CHAPTER 1

1. INTRODUCTION

Design is the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a

system. Design has different connotations in different aspects. More formally design has been
defined as follows.

Is defined as a specification of an object, manifested by an agent, intended to accomplish

goals, in a particular environment, using a set of primitive components, satisfying a set of
requirements, subject to constraints.

Another definition for design is a roadmap or a strategic approach for someone to achieve a
unique expectation. It defines the specifications, plans, parameters, costs, activities, processes
and how and what to do within legal, political, social, environmental, safety and economic
constraints in achieving that objective. with such a broad denotation, there is no universal
language or unifying institution for designers of all disciplines. This allows for many
differing philosophies and approaches toward the subject.

The person designing is called a designer, which is also a term used for people who work
professionally in one of the various design areas, usually also specifying which area is being
dealt with. A designer's sequence of activities is called a design process. The scientific study
of design is called design science.

Designing often necessitates considering the aesthetic, functional, economic and socio-
political dimensions of both the design object and design process. It may involve
considerable research, thought, modelling, interactive adjustment, and re-design.

1.1 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

 To define & study the design process and to arrive at a definitive path
 To understand the different defined design process methods.
 To comprehend the philosophies for guiding design.
  To analyse the importance of theory of architecture to better facilitate the rationale
behind design as a process
 History of architecture & architecture today.
 The various approach philosophy of design by architects as stated by architects.
 The two main principles of design: “form follows function” & “function follows
form” with examples that personify these principles.
 Conclusion based on all these parameters.

CHAPTER 2

2. DESIGN AS A PROCESS

Substantial disagreement exists concerning how a designer in many fields, whether amateur
or professional, alone or in teams, produce designs. Dorst and Dijkhuis argued that "there are
many ways of describing design processes" and discussed "two basic and fundamentally
different ways",both of which have several names. The prevailing view has been called "The
Rational Model", "Technical Problem Solving" and "The Reason-Centric Perspective".The
alternative view has been called "Reflection-in-Action", "Evolutionary Design", "co-
evolution" and "The Action-Centric Perspective".

2.1 THE RATIONAL MODEL

The Rational Model was independently developed by Simon and Pahl and Beitz. It posits
that:

1. Designers attempt to optimize a design candidate for

known constraints and objectives,
2. The design process is plan-driven,
3. The design process is understood in terms of a discrete sequence of stages.
The Rational Model is based on a rationalist philosophy and underlies the Waterfall
Model, Systems Development Life Cycle and much of the engineering
design literature. According to the rationalist philosophy, design is informed by research and
knowledge in a predictable and controlled manner. Technical rationality is at the centre of the
process.

2.1.1 EXAMPLE SEQUENCE OF STAGES

Typical stages consistent with The Rational Model include the following.

 Pre-production design
 Design brief or Parti pris – an early (often the beginning) statement of design goals
 Analysis – analysis of current design goals
 Research – investigating similar design solutions in the field or related topics
 Specification – specifying requirements of a design solution for a product (product
design specification) or service.
 Problem solving – conceptualizing and documenting design solutions
 Presentation – presenting design solutions
 Design during production
 Development – continuation and improvement of a designed solution
 Testing – in situ testing a designed solution
 Post-production design feedback for future designs
 Implementation – introducing the designed solution into the environment
 Evaluation and conclusion – summary of process and results, including constructive
criticism and suggestions for future improvements
 Redesign – any or all stages in the design process repeated (with corrections made) at
any time before, during, or after production.

Each stage has many associated best practices.

2.1.2 CRITICISM OF THE RATIONAL MODEL

The Rational Model has been widely criticized on two primary grounds

1. Designers do not work this way – extensive empirical evidence has demonstrated that
designers do not act as the rational model suggests.
2. Unrealistic assumptions – goals are often unknown when a design project begins, and
the requirements and constraints continue to change.

2.2 THE ACTION-CENTRIC MODEL.

The Action-Centric Perspective is a label given to a collection of interrelated concepts, which

are antithetical to The Rational Model. It posits that:

1. Designers use creativity and emotion to generate design candidates,

2. The design process is improvised,
3. No universal sequence of stages is apparent – analysis, design and implementation are
contemporary and inextricably linked.

The Action-Centric Perspective is based on an empiricist philosophy and broadly consistent

with the agile approach and a methodical development. Substantial empirical evidence
supports the veracity of this perspective in describing the actions of real designers. Like the
Rational Model, the Action-Centric model sees design as informed by research and
knowledge. However, research and knowledge are brought into the design process through
the judgment and common sense of designers – by designers "thinking on their feet" – more
than through the predictable and controlled process stipulated by the Rational Model.
Designers' context-dependent experience and professional judgment take centre stage more
than technical rationality.

2.2.1 DESCRIPTIONS OF DESIGN ACTIVITIES

At least two views of design activity are consistent with the Action-Centric Perspective. Both
involve three basic activities.
In the Reflection-in-Action paradigm, designers alternate between "framing," "making
moves," and "evaluate moves." "Framing" refers to conceptualizing the problem, i.e.,
defining goals and objectives. A "move" is a tentative design decision. The evaluation
process may lead to further moves in the design.

In the Sense making-Coevolution-Implementation Framework, designers alternate between

its three titular activities. Sense making includes both framing and evaluating moves.
Implementation is the process of constructing the design object. Coevolution is "the process
where the design agent simultaneously refines its mental picture of the design object based on
its mental picture of the context, and vice versa."

The concept of the Design Cycle describes the reflective and repetitive structure of design
processes, assuming that this structure is underlying all such processes. The Design Cycle is
understood as a circular time structure, which may start with the thinking of an idea, then
expressing it by the use of visual and/or verbal means of communication (design tools), the
sharing and perceiving of the expressed idea, and finally starting a new cycle with the critical
rethinking of the perceived idea. Anderson points out that this concept emphasizes the
importance of the means of expression, which at the same time are means of perception of
any design ideas.

2.2.2 CRITICISM OF THE ACTION-CENTRIC PERSPECTIVE

As this perspective is relatively new, it has not yet encountered much criticism. One possible
criticism is that it is less intuitive than The Rational Mode

CHAPTER 3

3. OTHER PHILOSOPHIES THAT DESIGNERS USE ARE

The other methods of designing which have come into place due to cultural and social
circumstances have also been discussed here, such as yin yang theory, feng Shui and vastu
shastra. These three play a vital role in design as they are dominantly used in south Asian
countries. The fundamental concepts and process of a design is hence being based on theses
theories. Another important philosophy that is widely being relied upon for designing is the
vitrivian theory, which is based on mathematics and logistics.

3.1 VITRIVIAN THEORY

Architecture begins with geometry. Since earliest times, architects have relied on
mathematical principles. The ancient Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius believed that
builders should always use precise ratios when constructing temples. "For without symmetry
and proportion no temple can have a regular plan," Vitruvius wrote in his famous treatise De
Architectura, or Ten Books on Architecture.

Fig. 1 Leonardo Da Vinci, Vitrivian Man

The proportion Vitruvius recommended was modelled after the human body. He observed
that all human beings are shaped according to a ratio that is astonishingly precise and
uniform. For example, Vitruvius found that the human face equals one tenth of the total body
height. The foot equals one sixth of the total body height. And so on.
Scientists and philosophers later discovered that the same ratio Vitruvius saw in the human
body – 1 to PHI (1.618) – exists in every part of nature, from swimming fish to swirling
planets. This divine ratio, or divine proportion, has been called the building block of all life.

3.1.1 ARE OUR BUILDINGS SHAPED BY SACRED NUMBERS AND HIDDEN

CODES?

Sacred geometry, or spiritual geometry, is the belief that numbers and patterns such as the
divine ratio have sacred significance. Many mystical and spiritual practices, including
astrology, numerology, tarot, and Feng Shui, begin with a fundamental belief in sacred
geometry. Architects and designers may draw upon concepts of sacred geometry when they
choose particular geometric forms to create pleasing, soul-satisfying spaces.

Before you dismiss the idea of sacred geometry, take a few moments to reflect on the ways
some numbers and patterns appear again and again in every part of your life.

 Geometry in Your Body

When studied under the microscope, living cells reveal a highly ordered system of
shapes and patterns. From the shape of your DNA to the cornea of your eye, every
part of your body follows the same predictable patterns.
 Geometry in Your Garden
The jigsaw puzzle of life is made up of recurring shapes and numbers. Leaves,
flowers, seeds, and other living things share the same spiral shapes. Honeybees and
other insects live structured lives that mimic these patterns. When we create a floral
arrangement or walk through a labyrinth, we celebrate nature’s innate forms.
 Fig. 2 Yellow Chamomile Head Showing The Arrangement In 21 (Blue) And 13
(Aqua) Spirals.
 Geometry in Stones
Nature’s archetypes are reflected in the crystalline forms of gems and stones.
Amazingly, the patterns found in your diamond engagement ring may resemble the
formation of snowflakes and the shape of your own cells.
 Geometry in the Sea
Similar shapes and numbers are found beneath the sea, from the swirl of a nautilus
shell to the movement of the tides.
 Geometry in the Heavens
Nature’s patterns are echoed in the movement of planets and stars and the cycles of
the moon. Perhaps this is why astrology lies at the heart of so many spiritual beliefs.
 Geometry in Music
The vibrations we call sound follow sacred, archetypal patterns. For this reason, you
may find that certain sound sequences can stimulate the intellect, inspire creativity,
and evoke a deep sense of joy.
 Geometry and the Cosmic Grid
Stonehenge, metalithic tombs, and other ancient sites stretch across the globe along
underground electromagnetic tracks, or ley lines. The energy grid formed by these
lines suggest sacred shapes and ratios.
Fig. 3 The stone henge.

 Geometry and Theology

In his best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown used concepts of
sacred geometry to weave a spell-binding tale about conspiracy and early Christianity.
Brown's book is pure fiction and has been hotly criticized. But, even when we dismiss
The Da Vinci Code as a tall tale, we can't dismiss the importance of numbers and
symbols in religious faith. Concepts of sacred geometry are expressed in the beliefs of
Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and other formal religions.
 Geometry and Architecture
From the pyramids in Egypt to the new World Trade Centre tower in New York, great
architecture uses the same essential building blocks as your body and all living things.
Moreover, the principles of geometry are not confined to great temples and
monuments. Geometry shapes all buildings, no matter how humble. Believers say that
when we recognize geometric principles and build upon them, we create dwellings
that comfort and inspire.
Fig. 4 The golden ratio and the Parthenon in Athens.

