Image note
Three original interpretations of arcades, balconies & inner courts, informed by Old Havana and its Fortification System. These images explore material and spatial ideas; they are not documentary views or measured reconstructions of the reference. The palette is drawn from the material portrait.
Publication credit: The Chromologium.
Image credits and reuseThe colour strip is the entry’s study palette. Artwork sources and image credits and reuse terms are recorded in the archive.
Artwork recordThree views of one material idea.
Old Havana brings civic monuments together with houses organized around arcades, balconies and courtyards. These repeated thresholds connect street life with shaded domestic interiors.
Read the material study01 / Reading the material
A sequence of shaded thresholds
Old Havana’s arcades, balconies and courtyards establish several kinds of edge between street and room. Some frame a view, some shelter a route, and some open an interior to the sky. Their value in a study comes from their sequence rather than isolated decorative features.
02 / From surface to space
Read the whole.
Then the edge.
Trace a route from the public arcade to a quieter court. The change in enclosure can be shown through section, light and the width of the passage. A continuous floor or wall alignment can connect the sequence even while its atmosphere changes.
Trace the sequence from arcade to doorway to courtyard. Where does an edge provide shelter while remaining visually open?
03 / Colour in context
A palette you can work with.
Five tones drawn from the material portrait. Select a colour, compare it on paper and ink, or copy its value into your own study.
Surface
#846a4b
Colour values & paper / ink comparison
oklch(0.542 0.056 71.132) · primary
The colour stays fixed as its surroundings change.
Try the bench exercise
04 / At the bench
Make the observation tangible.
Arrange an open bay, a narrow threshold and a wider void in one small model. Use a restrained mineral palette and let the light distinguish the spaces. Give the court a deliberate shape rather than treating it as leftover area.
Keep a view of the whole beside a close detail. Note the material, lighting and the one variable you changed.
Source & orientation
Keep the reference close.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. (n.d.). Old Havana and its Fortification System. Retrieved October 10, 2026.
The material readings and bench exercise are editorial studies of this particular reference. The artwork explores its material ideas; the linked source documents the place.
Artwork & cartographic records
Artwork record · Geographic plate record. Map geometry: Natural Earth, public domain. The archive follows its map’s place names, including territories and disputed areas.
A closer look
Questions about this study
What does this study of Cuba focus on?
Old Havana brings civic monuments together with houses organized around arcades, balconies and courtyards. These repeated thresholds connect street life with shaded domestic interiors.
Where can I find the original reference?
Old Havana and its Fortification System, published by UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The artwork explores the reference’s material ideas; the linked source documents the place.
What could I try at the bench?
Arrange an open bay, a narrow threshold and a wider void in one small model. Use a restrained mineral palette and let the light distinguish the spaces. Give the court a deliberate shape rather than treating it as leftover area.
Continue by material
