ON DEMAND COLOUR SEMINARS
Deepen your understanding of architectural colour design and explore new ways of shaping space with Lymesmith’s online CPD seminars. Each one hour session is designed to stimulate your thinking about the role of colour in spatial design and the built environment.
Why is colour seen as a threat to architecture? Why are ceilings so ugly today? How much contrast do we actually need to create legible environments?
One of the obstacles that all designers face is how to communicate colour ideas and the role of colour in their projects. These seminars will expand your colour design vocabulary and help you to communicate your ideas with clarity and conviction.
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The Threat of Colour
Live presentation recording.
$85 +gst
A one hour CPD Seminar Includes questionnaire
1 Formal CPD point Certificate
There's a good reason that many architects feel reluctant to use strong colours in their buildings. Applied colour can manipulate and interfere with how a building or place is perceived. Yet, it's for exactly this reason that architects who learn to harness colour effectively will unlock new possibilities in their work. As Le Corbusier said, “Colour - a means as powerful as the ground plane and section".
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Beyond Black and White
Live presentation recording.
$85 +gst
A one hour CPD Seminar Includes questionnaire
1 Formal CPD point Certificate
Are your ‘go-to’ colours black and white? In this provocative seminar you will be challenged to deepen your understanding of this uncompromising pair. How can a more nuanced approach to ‘whiteness’ and ‘blackness’ improve Architecture?
“This seminar helped me see black and white as nuanced colours rather than extremes. I’m now more conscious of how tone, light, texture, and context shape perception, and I plan to use blacks and whites intentionally to enhance spatial experience, comfort, and material expression.” Emily Slevin, Architect
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Don't Look Up! Do Ceilings Have To Be So Ugly?
Live presentation recording.
$85 +gst
A one hour CPD Seminar Includes questionnaire
1 Formal CPD point Certificate
Explore one of the most overlooked yet psychologically potent design surfaces: the ceiling.
“I recently watched Sonia's webinar on ceilings, and it was so good, informative and engaging that I had to watch it 4 times! Each time I took something different from the discussion and the examples shown in the presentation, and it impacted a project I was working on and instantly made it better as I took on board some of the ideas discussed.
Thank you sonia! Ceilings will never be the same!” Richard Briggs, Architect & Artist
What Designers Say
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Thank you sonia! Ceilings will never be the same!”
— Richard Briggs, Architect & Artist
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"Your course has given me the language to be able to communicate with both colleagues and consultants. I feel more informed of the framework I can use to approach and consider the use of colour in design".
— Chloe Comino, Brisbane Housing Company
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“Sonia, your philosophy and theories on colour are game changing and I can’t wait to learn more”.
— Michelle Lee, Architect
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The course was very relevant. How to approach colour in architecture is a constant discussion point within our office. This course provided some excellent tools to use and broadened my way of thinking on the topic".
— Zac Chapman, Cox Architects
Meet YOUR TEACHER
Sonia van de Haar / Founder / Lymesmith
Sonia van de Haar is an artist and architectural colour specialist. She formed Lymesmith in 2011 as a colour focussed studio working to produce site specific artworks and material palettes for the built environment. Born in Wollongong, NSW, Sonia studied painting at the School of Art and Design (SOAD), ANU. Whilst studying fresco painting at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India, her journey towards an integrated art and architecture practice began.
Her subsequent completion of an architecture degree at the University of NSW led to the formation of Lymesmith studio.
For 15 years Lymesmith has focused on the colour question in Architecture and the built environment. Her approach to colour design is unique, eschewing trends for her ‘placed-based’ philosophy which positions colour as a generator of connection to place.
Since 2023 she has taught professional development courses to architects, landscape architects and interior designers around Australia.
earn cpd points
All Lymesmith workshops and seminars qualify as professional development training and can be claimed as a tax-deductible business expense.
Seminars: Seminars provide 1 informal CPD point.
Purchase the Seminar Bundle for 20% off
Beyond Black and White: A Critique of Monochrome Architecture
Venue: Online via Zoom
Purchase The Recording
CPD: 1 Formal Point
$85 +gst
About the seminar
In traditional architecture around the world, pure black and pure white surfaces are seldom seen. Yet in much contemporary architecture, black and white are championed for their uncompromising clarity and sharpness. What has led to this cultural shift, and has it improved architecture? The online seminar will include an exploration of different qualities of ‘whiteness’ and ‘blackness’ and how they can be used and misused in Architecture.
A recording will be made available to those who cannot attend in person.
Don't Look Up! Do Ceilings Have To Be So Ugly?
Recording Now Available - $85 + GST
Originally presented online via Zoom on 7 October 2025
About the Online Seminar
We’ll explore one of the most overlooked yet psychologically potent design surfaces: the ceiling.
Once sites of narrative, ornamentation and spatial drama, today’s ceilings have been downgraded into blank expanses of plasterboard, littered with downlights and services. This session will explore how ceilings shape our experience of space, whether they’re 2.2 metres or 6. And yes, the issue of colour will be front and centre!
Watch anytime and explore how colour can transform the way you design ceilings.
Please note: Access to the recording is provided for individual viewing only. Lymesmith reserves the right to revoke access at any time if the content is shared, distributed, or used beyond personal educational purposes.
The Threat of Colour
Recording Now Available - $85 + GST
Originally presented online via Zoom on 12 August 2025
About the webinar
There's a good reason that many architects feel reluctant to use strong colours in their buildings. Applied colour can manipulate and interfere with how a building or place is perceived. Yet, it's for exactly this reason that architects who learn to harness colour effectively will unlock new possibilities in their work. As Le Corbusier said, “Colour - a means as powerful as the ground plane and section".
Join me to explore the opportunities and challenges that colour offers to architecture.
Watch anytime and explore how colour can transform the way you design.
Please note: Access to the recording is provided for individual viewing only. Lymesmith reserves the right to revoke access at any time if the content is shared, distributed, or used beyond personal educational purposes.