3.2 FENG SHUI THEORY

Donald Trump uses it. Virgin Airlines, the Bank of England and the United Nations
embraced it. Even that old hit TV series, Big Brother, employed ideas borrowed from this
ancient art. But what, exactly, is Feng Shui.

"Feng Shui teaches us how to create healthy harmonious environments," says Stanley
Bartlett, who uses the centuries-old art to design homes and businesses. The ideas date back
at least 3,000 years, yet a growing number of architects and decorators are integrating Feng
Shui ideas with contemporary building design.

Fig. 5 The Bank Of England

Feng Shui is an intuitive art of understanding the energy of elements. Feng is wind and Shui
is water. Designers and decorators claim that they can "feel" the surrounding, universal
energy -- called ch'i. But architects who incorporate the Eastern philosophy are not guided by
intuition alone. The ancient art prescribes lengthy and complex rules that may strike modern
homeowners as quirky. For example, your home should not be built at the end of a dead-end
road. Round pillars are better than square. Ceilings should be high and well-lit.

Fig. 6 Lo-Pan Compass

To further confuse the uninitiated, there are several different ways to practice Feng Shui:

 Use a compass or Lo-Pan to establish the most beneficial placement of rooms

 Draw on information from the Chinese horoscope
 Examine the surrounding land forms, streets, streams and buildings
 Use high-tech equipment to examine environmental health hazards, such as
electromagnetic radiation and toxic materials
 Use Feng Shui principles to help sell your house
 Use some variation of a tool called the Ba-Gua -- an octagonal chart outlining the
most favorable placement for rooms
 Manipulate surrounding ch'i with appropriate colors
Fig. 7 Ba-Gua -- an octagonal chart

Yet even the most baffling practices have a basis in common sense. For example, Feng Shui
principles warn that a kitchen door should not face the stove. The reason is a person working
at the stove may instinctively want to glance back at the door. This creates a feeling of
unease, which can lead to accidents.

Fig. 8 Master Lam Kam Chuen.

"Everything in nature expresses its own energetic force," says Master Lam Kam Chuen.
"Recognizing this is essential to creating a living environment in which Yin and Yang are
balanced."

Despite the numerous complicated rules, Feng Shui adapts to many architectural styles.
Indeed, the clean, uncluttered appearance may be your only clue that a home or office
building was designed according to Feng Shui principles.

3.3 YIN YANG THEORY

The Yin Yang theory is one of the main theories of all ancient Chinese schools of thought.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), ancient martial arts, Feng Shui, the I Ching, and the
whole Taoism cosmology are all based on the dynamics Yin and Yang. According to this
theory, everything in our Universe is composed of two opposing, but deeply interconnected
forces - the Yin (feminine) and the Yang (masculine).

Fig. 9 Yin & Yang Symbol

The interaction of these two Feng Shui forces creates the essence of life around us. One
cannot exist without the other, as in their seeming opposition, they deeply support and
nourish each other. The best representation of the harmonious interaction of the Yin and
Yang forces is the Tai Chi symbol.

Expressed in Feng Shui colours, the Yin, feminine energy is black and the Yang, masculine
energy is white. Energy-wise, Yin is soft, slow, relaxed, diffused, moist, passive and silent.
Think of the rhythms and essence of feminine energy - the softness of water, the mystery of
the Moon, the blackness of rich soil and the deep silence of the night. The Yang force is
expressed by a contrasting, opposite to Yin quality of energy. Think of the fiery directness of
the Sun, the aggressive speed of racing cars, the rock solid surface of a mountain, the focused
energy of a laser beam. Yang is the fiery essence of the mid-day sun and Yin is the stillness
and mystery of the night. Because your home needs a balanced Feng Shui energy in order to
support your well-being, it is important to understand the application of the Yin Yang theory
on a practical, simple level.
  YIN (passive energy) is the Feng Shui energy of relaxation that you need in your
bedroom or in your Feng Shui spa bathroom. Yin is in the calm colours around you,
the soft music, the sound of a water fountain and the soothing, relaxing art images.
 YANG (active energy) is the Feng Shui energy characterized by strong, vibrant
sounds and colors, bright lights, upward moving energy, etc. You want Yang energy
in your home office, your kitchen and at a good dinner party with friends.

The Yin Yang energies cannot exist in isolation; they define each other, as one is the
condition for the other's existence. Thus, a good Feng Shui home has to have a harmonious
rhythm of both active and passive energies. In the Western culture we tend to experience an
imbalance of Feng Shui energies. We live in a constant flow of the very active, busy, Yang
Feng Shui energy and often weak, or even missing Yin energy (the relaxed and nourishing
one). Creating a home that will reflect the Feng Shui Yin Yang balance is very important.
There will always be one quality of energy that is stronger depending on the use of the space,
but you need to represent both Feng Shui energies. Here are examples of the play of Yin and
Yang energies in a good Feng Shui home:

 Yin Energy in Your Home. Your bedroom needs the relaxing Yin energy in order to
heal you, so it is crucial to let go of all the dominant Yang Feng Shui elements in the
bedroom, such as the TV, exercise equipment, or office items. While the Yin energy
needs to be the predominant energy in your bedroom (think relaxation, cocooning,
sensuality, sleep); you also need a slight presence of Yang (think red candles,
arousing images, a light accent color to balance the deep colors, etc.) The same
principle applies to your bathroom.

 Yang Energy in Your Home. On the other hand, your family room, your living room,
your home office, and your kitchen are definitely Feng Shui spaces that will benefit
from a strong presence of Yang energy. Choose vibrant colors, lively music, and a
variety of Feng Shui decor items to create an active quality of energy (family photos,
books, games, etc.)

Even though the Yin, or relaxing element, is not the dominant element here, you still
 need to have it for balance. Introduce deep colours, relaxed and comfortable seating,
as well as some images with soothing Yin energy.

Having a harmonious balance of both Yin and Yang Feng Shui forces in your home will
create the quality of energy you need in order to live a healthy and fulfilling life.

3.4 VASTU SHASTRA

Vastu shastra (vāstu śāstra, also vastu veda and vastuvidya, "science of construction",
"architecture") is an ancient doctrine which consists of precepts born out of a traditional view
on how the laws of nature affect human dwellings. The designs are based
on directional alignments. It used to be applied in Hindu architecture, especially for Hindu
temples, and covers other domains, including vehicles, vessels, furniture, sculpture, paintings
etc. The foundation of Vastu is traditionally ascribed to the sage Maamuni Mayan (Mahaa-
muni Maya, a daanava/demon reformed by tapasyaa/austerities) in South India,
and Vishvakarman in North India.

While Vastu had long been essentially restricted to temple architecture, there has been a
revival of it in India, in recent decades, notably under the influence of late V. Ganapati
Sthapati, who has been campaigning for a restoration of the tradition in modern Indian
society since the 1960s. While the fields are related, Shilpa Shastraexplicitly deals with
sculpture – forms, statues, icons, stone murals etc. The doctrine of Vastu Shastra is concerned
primarily with architecture – building houses, forts, temples, apartments and other buildings.

Fig. 10 Conception for Iraivan Temple, Kauai, Hawaii, by foremost Sthapati

3.4.1 FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

There are many principles in Vastu Shastra. To mention a few which involve certain
mathematical calculations, Maana is used for proportional relationships in a building
and Aayaadi specifies conditions for maximum well-being and benefits for the residents of a
building. Below are some of the basic theories in vastu sastra.

3.4.2 FIVE ELEMENTS

According to vastu sastra, the world comprises five basic elements known as the pancha
maha bhoota. Out of the eight planets, ours has life because of the presence and balance of
these five elements. The five elements are as follows.

 Earth (Bhumi) - Earth, the third planet in order from the sun, is a big magnet with
North and South poles as centers of attractions. Its magnetic field and gravitational
force has considerable effects on everything on the Earth, living and non-living.

 Water (Jal) - This is represented by rain, river, sea and is in the form of liquid, solid
(ice) and gas (steam, cloud). It forms part of every plant and animal. Our blood is
mostly water.

 Air (Vayu) - As a life supporting element, air is a very powerful life source. Human
physical comfort values are directly and sensitively dependent on correct humidity, air
flow, temperature of air, air pressure, air composition and its content.

 Fire (Agni) - Represents light and heat which account for day, night, the seasons,
energy, enthusiasm, passion and vigour.

 Space (Akasha) - The Akasha provides shelter to all the above elements. It is also
considered the primary conductor of all energy sources within the universal context –
physical energies such as sound and light, social energies such as psychological and
emotional, and cognitive energies such as intellect and intuition.
Fig. 10 The concept of Vastu Purusha

Fig. 11 House Grid With Sloping Roof And Open Courtyard.

There is an invisible and constant relation between all the five elements. Thus, the person can
improve their conditions by properly designing their buildings by understanding the
effectiveness of these five natural forces. Vastu Sastra combines all the five elements of
nature and balances them with the person and the material. It takes advantage of the benefits
bestowed by the five elements of nature to create a congenial living and working environment
thereby facilitating spiritual well-being and paving the way for enhanced health, wealth,
prosperity and happiness.

Fig. 12 Jagannatha Puri Temple

In Indian architecture, the dwelling is itself a shrine. A home is called Manushyalaya,

literally, "Human Temple". It is not merely a shelter for human beings in which to rest and
eat. The concept behind house design is the same as for temple design, so sacred and spiritual
are the two spaces. The "open courtyard" system of house design was the national pattern in
India before Western models were introduced. The order introduced into the "built space"
accounts for the creation of spiritual ambiance required for the in dweller to enjoy spiritual
well-being and material welfare and prosperity. At right is a typical layout of a square
building, with a grid of 9x9=81 squares, meant for family persons (for scientists, artists
and yogi a grid of 8x8=64 is prescribed). The space occupied by the central 3x3=9 squares is
called Brahmasthanam, meaning the "nuclear energy field". It should be kept unbuilt and
open to the sky so as to have contact with the outer space (akasha). This central courtyard is
likened to the lungs of the human body. It is not for living purposes. Religious and cultural
events can be held here—such as yajna (fire rituals), music and dance performances and
marriage. The row of squares surrounding the Brahmasthanam is the walkway. The corner
spaces, occupying 2x2=4 squares, are rooms with specific purposes. The northeast quarter is
called Isanya, the southeast Agni, the southwestNiruthi and northwest Vayu. These are said to
possess the qualities of four respective devatas or gods—Isa, Agni, Niruthi and Vayu.
Accordingly—with due respect to ecological friendliness with the subtle forces of the spirit—
those spaces (quarters) are assigned as follows: northeast for the home shrine, southeast for
the kitchen, southwest for the master bedroom and northwest for the storage of grains. The
spaces lying between the corner zones, measuring 4x6=24 squares (6 on each side), are those
of the north, east, south and west. They are meant for multi purposes.

