Six interconnected programs that move from data to design to direct impact — studying the relationship between color and quality of life, then transforming neighborhoods with what we learn.
The Society’s intellectual engine. The Lab conducts original research on the relationship between color in the built environment and health, economic, and social outcomes. It maintains the Annual Chromatic Survey (131 consecutive years), the NYC Color Atlas (an open-access digital platform), and research partnerships with Kessler, Lenox Health, the Breitman Institute, the Gramercy School of Design, and the Aldrich Institute.
Color and cortisol/stress response in urban populations. Color preference and perceived safety (a 10-neighborhood study). Economic impact of façade color on commercial corridor vitality. Longitudinal health outcomes from Color Works interventions. The Central Park Pathways Study (in design phase).
The Lab employs six full-time researchers and three part-time research assistants, led by Dr. Tomás Arriaga (PhD, Environmental Psychology, City University).
The NYC Color Atlas
An open-access, block-by-block visualization of color in New York’s built environment from 1923 to the present. Created in partnership with the Aldrich Institute of Design, the Atlas is the most-used open-access resource the Society produces. Urban planners, real estate developers, architects, public health researchers, and journalists draw on it regularly.
The community-facing program arm. Color Works partners with neighborhood organizations, schools, residential buildings, and local businesses to implement evidence-based color interventions in neighborhoods across all five boroughs.
1. Community nomination — neighborhood groups apply or are referred.
2. Chromatic assessment — the Research Lab documents the existing color environment.
3. Community color selection — public workshops where residents choose palettes from a curated range (all options pre-tested for durability, safety, and psychological impact).
4. Artist partnership — a local or emerging artist is commissioned to develop the design within the community-selected palette.
5. Implementation — painting by a mix of professional crew and community volunteers; neighborhood hiring prioritized.
6. Measurement — pre/post surveys, pedestrian counts, business revenue tracking, health metrics where partnerships allow.
7. Maintenance — three-year maintenance commitment built into every project budget.
Color Works employs 8 full-time staff and 40–60 seasonal workers, most hired locally. Led by Kezia Washington, who grew up in Brooklyn and remembers the 1991 Chromatic Intervention Pilot as a kid.
Projects have included crosswalks, school façades, community centers, residential common areas, playground surfaces, commercial corridor street furniture, and pedestrian bridges.
An annual $75,000 research fellowship for emerging scholars studying the relationship between color, the built environment, and public health. Co-funded with the National Arts Council. One fellow per year, 18-month term. Fellows are embedded at the Chromatic Research Lab with full access to the Society’s archive.
A VR study of color perception in subway stations (a leading research university, 2019). A study of color environments in residential buildings (a leading school of public health, 2021). A comparative study of pink perception across New York City neighborhoods (The Gramercy School of Design, 2023).
Applications open annually in September. Eligibility: doctoral candidates or early-career researchers (within 5 years of PhD) in environmental psychology, public health, architecture, urban planning, or related fields.
130 years of records. A 4,200-volume reference library. The complete Annual Chromatic Survey collection. The original Hester Street patient logs. Colfax-era school construction correspondence. The Gray Report working papers. Willard’s personal notebooks.
Open to researchers by appointment. The Archive hosts 15–20 visiting scholars per year and runs a monthly public lecture series, “Chromatic Conversations,” which draws 60–100 attendees to the Society’s Lafayette Street offices.
The complete Chromatica journal run (1894–1978) was digitized in 2018 and is available for on-site research.
A free, NGSS-aligned K–12 curriculum developed in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. Students conduct chromatic surveys of their own school neighborhoods, learning science, data collection, and community observation. Used in 83 public schools across four boroughs.
Saturday tours (spring and fall) of neighborhoods whose color stories illuminate the Society’s work. Guided by staff and trained docents. Six routes across four boroughs. $25 general / $15 members / free for students.
Two-day workshops for architects, urban planners, and public health professionals on evidence-based color application. $400 per participant. Four workshops per year, 30 participants each. CEU credits available through AIA and AICP.
Monthly public lecture series at the Lafayette Street offices. Free and open to the public. Recent speakers have included a color standards researcher, the head of facilities for NYC Parks, and a neuroscientist studying color and memory.
Since 1911, when the Society lobbied for color specifications in public school construction standards, we have worked to embed color-conscious design into the policies and practices of New York City government.
Current advocacy priorities include a partnership with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to integrate chromatic assessment into neighborhood health profiling tools, and ongoing work with the Department of Education on color standards for new school construction — continuing the legacy of the Colfax Palette, now in its second century.
The Central Park Pathways Initiative puts 130 years of research to the test at city scale.
This is a fictional nonprofit.
The New York Chromatic Society is a fictional nonprofit used as a teaching aid in the How to Raise Money fundraising workshop.