ABSTRACT
Until the industrial revolution, materials and coating techniques depended on and expressed regional construction culture through its geographic and geological context: a "Geography of Color" existed. From the 20th century, that condition changed: many countries in the world became aware of the impact of chromatic alterations in architectural ensembles, especially in environments and landscapes with heritage value, due to the endless possibilities of chemically synthetized pigments that de-characterize their regional context. Since then, the investigation of buildings and sites’ chromatic identity became a relevant field of research. This chapter aims to present a method for data collection created to study architectural ensembles chromatic identity, based on recognizing the variables that compose this identity. Its application will be demonstrated in the historic center of Tiradentes, Minas Gerais, Brazil, where it was implemented to enable the documentation of relevant information on the object of study. The paper will be presented according to the following phases of study: (i) identification of variables, (ii) attribution of categories for variables characterization, (iii) validation, and results of the method. Among the conclusions, it was possible to confirm the innovative character of the proposed method and highlight that innovation is essential and necessary for the knowledge and preservation of tradition.