Fig. 12 Vastupurshamandala

CHAPTER 4

4. THE DESIGN APPROACH

A design approach is a general philosophy that may or may not include a guide for specific
methods. Some are to guide the overall goal of the design. Other approaches are to guide the
tendencies of the designer. A combination of approaches may be used if they don't conflict.

Some popular approaches include:

 KISS principle, (Keep it Simple Stupid), which strives to eliminate unnecessary

complications.
 There is more than one way to do it (TIMTOWTDI), a philosophy to allow multiple
methods of doing the same thing.
 Use-centered design, which focuses on the goals and tasks associated with the use of the
artifact, rather than focusing on the end user.
 User-centered design, which focuses on the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user
of the designed artifact.
 Critical design uses designed artifacts as an embodied critique or commentary on existing
values, morals, and practices in a culture.
 Service design designing or organizing the experience around a product, the service
associated with a product's use.
 Transgene rational design, the practice of making products and environments compatible
with those physical and sensory impairments associated with human aging and which
limit major activities of daily living.
 Speculative design, the speculative design process doesn’t necessarily define a specific
problem to solve, but establishes a provocative starting point from which a design process
emerges. The result is an evolution of fluctuating iteration and reflection using designed
objects to provoke questions and stimulate discussion in academic and research settings

4.1 METHODS OF DESIGNING

Design Methods is a broad area that focuses on:

 Exploring possibilities and constraints by focusing critical thinking skills to research and
define problem spaces for existing products or services—or the creation of new
categories; (see also Brainstorming)
 Redefining the specifications of design solutions which can lead to better guidelines for
traditional design activities (graphic, industrial, architectural, etc.);
 Managing the process of exploring, defining, creating artifacts continually over time
 Prototyping possible scenarios, or solutions that incrementally or significantly improve
the inherited situation
 Trend spotting; understanding the trend process.
 CHAPTER 5

5. THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE

The term theory of architecture was originally simply the accepted translation of the Latin
term ratiocinatio as used by Vitruvius, a Roman architect-engineer of the 1st century ad, to
differentiate intellectual from practical knowledge in architectural education; but it has come
to signify the total basis for judging the merits of buildings or building projects. Such
reasoned judgments are an essential part of the architectural creative process. A building can
be designed only by a continuous creative, intellectual dialectic between imagination and
reason in the mind of each creator.

The built environment has the capacity to shape a people’s thinking, interactions and even
culture. This is the kind of power that exists in an Architect’s hand. It is the power to create
something from nothing and in the process solve societal problems. In light of this, the work
that an Architect does must be seriously informed by not only set rules and guidelines (like
council by-laws), but by centuries of documented research and experience in form of
Architectural theory. Many people in history have written on theory of design and the design
process including an Architect known as Salingaros.

Fig. 13 Lower Manhattan, March 2001. The 20th century saw cities across the world
transformed by highrise buildings in the International Style.

Salingaros describes architecture (or at least architecture that he terms “adaptive”) as a

characteristic phenomenon of Emergence. Wikipedia describes emergence as the way
complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Big
words. The interpretation of this is that design is informed by small components interacting to
form bigger ones and slowly evolving into a solution. He further states “It is generally
acknowledged nowadays that Architectural theory has degenerated into a narrow point of
view, neglecting architectural space and meaning.”He has a model that judges the success of
Architecture by the quality of life in a building.

This is a great foundation for any Architect working on a design solution. The Architect must
understand and apply architectural space and meaning in his designs. This is however
difficult without the proper backing of Architectural theory.

Fig. 14 Machu Picchu, Peru, shows the adaptations of architecture and town planning to a
rugged natural site

There is sometimes a slight disconnect between the theory of Architecture taught in school
and the actual practice. Architectural theory is what separates the Architect from a
draughtsman, because Architecture is not about drawing walls and labelling the room but
about the creation and manipulation of spaces guided by laid down principles of designing a
liveable environment. Without the foundation of Architectural theory informing your design,
it may prove difficult to convince one that you are aware of what you are doing.
Fig. 15 Angkor Wat, Cambodia, symmetry and elevation have often been utilised in the
architectural expression of religious devotion

5.1 THE DESIGN PROCESS BASED ON THORY OF ARCHITECTURE

a. The Context For Design

b. Arriving At The Diagram
1.Responding To The Site

Fig. 16 Fawcett, A. Peter, House for Anaesthetist, Sheffield 1987.

2.Choosing An Appropriate ‘Model’

3.Organising The Plan
Fig. 17 Children's center space organisation . Source : "Memo to Architects," New York
City Housing Authority, New York .

c. Choosing Appropriate Technologies

1. Structure
2. Services
3. How Will It Stand Up?
4. How Is It Made?
5. Will It Be Comfortable?
6. Will It Be Green?
7. How Will It Look?
d. Expression V Suppression
1. Roof
2. Openings
3. Elevations
4. Wall Membranes
 Fig. 18 Hipped and valleyed roof.
5. The Corner
6. Scale
e. The Spaces Around
1. Centrifugal And Centripetal Space
2. Urban Space Typology

CHAPTER 6

6. HISTORY OF DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE

6.1 ORIGINS AND VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

Building first evolved out of the dynamics between needs (shelter, security, worship, etc.)
and means (available building materials and attendant skills). As human cultures developed
and knowledge began to be formalized through oral traditions and practices, building became
a craft, and "architecture" is the name given to the most highly formalized and respected
versions of that craft.

It is widely assumed that architectural success was the product of a process of trial and error,
with progressively less trial and more replication as the results of the process proved
increasingly satisfactory. What is termed vernacular architecture continues to be produced in
many parts of the world. Indeed, vernacular buildings make up most of the built world that
people experience every day. Early human settlements were mostly rural. Due to a surplus in
production the economy began to expand resulting in urbanization thus creating urban
areas which grew and evolved very rapidly in some cases, such as that of Çatal
Höyük in Anatolia and Mohenjo Daro of the Indus Valley Civilization in modern-
day Pakistan.

Fig. 19 Vernacular architecture in Norway

6.2 ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE

In many ancient civilizations, such as those of Egypt and Mesopotamia, architecture and
urbanism reflected the constant engagement with the divine and the supernatural, and many
ancient cultures resorted to monumentality in architecture to represent symbolically the
political power of the ruler, the ruling elite, or the state itself.

Fig. 20 The Pyramids at Giza in Egypt.

The architecture and urbanism of the Classical civilizations such as the Greek and
the Roman evolved from civic ideals rather than religious or empirical ones and new building
types emerged. Architectural "style" developed in the form of the Classical orders.

Texts on architecture have been written since ancient time. These texts provided both general
advice and specific formal prescriptions or canons. Some examples of canons are found in the
writings of the 1st-century BCE Roman military engineer Vitruvius. Some of the most
important early examples of canonic architecture are religious.

6.3 ASIAN ARCHITECTURE

Fig. 21 Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), Kyoto, Japan

Early Asian writings on architecture include the Kao Gong Ji of China from the 7th–5th
centuries BCE; the Shilpa Shastras of ancient Indiaand Manjusri Vasthu Vidya Sastra of Sri
Lanka.

The architecture of different parts of Asia developed along different lines from that of
Europe; Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh architecture each having different characteristics. Buddhist
architecture, in particular, showed great regional diversity. Hindu temple architecture, which
developed around the 3rd century BCE, is governed by concepts laid down in the Shastras,
and is concerned with expressing the macrocosm and the microcosm. In
many Asian countries, pantheistic religion led to architectural forms that were designed
specifically to enhance the natural landscape.

6.4 ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

Islamic architecture began in the 7th century CE, incorporating architectural forms from the
ancient Middle East and Byzantium, but also developing features to suit the religious and
social needs of the society. Examples can be found throughout the Middle East, North Africa,
Spain and the Indian Sub-continent. The widespread application of the pointed arch was to
influence European architecture of the Medieval period.

Fig. 22 The Taj Mahal (1632–1653), in India

6.5 THE MEDIEVAL BUILDER

In Europe during the Medieval period, guilds were formed by craftsmen to organize their
trades and written contracts have survived, particularly in relation to ecclesiastical buildings.
The role of architect was usually one with that of master mason, or Magister lathomorum as
they are sometimes described in contemporary documents.

Fig. 23 Notre Dame de Paris, France

The major architectural undertakings were the buildings of abbeys and cathedrals. From
about 900 CE onwards, the movements of both clerics and tradesmen carried architectural
knowledge across Europe, resulting in the pan-European styles Romanesque and Gothic.
6.6 RENAISSANCE AND THE ARCHITECT

In Renaissance Europe, from about 1400 onwards, there was a revival of Classical learning
accompanied by the development of Renaissance Humanism which placed greater emphasis
on the role of the individual in society than had been the case during the Medieval period.
Buildings were ascribed to specific architects –
Brunelleschi, Alberti, Michelangelo, Palladio – and the cult of the individual had begun.
There was still no dividing line between artist, architect and engineer, or any of the related
vocations, and the appellation was often one of regional preference.

Fig. 24 La Rotonda (1567), Italy by Palladio

A revival of the Classical style in architecture was accompanied by a burgeoning of science

and engineering which affected the proportions and structure of buildings. At this stage, it
was still possible for an artist to design a bridge as the level of structural calculations
involved was within the scope of the generalist.

6.7 EARLY MODERN AND THE INDUSTRIAL AGE

With the emerging knowledge in scientific fields and the rise of new materials and
technology, architecture and engineering began to separate, and the architect began to
concentrate on aesthetics and the humanist aspects, often at the expense of technical aspects
of building design. There was also the rise of the "gentleman architect" who usually dealt
with wealthy clients and concentrated predominantly on visual qualities derived usually from
historical prototypes, typified by the many country houses of Great Britain that were created
in theNeo Gothic or Scottish Baronial styles. Formal architectural training in the 19th
century, for example at Ecole des Beaux Arts in France, gave much emphasis to the
production of beautiful drawings and little to context and feasibility. Effective architects
generally received their training in the offices of other architects, graduating to the role from
draughtsmen or clerks.

Fig. 25 Paris Opera by Charles Garnier (1875), France

Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution laid open the door for mass production and
consumption. Aesthetics became a criterion for the middle class as ornamented products,
once within the province of expensive craftsmanship, became cheaper under machine
production.

