Lleida

Coinciding with the creation of the Old Town Office and the declaration of the A.R.I. (Integrated Rehabilitation Area), the Urban Planning Department of Lleida City Council commissioned us in 1995 to prepare this Color Plan. Within the historic centre, the neighbourhood requiring the most urgent intervention was the Canyeret district, although the study encompassed the entire old quarter. Few believed that this area retained any significant heritage value. Its high density, social marginalization, and longstanding lack of resources gave little indication of the varied chromatic range that would be uncovered. Nevertheless, after six months of work, a color palette (ochres, reds, greens, etc.) and a manual of painted decorative schemes were presented to the city, generating considerable surprise.

This phenomenon is not unique to Lleida. In many cases, master painters enhanced modest façades with architectural illusions and trompe-l’œil effects that enriched and dignified the underlying architecture. The beginning of a catalogue of these workshop secrets helped to revalue both restoration interventions and traditional artistic crafts.Once the study was completed, the Chromatic Ordinances for Façades were approved, and the Lleida Color Chart was published.