Functionalism (architecture)
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- For at least 4 other senses of the word, see functionalism.
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern architecture.
The place of functionalism in building can be traced back to the Vitruvian triad, where 'utilitas' (variously translated as 'commodity', 'convenience', or 'utility') stands alongside 'venustas' (beauty) and 'firmitas' (firmness) as one of three classic goals of architecture.
In the early years of the 20th Century, Chicago architect Louis Sullivan popularized the phrase 'form follows function' to capture his belief that a building's size, massing, spatial grammar and other characteristics should be driven solely by the function of the building. The implication is that if the functional aspects are satisfied, architectural beauty would naturally and necessarily follow.
Sullivan's credo is deeply ironic, considering the non-functional nature of the intricate ornament he is known for. The credo also does not address whose function he means. The architect of an apartment building, for instance, can easily be at cross-purposes with the owners of the building regarding how the building should look and feel, and they could both be at cross-purposes with the future tenants. Nevertheless 'form follows function' expresses a significant and enduring idea.
The roots of modern architecture lie in the work of the Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier and the German architect Mies van der Rohe. Both were functionalists at least to the extent that their buildings were radical simplifications of previous styles. In 1923 Mies van der Rohe was working in Weimar Germany, and had begun his career of producing radically simplified, lovingly detailed structures that achieved Sullivan's goal of inherent architectural beauty. Corbu famously said "a house is a machine for living in"; his 1923 book Vers une Architecture was, and is, very influential, and his early built work such as the Villa Savoye in Poissy, France is thought of as prototypically functional.
In the mid 1930s functionalism began to discussed as an aesthetic approach rather than a matter of design integrity. The idea of functionalism was conflated with lack of ornamentation, which is a different matter. It became a pejorative term associated with the most bald and brutal ways to cover space, like cheap commerical buildings and sheds, then finally used, for example in academic criticism of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes, simply as a synonym for 'gauche'.
For 70 years the preeminent and influential American architect Philip Johnson held that the profession has no functional responsibility whatsoever, and this is the prevailing view today. The most well-known architects in the west, like Frank Gehry, Steven Holl, Richard Meier and I.M. Pei, see themselves as artists with no responsibility to clients or users. Their buildings are works of art and not subject to practical criticism. The position of postmodern architect Peter Eisenman is based on a user-hostile theoretical basis and even more extreme: "I don't do function." The debate about functionalism and aesthetics is often framed by them as a mutually exclusive choice, when in fact there are architects, like Will Bruder, James Stewart Polshek and Ken Yeang, who attempt to satisfy all three Vitruvian goals.
References
Link to Quote (http://www.great-quotes.com/db.cgi?db=db&uid=default&Author_First_Name=Le&Author_Last_Name=Corbusier&mh=10&sb=---&so=ASC&ww=on&view_records=View+Records.com)
Vers une Architecture and Villa Savoye: A Comparison of Treatise and Building (http://www.lesterkorzilius.com/pubs/ma/vua_vs/00.htm) - A multipart essay explaining the basics of Le Corbusier's theory and contrasting them with his built work.
Behne, Adolf (1923). The Modern Functional Building. Michael Robinson, trans. Santa Monica: Getty Research Institute, 1996.
Forty, Adrian. "Function". Words and Buildings, A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture. Thames & Hudson, 2000, p. 174-195.