Vernacular architecture became increasingly ornamental. House builders could use current
architectural design in their work by combining features found in pattern books and
architectural journals.

6.8 MODERNISM AND REACTION

Around the beginning of the 20th century, a general dissatisfaction with the emphasis on
revivalist architecture and elaborate decoration gave rise to many new lines of thought that
served as precursors to Modern Architecture. Notable among these is the Deutscher
Werkbund, formed in 1907 to produce better quality machine made objects. The rise of the
profession of industrial design is usually placed here. Following this lead,
the Bauhaus school, founded in Weimar, Germany in 1919, redefined the architectural
bounds prior set throughout history, viewing the creation of a building as the ultimate
synthesis—the apex—of art, craft, and technology.

When Modern architecture was first practiced, it was an avant-garde movement with moral,
philosophical, and aesthetic underpinnings. Immediately after World War I, pioneering
modernist architects sought to develop a completely new style appropriate for a new post-war
social and economic order, focused on meeting the needs of the middle and working classes.
They rejected the architectural practice of the academic refinement of historical styles which
served the rapidly declining aristocratic order. The approach of the Modernist architects was
to reduce buildings to pure forms, removing historical references and ornament in favor of
functionalist details. Buildings displayed their functional and structural elements, exposing
steel beams and concrete surfaces instead of hiding them behind decorative forms.

Fig. 26 The Bauhaus Dessau architecture department from 1925 by Walter Gropius

Architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright developed Organic architecture in which the form was
defined by its environment and purpose, with an aim to promote harmony between human
habitation and the natural world with prime examples being Robie House and Falling Water.

Fig. 27 Fallingwater, Organic architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright

Architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson and Marcel Breuer worked to create
beauty based on the inherent qualities of building materials and modern construction
techniques, trading traditional historic forms for simplified geometric forms, celebrating the
new means and methods made possible by the Industrial Revolution, including steel-frame
construction, which gave birth to high-rise superstructures. By mid-century, Modernism had
morphed into the International Style, an aesthetic epitomized in many ways by the Twin
Towers of New York's World Trade Center.

Fig. 28 The Crystal Cathedral, California, by Philip Johnson (1980)

Many architects resisted Modernism, finding it devoid of the decorative richness of

ornamented styles and as the founders of that movement lost influence in the late
1970s, Postmodernismdeveloped as a reaction against its austerity. Postmodernism viewed
Modernism as being too extreme and even harsh in regards to design. Instead, Postmodernists
combined Modernism with older styles from before the 1900s to form a middle
ground. Robert Venturi's contention that a "decorated shed" (an ordinary building which is
functionally designed inside and embellished on the outside) was better than a "duck" (an
ungainly building in which the whole form and its function are tied together) gives an idea of
these approaches.

6.9 ARCHITECTURE TODAY

Since the 1980s, as the complexity of buildings began to increase (in terms of structural
systems, services, energy and technologies), the field of architecture became multi-
disciplinary with specializations for each project type, technological expertise or project
delivery methods. In addition, there has been an increased separation of the 'design'
architect from the 'project' architect who ensures that the project meets the required standards
and deals with matters of liability. The preparatory processes for the design of any large
building have become increasingly complicated, and require preliminary studies of such
matters as durability, sustainability, quality, money, and compliance with local laws. A large
structure can no longer be the design of one person but must be the work of
many. Modernism andPostmodernism, have been criticised by some members of the
architectural profession who feel that successful architecture is not a personal philosophical
or aesthetic pursuit by individualists; rather it has to consider everyday needs of people and
use technology to create liveable environments, with the design process being informed by
studies of behavioral, environmental, and social sciences.

Fig. 29 Postmodern design at Gare do Oriente, Lisbon, Portugal, by Santiago Calatrava.

Environmental sustainability has become a mainstream issue, with profound effect on the
architectural profession. Many developers, those who support the financing of buildings, have
become educated to encourage the facilitation of environmentally sustainable design, rather
than solutions based primarily on immediate cost.

Fig. 30 Green roof planted with native species at L'Historial de la Vendée, a new museum in
western France.

Major examples of this can be found in greener roof designs, biodegradable materials, and
more attention to a structure's energy usage. This major shift in architecture has also changed
architecture schools to focus more on the environment. Sustainability in architecture was
pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright, in the 1960s by Buckminster Fuller and in the 1970s by
architects such as Ian McHargand Sim Van der Ryn in the US and Brenda and Robert Vale in
the UK and New Zealand. There has been an acceleration in the number of buildings which
seek to meet green building sustainable design principles. Sustainable practices that were at
the core of vernacular architecture increasingly provide inspiration for environmentally and
socially sustainable contemporary techniques.[14] The U.S. Green Building
Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system has been
instrumental in this.

Fig. 31 Green roof

Concurrently, the recent movements of New Urbanism and New Classical

Architecture promote a sustainable approach towards construction, that appreciates and
develops smart growth, architectural tradition and classical design. This in contrast
to modernist and globally uniform architecture, as well as leaning against solitary housing
estates and suburban sprawl.

CHAPTER 7

7. THE PHILOSOPHIES OF DESIGN

7.1. INTRODUCTION

Every architect has their own individual philosophies regarding design; their design process
is primarily based on it. There are specific phrases coined or borrowed by architects which
abstractly explain the design process as a whole and some which is of polar opposites of the
design process.

Some of the phrases are:

 Form follows finance.

 Form follows fantasy.
 Form follows function.
 Function follows form.
 Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.

7.2 FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

Form follows function is a principle associated with modernist architecture and industrial
design in the 20th century. The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be
primarily based upon its intended function or purpose.

Wainwright Building by Louis Sullivan

The American architect, Louis Sullivan, Greenough's much younger compatriot, who
admired rationalist thinkers like Greenough, Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman and Melville,
coined the phrase in his article The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered in 1896,
though Sullivan later attributed the core idea to Marcus Vitruvius Pollio the Roman architect,
engineer and author who first asserted in his book De architectura that a structure must
exhibit the three qualities of firmitas, utilitas, venustas – that is, it must be solid, useful,
beautiful. Here Sullivan actually said "form ever follows function", but the simpler phrase is
the one usually remembered. For Sullivan this was distilled wisdom, an aesthetic credo, the
single "rule that shall permit of no exception". The full quote is thus:

"It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and
metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the
head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever
follows function. This is the law."

Sullivan developed the shape of the tall steel skyscraper in late 19th Century Chicago at the
very moment when technology, taste and economic forces converged violently and made it
necessary to drop the established styles of the past. If the shape of the building was not going
to be chosen out of the old pattern book something had to determine form, and according to
Sullivan it was going to be the purpose of the building. It was "form follows function", as
opposed to "form follows precedent". Sullivan's assistant Frank Lloyd Wright adopted and
professed the same principle in slightly different form—perhaps because shaking off the old
styles gave them more freedom and latitude.

Auditorium, Aarhus University.

7.2.1 DEBATE ON THE FUNCTIONALITY OF ORNAMENTATION.

In 1908 the Austrian architect Adolf Loos famously proclaimed that architectural ornament
was criminal, and his essay on that topic would become foundational to Modernism and
eventually trigger the careers of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, Mies van der
Rohe and Gerrit Rietveld. The Modernists adopted both of these equations—form follows
function, ornament is a crime—as moral principles, and they celebrated industrial artefacts
like steel water towers as brilliant and beautiful examples of plain, simple design integrity.

These two principles—form follows function, ornament is crime—are often invoked on the
same occasions for the same reasons, but they do not mean the same thing. If ornament on a
building may have social usefulness like aiding way finding, announcing the identity of the
building, signalling scale, or attracting new customers inside, then ornament can be seen as
functional, which puts those two articles of dogma at odds with each other.

Louis Sullivan, Architect

Conversely the argument "ornament is crime" does not say anything about function. It is an
aesthetic preference inspired by the Machine Age. While human performance may be
enhanced by a sense of well-being endowed by aesthetic pleasure, machines have no such
need of beauty to perform their work tirelessly. Ornament becomes an unnecessary relic, or
worse, an impediment to optimal engineering design and equipment maintenance. Other
stylistic "non-functional" features may rest untouched (e.g., the feeling of space, the
composition of the volumes) as we can see in the subsequent abstracted and non-ornamented
styles. Much of the confusion between these two concepts comes from the fact that ornament
traditionally derives from a function becoming a stylistic character
(e.g., the gargoyle from Gothic cathedrals).

Modernism in architecture began as a disciplined effort to allow the shape and organization
of a building to be determined only by functional requirements, instead of by
traditional aesthetic concepts. It assumes that the designer will determine empirically what is
or is not a functional requirement. The resulting architecture tended to be shockingly simpler,
flatter, and lighter than its older neighbours, possibly due to the limited number of functional
requirements upon which the designs were based; their functionality and refreshing
nakedness looked as honest and inevitable as an airplane. Modernists believed, perhaps
incorrectly, that airplane design did not involve any aesthetic decisions by the airplane
designers. A recognizable Modern vocabulary began to develop.

7.2.2 ARCHITECTURE

Louis Sullivan's phrase "form (ever) follows function" became a battle-cry of Modernist
architects after the 1930s. The credo was taken to imply that decorative elements, which
architects call "ornament," were superfluous in modern buildings. However, Sullivan himself
neither thought nor designed along such dogmatic lines during the peak of his career. Indeed,
while his buildings could be spare and crisp in their principal masses, he often punctuated
their plain surfaces with eruptions of lush Art Nouveau and something like Celtic
Revival decorations, usually cast in iron or terra cotta, and ranging from organic forms like
vines and ivy, to more geometric designs, and interlace, inspired by his Irish design heritage.
Probably the most famous example is the writhing green ironwork that covers the entrance
canopies of the Carson Pirie Scott department store on South State Street in Chicago. These
ornaments, often executed by the talented younger draftsman in Sullivan's employ, would
eventually become Sullivan's trade mark; to students of architecture, they are his instantly-
recognizable signature.

7.3 FUNCTION FOLLOWS FORM

“Life is a property of form, not matter, a result of the organization of matter rather than
something that inheres in the matter itself. - Christopher Langton, Artificial Life, p. 41
“There is… a well-defined difference between the magical and the scientific imitation of
life. The former copies external appearances; the latter is concerned with performance and
behavior.”- Grey Walter, The Living Brain, p. 115

The importance of form is perhaps one of the most contentiously debated subjects in
contemporary architectural discourse. However, the conceptual divide between those who
question the validity of “formalist” architecture, and those who embrace form as a
fundamental aspect of architectural production, need not represent the equivalent of an
ideological impasse. For both, form matters; what is in question is how and why it matters.

