While monochrome typically refers to black and white, it also includes grayscale (a range of grey tones from black to white) and shades of one color. Those old black-and-white movies picture monochrome in motion, and black-and-white photos often capture a certain monochromatic nostalgia and mood. However, the concept of monochrome is applicable to all colors on the spectrum. From its Greek origin, monochromos means ‘of a single color’: monos (single or one) and khroma (color).
The following images showcase a curated edit of monochrome styles in both interiors and objects.
Monochrome interiors
A grayscale living space in the ‘House on Stilts’, designed by Lithuanian studio Dizaino Virtuvė. Photo by Kernius Pauliukonis via Dezeen.A white living space in architect John Pawson’s Notting Hill home. Photo by John Spinks via Port Magazine.A plywood and white office interior in a London maisonette by architect Larissa Johnston. Photo by Rory Gardiner via Dezeen.A concrete living space in C Penthouse, Antwerp, Belgium, designed by architect Vincent Van Duysen. Photo by Koen Van Damme via Vincent Van Duysen.An ash wood prayer room in a Dublin priory, designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects. Image via Dezeen.A black-and-white interior in Vedbaek House (III) in Copenhagen, designed by Norm Architects. Photo by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen via Norm Architects.A black-and-white meeting space in the Dynamo (II) office in Montréal, Canada, by Anne Sophie Goneau Design. Image via Anne Sophie Goneau Design.A neutral interior space at Atelier Peter Fong in the Tianhe District of Guangzhou, China, designed by Lukstudio. Photo by Dirk Weiblen via Dezeen.
This is a full-time beach house for a car passionate family of four situated across from Burnt Cedar Beach in Incline Village, Nevada on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Prior to being pulled up the hill to flumes and rails destined for Virginia City, logs were staged here as the mountains around the lake shore were logged during the silver mining years of the 1860s. Set into a neighborhood originally built in the 1950s and bordered by houses to the sides and rear, the house takes a simple box form, half buried into the slope. It faces the lake with full height glazing that encloses a loft-like plan with double height living spaces. The clients requested a space that felt like the landscape and maintained a feeling inside of being outside in the light and shadow play of the sixty to ninety-foot Jeffrey and Ponderosa pines that populate the lake shore. Perforated wood ceilings and acoustical plaster walls soften the sounds of the concrete and glass pavilion-like house. An underground garage is excavated under the house with level access to the street, a must in this snowy climate for a family with an eclectic car collection.
