FORM

Architectural form is the point of contact between mass and space. Architectural forms, textures,
materials, modulation of light and shade, color, all combine to inject a quality or spirit that articulates
space. The quality of an architecture will be determined by the skill of the designer using and relating
these elements, both in the interior spaces and in the spaces around buildings. Edmund N. Bacon: The
Design of Cities (1974).
In art and design, the ordered structure of a work is frequently described by the term “form.” It might
be a chair’s or a person’s body’s recognizable outward appearance, or it could make reference to a
specific circumstance in which something occurs. Form suggests at both internal and exterior
structure, as well as the idea that gives the whole thing unity. Form frequently includes a sense of
three-dimensional mass or volume. It defined by the arrangement or relative placement of its lines or
contours.
Shape
Characteristic outline or surface configuration of a particular form.
The principal aspect by which we identify and categorize forms.
Size
The length, width, and depth in terms of physical measurements of
a form.
Color
The attribute that most clearly distinguishes a form from its
environment, and also affects the visual weight – or weight – of a
form. An aspect of color that may be described in terms of
individual’s perception of hue, saturation, and tonal value.
Texture
The visual and especially tactile quality given to a surface by the size,
shape, arrangement, and proportions of the parts. Determines the
degree to which the surfaces of a form reflect or absorb incident light.
Properties of Form
Relational properties that govern the pattern and composition of elements:
Position
Location of a form relative to Its environment or the visual
field Within which it is seen.
Orientation
The direction of a form relative to the ground plane, the
compass points, other forms, or to the person viewing the
form.
Visual Inertia
A form’s degree of concentration and stability. A form’s visual inertia is determined by its geometry
as well as its orientation relative to the ground plane, gravity’s pull, and our line of sight.
All of these form properties are affected by the conditions under which we view them.

 A changing perspective or angle of view reveals to our eyes different shapes or

aspects of a form.
 The apparent size of a form is determined by our distance from it.
 The clarity of a form’s shape and structure is affected by the lighting conditions
under which we view it.
 The visual field around a form affects our ability to read and recognize it.
SHAPE
The term “shape” refers to the distinctive
outline of something. A plane figure or the
volumetric form’s surface configuration It is
the primary method for recognizing,
identifying, and categorizing specific figures
and forms. The degree of visual contrast that
exists along the contour separating a figure
from its ground or a form from its field
influences our perception of shape.

Queen

Nefertiti’s bust
According to research by Alfred L. Yarbus of the Institute for
Problems of Information Transmission in Moscow, a person
viewing the figure will move their eyes in a specific way.

In architecture, we are concerned with

the shapes of floor, wall, and ceiling
planes that enclose space, door and
window openings within a spatial
enclosure and silhouettes and contours
of building forms.

These examples illustrate how shaping the juncture between mass and space expresses the manner in
which the contours of a building mass rise from the ground plane and meet the sky.

Central Pavilion, Horyu-Ji Temple, Nara, Japan, A.D.

607
 Villa Garches, Vaucresson, France, 1926–27, Le Corbusier.
This architectural design demonstrates how the shapes of planar solids and voids
interact.

Suleymaniye Mosque,Constantinople (Istanbul),

1551–58, Sinan

Primary Shapes
According to gestalt psychology, the mind will sanitize the visual surroundings in order to
comprehend it. We often simplify the objects in our visual area to the most straightforward and
predictable shapes when faced with any arrangement of forms. A shape is easier to recognize and
comprehend the simpler and more regular it is.

The circle and the countless numbers of regular polygons that can be inscribed within it are known as
the regular shapes according to geometry. The circle, triangle, and square are the three fundamental
shapes, and they are the most important of them.
Circles
a plane curve where each point is equally spaced out
from a fixed point inside the curve.
Triangle
A three-sided planar figure having three angles.
Square
A four-sided, equal-angle plane figure with four right
angles.
A concentrated, introverted figure, the circle is typically steady and self-centering in its surroundings.
A circle’s inherent centrality is reinforced when it is positioned in the field’s center. However, a circle
might appear to rotate if it is paired with straight or angular shapes or has an object placed along its
perimeter.
Roman Theater according to Vitruvius