Fig. 24 Representation Of A Neural Network

While the roots of this debate may have sprung from the seed of proto-modernist architects,
like Viollet-le-Duc, who, in his defence of the structural principles of Gothic architecture and
their potential application for iron construction, anticipates the arguments of the European
avant-garde of the early 20th century, the debate itself begins in earnest with the functionalist
claims of this latter group. The dictum “form follows function,” repeated ad nauseum over
the century since its first articulation, is the symbolic nexus around which arguments
pertaining to form have been organized ever since. It remains relevant only insofar as it is
precisely the function of form that remains contested.
The inherent contradiction of the “functionalist” argument lies in the incommensurate
equation of specific architectural responses (forms) to abstract social behaviors. This
contradiction is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of social “functions,” resulting in
the over-generalization of nuanced forms of cultural production (work, leisure, home), that
simultaneously ignored the temporal dimension of social interaction – how different kinds of
work, leisure and domestics change over time. Following this logic, the modernists were
compelled to create highly generic spaces, like the office tower, which have proven
insufficient both formally and functionally. Were it not for the inherent adaptability of
people to spaces, the only resolution to such forms would be to follow the Futurist
recommendation that cities change their buildings as frequently as people change their
clothes.

Fig. 24 Viollet-De-Luc Concert Hall

The response to this kind of functionalism came swiftly; originating in Team X’s response to
the urban planning strategies of CIAM, which emphasized the importance of different sorts of
social interaction over the highly formalist separation of functions supported by the Athens
Charter. By the late 1960s, there was a full-fledged rejection of modernist
principles. Formulated in the wake of semiotics, this rejection re-positioned the function of
form as the expression of cultural signifiers.

Fig. 24 eisenmen memorial

Consumed with the post-structuralist analysis of “texts,” the post-modernists emphasized the
nature of architectural forms as cultural signifiers. The underlying argument of their work
relied on re-interpreting the architectural lexicon in ways that created symbolic associations
and fissures with the past. Laboring under the compendious critique of literary theorists, like
Jacques Derrida, the post-modernists focused on systems of elision, through which cultural
referents were utilized in ways that essentially problematized their ultimate meaning (or
reading). This kind of highly semantic re-contextualization was applied both to traditional,
historically recognizable and/or popular architectural forms (Venturi), and to modernist forms
alike (Peter Eisenman), and represents a re-orientation away from the “form follows
function” paradigm of modernism, towards a ethos best articulated as “form follows
meaning.”
The architectural production of the late twentieth and early 21st century is remarkable for its
theoretical impenetrability, and represents a refocusing away from general tenants pertaining
to either form or function, and towards the individual exegesis of what the historian Charles
Jencks (equally notable for his description of post-modernism) has called iconic
architecture. Reliant upon the supposed “genius” or talent (the cultural cache) of the
architect, this kind of architecture is remarkable for its theoretical opacity – it remains open to
criticism, but not to critique, unless that critique is based on its lack of any critical/social
foundation and/or formulation. In response, there has been a resurgence of theories that
attempt to re-establish the cultural importance of architecture as a genre enacted in the public
sphere, and retaining a degree of societal importance above and beyond the (more often than
not) unrealized commercial goals conceptually premised upon the existence of iconic
buildings designed by equally iconic architects – the “Bilbao effect” is as infrequently
reproduced as it is frequently attempted.

Fig. 24 Cctv Hotel Rem Koollhaas

As a result, one can only understand this production as a period of transition, during which
traditional principles of design were momentarily suspended, as a generation of arguably
exceptional architects came to terms with the new tools at their disposal, preparing, in their
way, for a new paradigm shift. This shift incorporates a unique re-instantiation of the
modernist functionalist paradigm, based now on powerful new means for architectural
modeling – parametric design. Parametric design is, in many respects, a hybrid – it attempts
to recreated the potential for iconic design, within the matrix of a series of pseudo-
scientifically derived principles. On the one hand, there is a trend towards optimized form,
based on highly probabilistic strategies of weather, structural wear and movement pattern
(social interaction) prediction, anticipation and accommodation. On the other hand, there is
also a trend towards “morphogenetic” design, based on equally probabilistic paradigms
derived from theories of complexity originating in the biological and physical sciences.

In either manifestation, the formal resolutions of contemporary parametric/biomorphic design

mimic Grey Walter’s definition of the magical predisposition cited at the beginning of this
essay. They produce the image of principles, rarely explored in any depth, and thus
frequently misunderstood, and thus misrepresented; they produce forms, more or less new,
divorced from any original reflection on the importance of form in the production
architecture. Ironically, and despite a resurgence in interest in the works of mid-century
modernists, like Buckminster Fuller, who emphasized the inherent relevance of form as it
pertains to structure and information, the contemporary emphasis on form tends to obscure
the fundamental importance of form in its own right. As a result, contemporary theorists fail
to recognized the necessary inversion of the original formalist argument implied by theories
of complexity, and dominant in contemporary biological discourse; form does not follow
function, rather function follows form.

This inverse relationship between form and function is representative of the work of post-war
cyberneticists, like Ross Ashby and Grey Walter, both neurophysiologists by training, and
finds strong representation in early theories of computer science, propounded by John von
Neumann (who developed the concept of parallel computing, or von Neumann
architecture). It also forms the basis of later work on complexity, chaos and Artificial Life,
propounded by the founder of the latter, Christopher Langton in the quote at the beginning of
this essay. The work of all of these precedents emphasizes the way in which functions are
derived from the formal matrixes that make such functions possible (it is the massively
parallel inter-relational architecture of the brain, for example, that results in its incredible
functionality as a matrix of thought); and while cybernetics has historically found few
architectural proponents, and the work of its inheritors has been refocused from material
interaction and (re)organization to computational systems that model or enact these systems
in a digital environment, the importance of this paradigmatic shift away from the
preeminence of function to that of form should not be ignored.

The early influence of cybernetic ideas on the discourse of architecture is best represented in
the work of Cedric Price, which, embracing a paradigm of emergence and expectance,
eschewed formalism, for infrastructural a-formalism. Price understood that the creation of
new social/cultural paradigms implied that the formal articulation of these paradigms could
not follow existent ones, but had to create conditions by means of which they would be
reinvented, resulting in architectural systems amendable to reorganization, and hence
emergence. In many respects, what he lacked was the technological, material and
computational means to design such spaces, and these we have today, in spades.

However, architects seem intent on systems of formal imposition, rather than on those of
emergence, ad hoc social interaction, spatial redefinition, and the formal articulation of
potential rather than stasis, of invitation rather than exclusion, and invention rather than
context; the sign of the architect, as creator, as the originator of sufficient forms, imposes a
system of formal articulation that, in its nature, is antithetical to emergent paradigms of space
creation at the level of individual interaction and behavior, thus sublimating the importance
of form as a functional determinant. It also frustrates the importance of form that lies at the
foundation of theories (like complexity) from which contemporary architecture so liberally
borrows. As a result, architectural production remains within the realm of magic described
by Grey Walter, forced to embrace superficial similes, rather than the formal principles that
lie behind their scientific precedents. The ego of architecture thus represents the frontier of
meaningful formal production; following the flawed model of Ayn Rand’s prototypical egoist
Howard Rourke, a creator of temporally constrained, socially ineffectual models of cultural
production, embodied in the individualist formal vocabulary of a passing fad.

7.4 FORM FOLLOWS FANTASY

The Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi coined the phrase "form follows fantasy" to the
deconstruction of architecture as opposed to the slogan "form follows function" as Louis
Sullivan coined to modernism.
Daniel Libeskind, The Jewish Museum - Viewed from above.

This new slogan shows how deconstruction in architecture breaks with modernism coupling
of form and function.

In the deconstructed architecture, you can see this imaginative creative, playful and cross
design in eg building shapes and lines as well as the windows and entrance wagons. Below
you can see a number of pictures of Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlin (1989-99).

Facade picture shows the entrance to the Jewish Museum in Berlin through the old building at
the far left of the image.

Like the dancing house can Libeskind's Jewish Museum is seen as a characteristic example of
this imaginative deconstruction of architecture. The architecture has been inspired in the
work of Schoenberg's opera Moses and Aaron and Benjamin culture critical essays
Einbahnstrasse. The building is almost an architectural symbol of the Jewish history that both
told through a traditional exhibition in the museum interior of the building and through the
building's physical form and expression.

Daniel Libeskind, Jewish Museum, 1989-99, Berlin.

The building's floor plan in the shape of a slightly warped Star of David and stands as a
dramatic sculpture of steel, concrete and zinc, which reflects the light from the environment.
The windows are not positioned as traditional windows, but cuts seemingly random crisscross
in building the body. But according to Libeskind form windows patterns that are related to
the areas of Jewish life unfolded.

When moving into the museum, go first into the old classic building, and it then enters
Libeskind's extension to the museum building through the basement and meet there by gently
sloping floors that makes guests feel physical discomfort, as if the Jewish people's traumatic
history is translated into a concrete physical narrative. The physical and spatial narrative of
Jewish history is a consistent feature of the building parts, which also void the Void and exile
garden ETA Hoffmann Garden through physical sensory stimuli such. cold, emptiness,
isolation, helplessness, confusion, and loss of sense of direction gives the visitor a concrete
physical impression of the Jewish history of the Holocaust and the experience of a life in
exile.

7.5 FORM FOLLOWS FINANCE

Form Follows Finance cautions that the city must be understood as a complex commercial
environment where buildings are themselves businesses, space is a commodity, and location
and image have value.
A GREAT mystery surrounding Rockefeller Centre, in the heart of New York, is how such a
masterpiece of urban renewal came to be created by a committee. Architects are notoriously
tetchy, yet somehow five top members of this quarrelsome profession managed to create
America's mightiest downtown development.

A still greater mystery is Rockefeller Centre's continued pre-eminence. It has inspired every
giant city-centre complex in modern America, including those in Detroit, Atlanta and San
Francisco. Yet none of these offspring has come anywhere near matching, let alone
surpassing, its parent's achievements.

The solution to both mysteries emerges in a close reading of Daniel Okrent's obsessively
detailed yet readable story about the transformation of 12 acres of speakeasies and flophouses
in midtown Manhattan into a soaring city-within-a-city. The answer, in a word, is the
economy. Work on Rockefeller Centre started in earnest in the winter of 1929-30 when, as a
contemporary observer put it, the whole economy of the United States clapped a hand over its
heart and uttered a piercing scream.
Rockefeller Centre, New York

Architects and developers, who could afford to be picky during the roaring 1920s, were
suddenly desperate for employment and there was only one big job available: the project
financed by John D. Rockefeller junior. In an effort to win a share of the work, fractious,
overbearing men were for once ready to behave nicely towards one another. Even such Cain-
and-Abel types as Raymond Hood, a hard-drinking visionary architect, and John Todd, the
authoritarian teetotaller that Rockefeller hired as his chief developer, became good business
buddies.

