Colour research from different scientific traditions start from different basic questions and use different methods and concepts. This makes it difficult to communicate and to Judge result relevance in a wider perspective. Here we start from architects' need of colour knowledge and discuss recent studies of colour appearance and colour emotion, with and without explicit connection to architecture. We stress the need for further development and clarification of concepts and conclude that the multitude of studies With different approaches con be seen os cases, jointly adding to a widened and deepened understanding of colour. 0, 2010 Wile), Periodicals. Inc. Col Res Appl, 35, 145-152. 2010 Published online 7 January 2010 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/Col.20565