for aesthetic village. In:Architecture in the Age of the 4th Industrial Revolution, Vol. 1, pp. 757-764.

[23] Li, K. , 2024. Research on the factors influencing the spatial quality of high-density urban streets:a framework using deep learning, street scene images, and principal component analysis. Land 13 (8), 1161.

[24] Li, K.R. , Zheng, Z.Q. , Wang, P.H. , Yan, W.J. , 2020. Research on color harmony of building facades. Color Res. Appl. 45 (1), 105- 119.

[25] Li, K.R. , Zheng, Z.Q. , Wang, P.H. , Yan, W.J. , 2022. Research on the color preference and harmony of the two-colour combination buildings. Color Res. Appl. 47 (4), 980- 991.

[26] Li, R.S. , Wu, M.C. , 2024. Revealing urban color patterns via drone aerial photography:a case study in urban Hangzhou, China. Buildings 14 (2), 1- 12.

[27] Li, W.C. , Lv, H.B. , Liu, Y.L. , Chen, S.M. , Shi, W.W. , 2023. An investigation on the ritual elements influencing factors of decorative art:based on Guangdong's ancestral hall architectural murals text mining. Herit. Sci. 11 (1), 233- 234 (In Chinese).

[28] Lin, L. , Ren, B.B. , 2005. The types and divisions of regional architecture in Guangdong. South. Archit. 1, 13 (In Chinese).

[29] Lin, M. , Li, G. , Xu, S. , Hao, Y. , Zhang, S. , 2024. Decoupling foreground and background with Siamese ViT networks for weaklysupervised semantic segmentation. Neurocomputing 610, 128540.

[30] Llopis, J. , Torres, A. , Serra, J. , García, A. , 2015. The preservation of the chromatic image of historical cities as a cultural value:the old city of Valencia (Spain). J. Cult. Herit. 16 (5), 611- 622.

[31] Long, Y. , Liu, L. , 2017. How green are the streets? An analysis for central areas of Chinese cities using Tencent street view. PLoS One 12 (2), 1- 18.

[32] Mehanna, W.A.E.H. , 2019. Urban renewal for traditional commercial streets at the historical centers of cities. Alex. Eng. J. 58 (4), 1127- 1143.

[33] Montero-Parejo, M.J. , García-Moruno, L. , López, C. , 2016. Visual impact assessment of color and scale of buildings on the rural landscape. Environ. Eng. Manag. J. 15 (7), 1537- 1550.

[34] Moon, P. , Spencer, D.E. , 1944. Area in color harmony. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 34 (2), 93- 103.

[35] Munsell, A.H. , 1969. A Grammar of Color:from the Original Version of 1921. Van Nostrand Reinhold.

[36] Nguyen, L. , Teller, J. , 2017. Color in the urban environment:a user-oriented protocol for chromatic characterization and the development of a parametric typology. Color Res. Appl. 42 (1), 131- 142.

[37] Ostwald, W. , 1969. The Color Primer:from the German Edition "Die Farben-Fibel" of 1916. Van Nostrand Reinhold.

[38] Ou, L.C. , Luo, M.R. , Woodcock, A. , Wright, A. , 2004. A study of colour emotion and colour preference:Part I:colour emotions for single colours. Color Res. Appl. 29 (3), 232- 240.

[39] Ou, L.C. , Huang, H.P. , Wei, M.C. , Xiao, K.D. , 2019. Unique hue judgments using saturated and desaturated Munsell samples under different light sources. Color Res. Appl. 44 (3), 419- 425.

[40] Peng, C.X. , 2004. Research on the Modernization Process of Lingnan Architecture. South China University of Technology, pp. 47-120(In Chinese).

[41] Szabó F. , Bodrogi, P. , Schanda, J. , 2009. A color harmony rendering index based on predictions of color harmony impression. Light. Res. Technol. 41 (2), 165- 182.

[42] The State Department , 2024. The State Council's General Plan for the Land and Space of Guangzhou (2021-2035).

[43] Wang, J. , Zhang, L. , Gou, A. , 2020. Study on the preference of city color image selection based on the logistic model:a case study of Shanghai. Color Res. Appl. 45 (3), 542- 557.

[44] Wang, Z.Z. , Shen, M.T. , Huang, Y.M. , 2024. Exploring the impact of facade color elements on visual comfort in old residential buildings in Shanghai:Insights from eye-tracking technology. Buildings 14 (6), 2- 14.

[45] Wang, Z.Z. , Sun, H. , Li, J. , 2023. Research on architectural color and visual comfort in historic landscape areas. Buildings 13 (4), 1- 9.

[46] Wei, X.Q. , Zhang, Y.E. , 2020. Image segmentation algorithm based on dynamic particle swarm optimization and K-means clustering. Int. J. Comput. Appl. 42, 649- 654 (In Chinese).

[47] Xu, Q. , Zeng, L. , 2019. Research on the method of urban color planning based on regional characteristics:take Guilin City as an example. Hous. Sci. 39 (12), 9- 13 (In Chinese).

[48] Yang, R. , Deng, X.Y. , Wang, Z.X.Z. , He, H.Y. , Xu, J.Q. , Xiao, Y. , 2024. A novel approach for assessing color harmony of historical buildings via street view image. Front. Archit. Res. 13 (4), 764- 775.

[49] Zhang, C.Y. , Chen, Y.J. , Dewancker, B.J. , Shentu, C. , Tian, H. , Liu, Y.T. , Wan, J.J. , Zhang, X.Y. , Li, J.H. , 2024. Emotional landscapes in urban design:analyzing color emotional responses of the elderly to community outdoor spaces in Yi Jie Qu. Buildings 14 (3), 1- 13.

[50] Zhang, J.X. , Fukuda, T. , Yabuki, N. , 2012. Development of a cityscale approach for façade color measurement with building functional classification using deep learning and street view images. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 10 (8), 1- 9.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s). Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Higher Education Press and KeAi.