In a slumping economy, suppliers quoted rock-bottom prices—not just manufacturers of

steel, glass and scaffolding but also painters, sculptors and other artists seeking commissions.
It is to Todd's, and his master's, everlasting credit that they ordered and employed not the
cheapest but the temporarily affordable best and brightest. Both Rockefeller and Todd
realised that when the economy eventually recovered “the better the building, the higher the
rents”.

Of course, such a huge development was bound to excite controversy. A few of the
commissioned artists inevitably sought to defy Rockefeller's edict that religious and political
representations were out of place in commercial buildings. Diego Rivera had a panel
glorifying Lenin in a mural and Attilio Piccirilli snuck fascist imagery into architectural
sculpture.

The complex itself also provoked withering criticism. The New Yorker hated it at first and the
magazine's cranky editor, Harold Ross, provided ample space for Lewis Mumford, E.B.
White and other polemicists to mock and scorn and denigrate what he regarded as an eyesore.
But even he was eventually prepared to admit that he was wrong. The critics were all but
silenced when the New Yorker declared in 1933 that Rockefeller Centre was “beautiful” and
added that “if Mr Rockefeller will send us over a level teaspoonful of strained dirt, we will
eat it publicly”. Two years later, Le Corbusier, the high priest of modern architecture, gave
the complex his blessing. Its reputation has kept rising ever since. In an interview with Mr
Okrent, Paul Goldberger, a leading architectural critic, said of the collaborative design effort:
“A camel should have been produced. Instead, they got a racehorse.”
A Relationship Between Finance And Skyscrappers

7.6 FORM AND FUNCTION BOTH SHOULD BE JOINED IN A SPIRITUAL

UNION.

“Form follows function—that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one,
joined in a spiritual union.”

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum floor plan

As a young architect Frank Lloyd Wright worked for Louis Sullivan (1856–1924) in his
Chicago-based architecture firm. Sullivan is known for steel-frame constructions, considered
some of the earliest skyscrapers. Sullivan’s famous axiom, “form follows function,” became
the touchstone for many architects. This means that the purpose of a building should be the
starting point for its design. Wright extended the teachings of his mentor by changing the
phrase to “form and function are one.”

This principle is thoroughly visible in the plan for the Guggenheim Museum. According to
Wright’s design, visitors would enter the building, take an elevator to the top and enjoy a
continuous art-viewing experience while descending along the spiral ramp.

Exterior view of the museum

Wright’s design for the Guggenheim has sometimes been criticized for being inhospitable to
the art it displays. However, over the past five decades Wright’s design has housed a wide
variety of exhibitions, from traditional paintings to motorcycles to site-specific installations
by contemporary artists. According to former Guggenheim Director Tom Krens, “great
architecture has this capacity to adapt to changing functional uses without losing one bit of its
dignity or one bit of its original intention. And I think that's the great thing about the building
at the end of the day” (Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward Audioguide [New York:
Antenna Audio, Inc. and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2009]).

Section of the museum

Up to the very end of his life, Wright carried on a battle to be sure that the Guggenheim
embodied his belief in the unity of form and function. On July 15, 1958, less than a year
before his death, he wrote a letter that underscored the connection between his design for the
Guggenheim and the paintings it would exhibit. “Yes, it is hard…to understand a struggle for
harmony and unity between the painting and the building. No, it is not to subjugate the
paintings to the building that I conceived this plan. On the contrary, it was to make the
building and the painting a beautiful symphony such as never existed in the world of Art
before” (Frank Lloyd Wright to Harry Guggenheim, July 15, 1958. FromFrank Lloyd Wright:
From Within Outward [Exh. cat. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2009], p.
268).

CHAPTER 8

8. FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

8.1 INTRODUCTION

The design progress is a process which starts with the brief of the design, and goes on to site
analysis, various by laws, the requirements and various other factors, all these fundamentally
resulting in form follows function. What is so important about this phrase which places is
above the rest is mainly due to this fact that the design process as a whole is form follows
functions . Yes, other factors do play a vital role but fundamentally the interpretation that
form follows function work best when analysing the design process as a whole.

But, in today’s day and age the utilitarian nature of things has become a secondary factor in
design. The key then as a designer is to determine specifically who we are trying to sell to.
This very specifically is the function of a lot of design going on right now. It is not "I like
that" which determines form but rather "who needs to like that". Form still follows function
but function has been shifted to an entirely different realm for many designers. In our post
post-modern world the function of a piece can be very abstract. Often it is merely to attract a
specific group of people.

The function is largely the challenge of a project. Addressing the function is what makes
design good or bad. If you remove the function, you remove the foundation and in all
likelihood you'll end up with a really crappy building. Even in fine art a piece will inevitably
have it's roots in reason. Many of the great architects of our day and of days long past have
spent a large portion of their careers writing and lecturing on what these reasons are. Having
a reason of some kind whether psychological, mathematical or what-ever, is largely what
makes art legitimate. "Form Follows Function". This simple phrase carries nearly as much
weight in graphic design as in architecture and in industrial design. It has been the mantra of
many of the greatest designers of the 20th century.

8.2 HISTORY ANALYZED IN REGARDS TO FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION

Imhotep 27th century BC (circa 2650–2600 BC), was an Egyptian polymath, who served
under the Third Dynasty king Djoser as chancellor to the pharaoh and high priest of the sun
god Ra (or Re) at Heliopolis. He is considered by some to be the earliest
known architect and engineer and physician in early history.

Architecture and engineering

Pyramid of Djoser

Imhotep was one of the chief officials of the Pharaoh Djoser. Egyptologists ascribe to him the
design of the Pyramid of Djoser (the Step Pyramid) at Saqqara in Egypt in 2630 – 2611 BC.
The A few kilometers outside the modern city of Cairo, on a large, flat elevation at the edge
of the Sahara overlooking the Nile, is the world’s very first architectural complex. Nearly
5,000 years old, the centerpiece of this mind-boggling complex is a huge stepped pyramid
surrounded by strange temple-like structures. He may have been responsible for the first
known use of columns to support a building. The Egyptian historian Manetho credited him
with inventing the method of a stone-dressed building during Djoser's reign, though he was
not the first to actually build with stone. Stone walling, flooring, lintels, and jambs had
appeared sporadically during the Archaic Period, though it is true that a building of the Step
Pyramid's size and made entirely out of stone had never before been constructed. Before
Djoser, pharaohs were buried in mastaba tombs. This is mainly due to size of the base and
also using steps as a way to reduce the structural loading. Functionalism plays a vital role in
built form of the pyramid of Djoser.

8.3 EXAMPLES

8.3.1 KANCHANJUNGA APARTMENTS

Correa’s penchant for sectional displacement accompanied where appropriate by changes in

the floor surface, is at its most elaborate in the 28-story, Kanchanjunga apartments completed
in Bombay. Here Correa pushed his capacity for ingenious cellular planning to the limit, as is
evident from the interlock of the one and a half story, split-level, 3 and 4 bedroom units with
the two and half story 5 and 6 bedroom units. Smaller displacements of level were critical in
this work in that they differentiated between the external earth filled terraces and the internal
elevated living volumes. These subtle shifts enabled Correa to effectively shield these high
rise units from the effect of the both the sun and monsoon rains. This was largely achieved by
providing the tower with relatively deep, garden verandahs, suspended in the air. Clearly such
an arrangement had its precedent in the cross-over units of Le Corbusier’s Unit habitation
built at Marseilles in 1952, although here in Bombay the sectional provision was achieved
without resorting to the extreme of differentiating between up and down-going units. Whole
structure is made of reinforced concrete. The building is a 32-storeyed reinforced concrete
structure with 6.3m cantilevered open terraces. The central core houses lifts and other
services also provides the main structural element for resisting lateral loads. The central core
was constructed ahead of the main structure by slip method of construction. This technique
was used for the first time in India for a multi-storeyed building. With its concrete
construction and large areas of white panels, bears a strong resemblance to modern apartment
buildings in the West. However, the garden terraces of Kanchanjunga Apartments are
actually a modern interpretation of a feature of the traditional Indian bungalow: the
verandah. In a bungalow, the verandah wraps the main living area.

In Mumbai, a building has to be oriented east-west to catch prevailing sea breezes and to
open up the best views of the city. Unfortunately, these are also the directions of the hot sun
and the heavy monsoon rains. The old bungalows solved these problems by wrapping a
protective layer of verandas around the main living areas, thus providing the occupants with
two lines of defence against the elements. Kanchanjunga, an attempt to apply these principles
to a building, is a condominium of 32 luxury apartments of four different types, varying from
3 to 6 bedrooms each. The interlock of these variations are expressed externally by the shear
end walls that hold up the cantilevers. The tower has a proportion of 1:4 (21m square and
84m high). Its minimalist unbroken surfaces are cut away to open up the double-height
terrace gardens at the corners, thus revealing (through the interlocking form and colour) some
hint of the complex' spatial organisation of living spaces that lie within.

Fig. 24 Orientation and wind direction

8.3.2 FALLING WATER

]Fallingwater, the house designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for Edgar
Kaufmann in southwestern Pennsylvania, hangs over a waterfall using the architectural
device known as the cantilever. Wright described his architectural style as "organic"--in
harmony with nature, and though Fallingwater reveals vocabulary drawn from the
International style in certain aspects, this country house exhibits so many features typical of
Wright's natural style, the house very much engaged with its surroundings.

Fallingwater has provided enjoyment to many people over the years; as a stimulating
weekend retreat for the Kaufmann family and their friends, as a source of pride to the
architect and his associates, and now - cared for by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy -
as an exceptional experience for visitors from near and far....

