129or surface qualities. A soft contour, however, may distinguish
the expression of the total spatial form or building, and the
same is true of soft lighting or a corresponding coloration or
sound.- To begin with, mood qualities have no relationship to
formal traits, but nonetheless, some building forms are seri-
ous or comical in character. When we feel ourselves addressed
and affected directly by expressive qualities, for example
through the aggressive, thrilling, or inviting forms of build-
ings or spaces, then we speak of > appeals. - At times, a form character does not correspond to an
architectural or spatial form itself, but instead to that which
it represents, or to that which it alludes via the detour of
images, > symbols, or > metaphors. The character of a
Gothic net vault, for example, is generated metaphorically
through an image of growth and ramification. An explanation
of the expressive quality of form characters is furnished by
the theory of > empathy. With closer anthropomorphic paral-
lels, broad, heavy forms make an impression – as they do in
human figures – of being sedate and awkward, at the same
time suggesting solidity. Thin supports, on the other hand,
evoke associations with scrawny, elongated human figures,
and convey sprightliness and elegance, but also instability. A
facade may be interpreted in physiognomic terms as a face,
and attributed with a specific expression, whether severe,
sad, angry, or startled. In a general sense, one speaks as well
of the physiognomy of a landscape. Among other examples,
Graf Karlfried von Dürckheim mentions a path that ‘snakes’
through fields, and whose ‘so-to-speak restrained movement’
endows an individual character with expression.
Literature: Arnheim 1977/2009; Seyler 2004
> depth, door and gate, enfilade, entrance, gaze, image, pic-
turesque, perspective, threshold, view into/out of, windowFrame