8.16.4 Exterior Building Color

The U S Army Installation Design Standards (IDS) includes color charts that have been developed for specific geographical areas giving consideration to climate, geography, culture, facility function, historical context, architectural character, etc.  Fort Carson has a color pallet established by existing buildings that pre-dates the color charts included in the IDS.  Much of the existing Fort Carson pallet is derived from integral pigmentation of the primary building materials; consequently, strict conformance to the geographical color zones delineated in the IDS is not applied.  The color pallet enforced at Fort Carson represents a modification of the IDS to fit the existing character of the installation.  The visual zones described in Section 5 group buildings into areas that include similar visual characteristics including common color schemes.  Although currently not consistently applied within each zone, a color pallet has been established to guide color selection for future projects.  Where appropriate, color changes will be implemented during normally scheduled paint cycles to comply with the color selections adopted for the particular visual zones.  (See Appendices K and Appendices L and Section 5, Visual Themes and Zones.) 

Color is closely linked to the appropriate selection of exterior building materials and is a critical design element in relating adjacent buildings and creating a compatible visual environment within an installation. 

Historic Buildings.  Repaint the building or structure to match the existing colors or use colors that can be documented to have been used on that building.  Coordinate all Historic building renovations/alterations/additions with IAW federal, state, and local historic building guidelines and/or local Memorandums of Agreement.

Exterior Building Materials and Color