When Wright came to the site he appreciated the powerful sound of the falls, the vitality of
the young forest, the dramatic rock ledges and boulders; these were elements to be
interwoven with the serenely soaring spaces of his structure. But Wright's insight penetrated
more deeply. He understood that people were creatures of nature, hence an architecture which
conformed to nature would conform to what was basic in people. For example, although all
of Fallingwater is opened by broad bands of windows, people inside are sheltered as in a deep
cave, secure in the sense of hill behind them. Their attention is directed toward the outside by
low ceilings; no lordly hall sets the tone but, instead, the luminous textures of the woodland,
rhythmically enframed. The materials of the structure blend with the colorings of rocks and
trees, while occasional accents are provided by bright furnishings, like wildflowers or birds
outside. The paths within the house, stairs and passages, meander without formality or
urgency, and the house hardly has a main entrance; there are many ways in and out.
Sociability and privacy are both available, as are the comforts of home and the adventures of
the seasons. So people are cosseted in to relaxing, into exploring the enjoyment of a life
refreshed in nature. Visitors, too, in due measure experience Wright's architecture as an
expansion of living.
Falling water opened a new chapter in American architecture, and is perhaps rightly
considered Wright's greatest work, for he was first and foremost an architect of houses. In its
careful yet startling integration of stone walls anchored to the bedrock and modern reinforced
concrete terraces hovering in space, Connors states that Fallingwater may be understood as
'one of the great critiques of the modern movement in architecture, and simultaneously one of
its masterpieces'. Yet we cannot help feeling that there is more to this design than even that;
this is an architecture that seizes our imagination, letting us see space and habitation in ways
that seem new, but which we simultaneously feel to be ancient, somehow fundamental to our
human nature.

Falling water is famous; from all over the world many thousands of visitors come each year
to its remote site. What draws them? - a most unusual house in an exceptionally picturesque
setting and something more, a reputation. In 1936, even before it was finished,
knowledgeable people talked about this new work of Frank Lloyd Wright.... After a time a
consensus arose that Wright had created a masterwork that appealed not only to professionals
but to the public generally. Fallingwater was not much like the earlier architecture that had
made Wright famous; it was just as distant from the avant-garde styles of the 1930s, and
surely like any popular "dream house." Yet now that Fallingwater has been tested by half-a-
century of the widest exposure, one can say that it marks a high point in Wright's vast oeuvre,
in American architecture, in the architecture of this century, and possibly in all architecture.

8.3.3 WAINWRIGHT BUILDING

The Wainwright Building (also known as the Wainwright State Office Building) is a 10-story
red brick office building at 709 Chestnut Street in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The
Wainwright Building is among the first skyscrapers in the world. It was designed byDankmar
Adler and Louis Sullivan in the Palazzo style and built between 1890 and 1891.

Aesthetically, the Wainwright Building exemplifies Sullivan's theories about the tall building,
which included a tripartite (three-part) composition (base-shaft-attic) based on the structure
of the classical column, and his desire to emphasize the height of the building. He wrote:
"[The skyscraper] must be tall, every inch of it tall. The force and power of altitude must be
in it the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch a proud and soaring
thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting
line." His 1896 article cited his Wainwright Building as an example. Despite the classical
column concept, the building's design was deliberately modern, featuring none of the
neoclassical style that Sullivan held in contempt.

One of Sullivan's primary concerns was the development of an architectural symbolism

consisting of simple geometric, structural forms and organic ornamentation. The Wainwright
Building where he juxtaposed the objective-tectonic and the subjective-organic was the first
demonstration of this symbolism. Unlike Sullivan, Adler described the building as a "plain
business structure" stating:

In a utilitarian age like ours it is safe to assume that the real-estate owner and the investor in
buildings will continue to erect the class of buildings from which the greatest possible
revenue can be obtained with the least possible outlay...

The purpose of erecting buildings other than those required for the shelter of their owners is
specifically that of making investments for profit. The building is considered the first
skyscraper to forgo the normal ornamentation used on skyscrapers at the time.Some
architectural elements from the building have been removed in renovations and taken to the
Sauget, Illinois storage site of the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation.

The Wainwright Building in 2012.

 CHAPTER 9

9. FUNCTION FOLLOWS FORM

9.1 INTRODUCTION

9.1.1DEFINITION

Function

“Function” is derived from the Latin term “functio” and means “accomplishment” in its
original sense. Function defines for which purpose something can be used. The concept of
function can be viewed from different perspectives. A usability expert will tend to think of
functions that serve to achieve a goal efficiently. In his many examples from nature, Sullivan
included not only this interpretation of function. He interprets the term “function” in a much
more comprehensive sense.

Form

“Form” can be equated with the term aesthetics. Aesthetics is derived from the Greek word
“aisthesis” which means “perception” and “sensation”4. Aesthetics is all about how we
perceive and interpret the world through our five senses. Thus, the statement “that is
aesthetically” does not merely mean “that something looks beautiful”. Accordingly,
aesthetics is not just about the visual part of our perception.

9.1.2 INTERPRETING “FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION”

There are two ways to interpret the phrase “form follows function”:
 Descriptive: beauty results from purity of function;
 Prescriptive: aesthetic considerations in design should be secondary to functional
considerations.

9.2 DESCRIPTIVE INTERPRETATION

The descriptive interpretation favors simplicity to complexity. It states that beauty results
from purity of function and not from ornamentation. This ideal derives from the belief that
form follows function in nature. Is this really true?
Actually, the opposite is true. Evolution passes on genetic traits to subsequent generations
without any rationale for their purpose. Each generation of a species then finds a use for the
form it has inherited. Function follows form in nature.
Applying functional elements to a design is generally a more objective process than applying
aesthetic elements. A functionally objective process results in designs that are timeless but
may be perceived as simple and uninteresting.

9.3 PRESCRIPTIVE INTE RPRETATION

The prescriptive interpretation prioritizes functionality over all other design considerations,
including usability, ergonomics and aesthetics.
Aesthetic considerations in design should be secondary to functional considerations. Is this
interpretation problematic? Does it lead designers to ask the wrong questions about a given
design?
This interpretation would seem to lead to designers to ask what should be omitted from a
design. What elements of a design do not serve a function and thus ought to be removed?
Should the form of a design be determined solely by its function?
Taken to the logical conclusion, every element would ultimately have the same design. Every
functional item would have one and only one design. Before an object’s form could be
changed, it would need to serve a different function.
Better questions come from your criteria for success. What aspects of you design are critical
to success? When time or resources is limited, what design trade-offs would least harm the
design’s success? Sometimes, certain aesthetics will have to be abandoned, and sometimes
certain functionality will have to be abandoned. Sometimes both aesthetics and functionality
will need to be compromised.
9.4 EXAMPLES

9.4.1 HADID’S SPITTELAUER ARCADE HOUSING

In the most famous quotation of Modernism (from Le Corbusier’s manifesto ‘Towards a New
Architecture, 1923) the art of architecture is defined as ‘the masterly, correct and magnificent
play of masses brought together in light’. Besides providing visual beauty a mayor concern in
the creation of buildings rely on whether the exterior, sculptural form should be allowed any
sort of priority over the contained interior spaces – or the interior functions should be
enhanced (in importance) to dominate the exterior expression?
In the case of a grain store the distinction between outer skins versus content will in general
be an easy task while in more complex jobs the architect will have to combine the will of
spaces with a concern for the outside appearance. In no way an easy decision which in turn
may lead to double coded or even contradicting facades.
In the case of Spittelauer Laende Housing (1999-2005) just north of central Vienna London-
based Zaha Hadid has clearly chosen a priority of sculptural form giving over eventual
interior needs of functions. The site offered is dominated by a culmination of densely
overlapping infrastructural elements like pedestrian walks and bicycle tracks along the slopes
of the Danube Canal interfering with one of Vienna’s busiest incoming roads next to
historical stages of Otto Wagner’s viaducts for the first underground (unused) railway to the
subway network that still exists.

Considering the complexity of transportation systems passing through and under this site the
architect has chosen to raise the flats on concrete columns or cutting up the complex in minor
parts in order to wrestle them free of the traffic corridors.
Earlier in her career Zaha Hadid (born in 1950) has made projects of adding-up building
compositions, for instance for the city of Hamburg, but in this realized housing complex the
different parts of flats are more clearly torn apart in at least three pieces in respect to the
transportation ducts beneath and around the buildings while providing better views and
access for daylight in the apartments. The resulting white stuccoed facades can be
experienced as a puzzle of related forms being intentionally drawn apart – in a very
convincing rhythm architecturally considered.
Most typically for the artistic signature of Hadid all parts of the flats are tilted in angular or
diamond shapes thus indicating building movements from one part of the facades to the next.
Considering the multitude of traffic corridors inflicting the basement the flats must have been
extremely difficult to plan and design – not to mention finance and later build. On the other
hand an exposed site hovering freely over the surrounding cityscape, except the
inconveniences from traffic noise, is a gift for the sculptural qualities of architecture which in
this case can be enjoyed undisturbed from any direction at far or close range.
Functionally considered a series of apartments, offices and artist’s studios weave like a
ribbon through, around and over the arched bays of the viaduct. The whitewashed buildings
in 4-5 floors playfully interact with themselves depending on the point of view or from which
side you penetrate the sculptured composition generating a multitude of spatial relationships.
The perception of these is intensified by the different speeds of the various transportation
elements in response to the architectural language.

Except the intriguing relations between the three building members public outdoor spaces are
enlivened by the infill of bars and restaurants under the viaduct arches. The related service
zone flows through the remaining openings and melts into the banks of the adjacent canal
creating a lively platform for public life. Even the rooftops are planned as private retreats and
ads up to the visual activity along the landscaped canal.
The building programme consists mainly of social housing, although studios and offices are
incorporated in the 4.000squaremetres complex In general terms windows appear rather small
sized in order not to split the visual calmness of the buildings too much while also shielding
the inhabitants against noise created by passing trains and vehicles.
In the future the project is planned be connected to the nearby University of business and to
the Northern train station by a pedestrian a bicycle bridge.

9.4.2 A FORMER NAZI BUNKER AND COMMUNIST POWE R PLANT

In contemporary Berlin, the opposite of ‘form follows function’ manifests itself in buildings
created in times of horror and repression. The meaning of architectural form and style can
change: a former Nazi bunker and a communist power plant show that function can follow
form, and turn horror into beauty.

