Functional Dome Sky

Latin fūnctiō, performance — adjectival suffix -al. As a color modifier, functional implies a clear-and-purpose-fit-and-utilitarian quality, the crisp color of Mid-Century-Modern and Bauhaus form-follows-function design-aesthetic. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to practical and utilitarian in usage.

Latin domus, house. As a color modifier, dome implies a hemispherical-vaulted-roof quality, the visual register of Roman-Pantheon-and-Hagia-Sophia-and-Taj-Mahal hand-built hemispherical-roof dome-and-cupola architectural surfaces under monumental-dome interior-and-exterior architectural light. Sits at the modifier-and-architecture end of the grid, parallel to cupola and arch in usage.

The blue of a clear sky at noon — produced by Rayleigh scattering, the preferential dispersion of shorter wavelengths through atmospheric molecules. Air itself is colorless; the color we see is sunlight scattered toward our eyes by every cubic kilometer above. The reference shade is mid-latitude noon under a high pressure system: a clean, slightly green-shifted blue with the luminous depth of light scattered across an entire hemisphere of air.