My day-to-day observations made me reflect on whether the role of colour in architecture today is properly understood and whether it has not been pushed into the background. In this paper, I intend to show that painting classes in architectural schools aim at filling a certain gap. Using multiple examples and selected tasks, I hope to demonstrate the inseparability of the colour from the form, the influence of an appropriately selected colour on the architectural shape and the importance of combining colours depending on the form, space and light, as well as the way such combinations effect the perception of the shape and colour itself. This last variable inevitably makes us realise the significance of the so-called local colour. To conclude, the understanding of space, form, colour and light begins with practising the skills of “seeing”.

My day-to-day observations made me reflect on whether the role of colour in architecture today is properly understood and whether it has not been pushed into the background. In this paper, I intend to show that painting classes in architectural schools aim at filling a certain gap. Using multiple examples and selected tasks, I hope to demonstrate the inseparability of the colour from the form, the influence of an appropriately selected colour on the architectural shape and the importance of combining colours depending on the form, space and light, as well as the way such combinations effect the perception of the shape and colour itself. This last variable inevitably makes us realise the significance of the so-called local colour. To conclude, the understanding of space, form, colour and light begins with practising the skills of “seeing”.