The Revolution of house paint technologies in the late 20th century and its influence on Danish architectural finishes

The many revolutionary innovations in house paint materials of the 20th century affected the use of paint and colours in architecture and thereby the aesthetic expression of Danish architecture. This research has shown that the production and use of house paint in 20th-century Denmark was shaped by an expanding international industry that was dependent on new technological innovations, trade and transatlantic commodity products, as well as an international economic crisis and two world wars. The research presented in this paper is based on published literature, architectural finishes research case studies carried out on Danish buildings, and interviews with practitioners including house painters and paint manufacturers focusing on the period from 1950 to
1983. By the start of the 1950s, oil-modified alkyd paints marked a major advancement in paint technology: the paint roller and the first waterborne plastic paints together with standardised tinting liquid colours and pastes, including synthetic organic pigments, were also launched. In the mid-1960s, the invention of the airless paint sprayer and alkyd paints revolutionised and changed the painter's workflow. In the 1970s, automatic tinting machines together with the establishment of the Natural Colour System further
paved the way for fully manufactured paint products and a standardised way of communicating colour. The standardisation of paint products and increased efficiency of application techniques influenced the aesthetic expression of painted architecture in Denmark on a scale never before seen, replacing hand-tinted paints and traditional decoration techniques.