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History of Art and Architecture: Special Topics - Ombromania: Shadow Plays in Architecture
Last Updated: 2026-06-03 00:07:21
Abstract
"Ombromania" explores shadows as fundamental tools to the perception of architectural forms and their expressivity. Combining art history, architectural history, and optics, the course examines how shadows are produced, represented, and designed. Through observation and analysis, students learn to understand the mechanisms of shadow projection and their aesthetic function in architecture.
Objective
- Recognize and describe the various types and qualities of shadows in architecture and visual art. - Interpret shadows as indicators of material, structure, and spatial relationships. - Reflect critically on the aesthetic, cultural, and theoretical significance of shadows.
Resources
Lecture Notes
Ever since architecture has existed, its ever-moving shadow has stood beside it as a faithful companion—an inseparable proof of its belonging to the physical world, just as constant and inevitable as gravity itself. Yet because shadows are constant, they often go unnoticed. Their familiarity renders them invisible. To see them again requires effort and training of the eye. This course invites students to rediscover shadows as essential spatial, aesthetic, and cultural phenomena in architecture and architectural representation. The course examines shadows not merely as the consequence of light obstructed by matter, but as deliberate tools of design and representation. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining the history of architecture, art, and optics, students explore how shadows have been observed, understood, and depicted from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century in paintings, architectural drawings, and treatises. The course is structured around three intertwined lines of inquiry: the nature of shadows, the representation of shadows, and the design of shadows. Students will learn the basic mechanisms of light propagation and vision to understand how shadows form and how their representation evolved in the visual arts. They will develop a precise vocabulary to describe shadow qualities, and analyze their role in revealing material, structure, and spatial depth. A series of “Hunting Shadows” exercises structures the course: observation of shadows in paintings during a museum visit, archival research on architectural drawings, and application within the students’ own studio projects. The final individual outcome will consist of the selection of two images (paintings and/or architectural drawings) and a comparative analysis of the nature and function of the shadows represented within them.
Literature
Literature will be made available for download via Moodle.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar |
History of Art and Architecture: Special Topics - Ombromania: Shadow Plays in Architecture
No teaching on October 23 (Seminar Week) and the last two weeks of the semester.
|
No time listed | 2 h weekly |