GEO / Stone & substance
Georgia
Mountain tower-houses & village groups
Develop a system from this study
Image note
Three original interpretations of mountain tower-houses & village groups, informed by Upper Svaneti. 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.
Upper Svaneti’s villages contain tower-houses used for dwelling and defence. Their vertical forms gain meaning through their grouping within the mountainous landscape.
Read the material study01 / Reading the material
A tower among neighbours
Upper Svaneti’s tower-houses combine a vertical figure with the scale of domestic life. A single tower can read as an isolated object; several towers in a village establish intervals and shared relationships. The ensemble makes their proportions more understandable.
02 / From surface to space
Read the whole.
Then the edge.
The mountainous setting supplies a much larger vertical register. Compare the nearby building edges with the distant slope, allowing the village to remain distinct without detaching it from the ground. The spaces between towers are part of the rhythm.
Compare one tower’s proportions with the rhythm of several towers across a village. What changes when defensive architecture is read at a domestic scale?
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
#9b8367
Colour values & paper / ink comparison
oklch(0.625 0.050 71.032) · primary
The colour stays fixed as its surroundings change.
Try the bench exercise
04 / At the bench
Make the observation tangible.
Arrange a few slender masonry-like volumes among lower masses. Vary their spacing before their height. Study dwelling and defence as related uses, rather than reducing the reference to a dramatic tower silhouette.
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.). Upper Svaneti. 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 Georgia focus on?
Upper Svaneti’s villages contain tower-houses used for dwelling and defence. Their vertical forms gain meaning through their grouping within the mountainous landscape.
Where can I find the original reference?
Upper Svaneti, 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 a few slender masonry-like volumes among lower masses. Vary their spacing before their height. Study dwelling and defence as related uses, rather than reducing the reference to a dramatic tower silhouette.
Continue by material
