Australia's Science Forum

The principal has just asked me to come up with some colour suggestions for our new labs that are being built. Sounds like fun. Im thinking something light and neutral. Beyond that I have no idea. Any of you guys have colour schemes that seem to really work?

Joy

G'day Joy,
I would advise that you have the benchs in a charcoal/black colour or pattern. I assume that it is going to be laminate of some sort and this will hide most grafitti or marks. I have come from a school where I designed the labs. We had large sinks, not the 30cm square stainless steel that rust at the drop of a hat and are also very hard to clean. A school I was recently at had cream bench tops. How good are they going to look after 5 years? How good would charcoal/black ones look after 5 years? Think about these things when you choose the colours of your lab. Again, my last school had black table tops with brightly coloured chairs. Looked great.
Good Luck
Maree

Definately go for Black bench tops like Voice said. Ours are about 15-20 years old I think and still look ok. In certain light you can see the silver nitrate stains but that's about it. It's easy to see where powder has spilt (eg for flame tests) and easy to clean up. As for walls etc I'd go for the lighter colours and lots of pin board space for putting up pictures, kids assignments etc.

Great advice, thanks Rosalie and Voice.
Joy

We have just had our labs refurbished and the benches are black, stainless steel sinks, and students centre desks are light grey. The lab walls are painted in bright orange and bright yellow. Really looks quite nice and airy really. The bench cupboard hinges are very poor quality and the bench doors would fall off in our hands. But the dept. may have changed suppliers by now after many complaints. There is carpet in the middle of the lab under the students desk which are placed in the middle. There is a adjustable lab bench for disabled students to adjust the height. The students desks, pale grey are easily cleaned with methylated spiris for the graffiti.