This article examines some of the outstanding contributions or points of interest in the research and application of color in architecture, from ancient times to the present. The discourses about color are classified by periods and according to the utterers: theoreticians or writers of architectural treatises, archeologists and historians of architecture, architects who have been relevant in professional practice, color theorists coming from the fields of architecture and design, and color researchers related to the International Color Association. As a conclusion, the main characteristics of these discourses about color are summarized, and a point is made about the use of instruments derived from color science in color design, implying that the evolution in the use of color in environmental design and the research in this field will increasingly rely on the interaction between scientists and designers. (C) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.