High solar reflectivity, colored multi-layered composition

An exterior building surface comprising a multilayer composition comprising:

• a) a thin topcoat layer having a dry film thickness of less than 200 microns having an L* value of less than 70 units on the CIELab* scale, and an inherent total solar reflectance value of less than 60% coated directly over at least one underlayer (b);
• b) the at least one underlayer, wherein the total solar reflectance (TSR) of the underlayer(s) together is greater than 60%, and wherein said underlayer(s) comprise a) an uncoated substrate or b) a substrate having thereon at least one primer layer, said primer layer(s) on the substrate between the substrate and the thin topcoat, said substrate is selected from is selected from the group consisting of brick, stone, terra cotta, slate, concrete, cementitious materials, fiber cement, rigid and flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyurethane foam, asphalt, mineral materials and thermoplastic poly olefins (TPO);
• wherein the L* value and color of the multi-layer composition is substantially the same as that of the topcoat layer, and wherein the TSR of the multilayer composition is at least 8% (absolute) higher than the inherent TSR of the topcoat, wherein said inherent total solar reflectance is the TSR of a composition at infinite thickness and is estimated by measuring the TSR of a dry film thickness of at least 1.2 mils on the same substrate, for a topcoat of the same pigment grind at a 40 percent pigment level.