Map showing discussed projects: 1) Bunker 2) Berlin Wall 3) Stalinallee 4) Berghain

5) Friedrichshain district 6) Kreuzberg district 7) Spree river

During the Second World War, under supervision of Hitler’s chief architect Albert Speer,
Karl Bonatz designed a monumental building, resembling the aesthetics and proportions of a
Venetian country villa. Only this building was made out of sturdy concrete walls, two metres
thick, with 120 rooms distributed over five floors, which were to be used as a shelter for 2500
travellers of the ‘Reichsbahn’ during air raids. Built by the hands of forced labourers in 1943,
the bunker housed the ghost of repressive times coming ever since the plan was conceived.
Prison
After the Battle of Berlin, the bunker stood firm in the apocalyptic scene of ruins and burnt
down monuments, as if ‘it’ knew its time was yet to come. The bunker was seized by the Red
Army, and turned into a prisoner-of-war camp controlled by the notorious Soviet secret
service NKVD, the predecessor of the KGB. First meant to give shelter against the Allied
bombing campaign, in the first post-war years it served as a centre for torture; a first stop for
the condemned on their way to the Russian Gulag camps.
Banana Bunker
In 1961, only 700 hundred metres from the Bonatz bunker, the Berlin Wall was erected. By
this time the horror era of Stalin had ended, and the communists started using the building as
a cold storage for exotic fruits coming from the Republic of Cuba. Because of the extremely
thick walls and a stable temperature, the building functioned well until the fall of the Wall,
dubbed as the ‘Banana Bunker’.

Stalinallee, Berlin; model of the fist phase on display in the Deutsche Sporthalle, 1951. From
Gerhard Pullman, ‘Die Stalinallee Nationales Aufbauprogramm 1952′ Stalinallee

During the early 1950s, the Western Allied and Soviet sides of Berlin were preparing for the
unconventional start of what would become the ‘concrete’ confrontation between two
ideological opposites: capitalism and communism. The will to rebuild Berlin created a range
of new visions on urbanism and architecture, which show a remarkable combination of
foreign and domestic influences. In the West, under Allied control, modernism was the recipe
for rebuilding Berlin, while in the East the opposite direction was dictated according to
Soviet models.
Planners and architects working in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) mostly
neglected the city’s burnt down monumental buildings. Instead, they worked on the
rebuilding of the Frankfurter Strasse as a prototype and propaganda project for the
reconstruction of an East German capital. The political agenda behind became even more
evident with changing the name of this important traffic artery between Alexanderplatz and
the Eastern parts of town to Stalinallee.

A competition was held for the rebuilding project, by which a ‘new way’ of rebuilding East
Berlin was to be implemented. The designers were given ‘explicit instructions to follow the
tenets contained in Sechzehn Grundsätze des Städtebaus (the Sixteen Principles of Urban
Design)’. This prescriptive document was heavily influenced by Moscow and was commonly
understood as a counter agenda to the Athens Charter. The Athens Charter, the blueprint for
modernist urban planning written up by the members of CIAM, was heavily criticised in East
Germany. Modernism was to be neglected as a capitalistic style infused by decadence.
Liebknecht, a high positioned architect at the East German Bauakademie, declared that
functionalism and the Bauhaus had nothing to do with art. Even state leader Walter Ulbricht
preferred socialist realist architecture. Inspired by Soviet examples, socialist realism had a
highly monumental notion in the field of architecture and planning.
Frankfurter Tor, 1953. Photograph: From Gerhard Pullman, ‘10 Jahre Nationales
Aufbauwerk der Hauptstadt Berlin’
Different from the later conceived and poorly built ‘Plattenbau’, the Stalinallee apartments
were luxurious, complete with high ceilings, large windows, and decorations in terracotta. At
the point where the Warschauer Strasse crosses the Stalinallee, East German architect
Henselmann designed the Frankfurter Tor, giving the Stalinallee its iconic character.

The power plant

Not far from the Frankfurter Tor and unknown to many, a power plant was erected that very
much resembled the Bonatz bunker in Berlin city’s centre. The enormous power plant had a
monumental composition. Especially the horizontally lined plinth made the building look
extremely heavy. Above the plinth vertical windows were put in, articulated with piers that
hold up the cornice, elongating the building’s volume. Small mezzanine windows, kept in a
strongly horizontal articulated cornice, gave the building the appearance of a Renaissance
monument. The bunker-proportioned facades reflected the ‘new’ aesthetics of socialist
realism. Built in two phases, the building was made out of two ‘cubes’ of 40 x 40 metres.
Oddly enough, considering the scale and monumental expression, the entrance was a small
double door at the rear of the building, reflecting the non-human use of the interior. Next to
this, the most monumental facade faced the railway tracks close to Ostbahnhof, overlooking
an industrial wasteland. Maybe its positioning was meant as a phallus sign to West Berlin, or
maybe it was a method of critical paranoia, awaiting its future use as an urban monument.

The bunker after the fall of the wall, interior view, walls painted black.
Fetish, techno and darkrooms

With the Wall falling, squatters, intellectuals and artists from the West started making use of
the abundance of empty warehouses in the Eastern parts of Berlin. The Bonatz bunker was
used for techno parties and soon gained a reputation for being the ‘hardest club in the world’.
At the ground floor, techno music was played, while on the first floor the walls were painted
black, serving as darkrooms for sadomasochistic activities.
Rumour has it that during extravagant parties such as ‘Sexperimenta’ or ‘Overture of Lust’,
candles were put in each room of the bunker. When these stopped burning, it was clear the
oxygen had run out and people were to leave the bunker as soon as possible. After several
police raids, city authorities implemented severe restrictions and the bunker’s tenants were
forced to close the building down.

However, the bunker scene brought forth a group of party organisers and DJ’s that soon
moved into an abandoned warehouse close to Ostbahnhof and the former Stalinallee: Ostgut.
It became known for Snax- and gay-fetish parties accompanied by heavy techno, played by
DJ’s from the club’s related Ostgut Tontrager label. After years of war, separation and
oppression, parts of Berlin were turning into a post-apocalyptic haven for clubbing and
partying. The city’s newcomers created spaces of freedom, expression and a (gay) sexual
revolution.

But then, with an increase in economic prosperity and growing real estate investments, the
Ostgut warehouse was demolished to make place for O2 World, an enormous indoor venue
for concerts and events. Not far from Ostgut, the club owners found a new temple to fulfill
their dream of creating one of the most notorious clubbing venues in the world: the former
power plant, nowadays known as Berghain. Its name is a combination of Kreuzberg and
Friedrichshain, both large residential areas, split in half by the river Spree and, and more
importantly, previously by the Berlin Wall. The name of the place itself embodies the
unification of Berlin.

1) Berghain, axonometry. The objective, Cartesian view of Berghain, revealing only a ‘rabbit
hole’ 2) Berghain, agonism. More subjective, ‘virtually’ rendering the Berghain with the
Berlin Wall and Schinkel’s Altes Museum, revealing the heterogeneity between monuments in
Berlin. Illustrations by the author.

After entering the building through the small front door, a large space manifests itself as a
wardrobe, filled with an artwork by Piotr Nathan. What follows is a large dark space with a
void of 20 metres high, revealing the large turbine hall upstairs that is the club’s main dance
floor. Scattered to the left and right of the turbine hall are smaller spaces, darkrooms, relaxing
areas and toilets, or a combination of the three. The proportion of servant spaces (toilets, bars,
dark rooms) to served spaces (the dance floors and large moving spaces) is three to two,
creating a space of possibilities: welcoming on the one hand voyeurism, meeting, flirting and
dancing; on the other hand intimacy, sex, and other obscurities.
Snax-party and Panorama Bar (Sweaty Window), 2002. Images by Wolfgang Tillmans

From the main dance floor the Panorama Bar can be reached by a flight of stairs, a more
‘relaxed’ and heterosexually orientated space. The Panorama Bar and its servant spaces
constitute a building within a building, facing two different realities: the ‘dark’ Berghain and
the outside world. The windows have vertical blinds, shutting out the city beyond and
simultaneously obscuring the perception of day and night while the parties continue for days
and nights. Every now and then, during a musical climax, the blinds are momentarily opened,
allowing daylight to penetrate inside; imprinting the image of an overly illuminated
photograph on the faces of visitors.
Boros Sammlung Museum

After the Bonatz bunker had been repeatedly used as an exhibition space, Christian Boros, an
art-loving advertisement entrepreneur, purchased the bunker and turned it – after years of
intense redesigning – into a gallery. Small groups of people were taking tours through a
building filled with art, reflecting the post-Berlin Wall artistic landscape with works from
Olafur Eliasson, Wolfgang Tillmans, Florian Meisenberg and others. The building’s visitors
are overwhelmed by history, not in a frozen museum atmosphere, but with time as a living
concept, which visitors can interact with and relate to. The museum and its history are
superimposed, creating a tangible notion of Henri Bergson’s philosophical notion of ‘durée’.

Function Follows Form

Both the Bonatz bunker and Berghain are diametrically opposed to modernism as well as the
CIAM principles. With functionalism, modern architects followed the sheer function of the
planned building, not aware of the fast changing times ahead. Overly lit buildings, with
smooth concrete and large exposure from the inside to the outside world, seem incapable of
housing more intimate experiences, especially in Berlin’s post Nazi- and communist-era.
While the bunker and Berghain might have been designed to respectively function as a place
for shelter and a power plant, the range of functions possible in their shells can be explained
by the following.
Their facade or envelope creates a transition between inside and outside, more than the
Modernist boundary between inside and outside does. The ‘honest’ façade, a credo closely
related to ‘form follows function’, is absent in Nazi architecture and socialist realism. In his
famous book Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas calls this the ‘symptom of lobotomy’, ‘the
surgical severance of the connection between the frontal lobes and the rest of the brain to
relieve some mental disorders by disconnecting thought processes from emotions’. In
Western architecture the assumption regins that a ‘honest facade speaks about the activities it
conceals’. Beyond a certain scale (as with monumentality) this ‘moral relationship’ between
the inside and the outside is broken. Both the bunker and Berghain express a perfect
‘operation’ of architectural form because both buildings separate exterior exposure and
interior use, welcoming ‘heterotopia’. According to Michel Foucault, other than utopias
heterotopias are ‘real places – places that do exist and that are formed in the very founding of
society – which are something like counter-sites, a kind of effectively enacted utopia in
which the real sites, all the other real sites that can be found within the culture, are
simultaneously represented, contested, and inverted’.
Ruin
In addition to the theories of boundaries, Albert Speer conceived the concept of ‘ruin value’,
in which he argues that major buildings should be constructed in such a way that they would
leave aesthetically pleasing ruins for thousands of years into the future. Over the last half
century his vision became reality, although it remains unclear whether he would have
approved of his buildings’ new programmes.
With new functions arriving at some point, Speer’s ‘ruins’ welcomed a new generation of
hedonistic inhabitants that created spaces of freedom, expression and a (gay) sexual
revolution. This group of people flourishes nowadays, and considers Speer’s and similar
buildings as ‘their’ monuments. Historian and architecture critic Sigried Giedeon wrote in his
‘Nine Points on Monumentality’ that ‘the most vital monuments are those which express the
feeling and thinking of this collective force – the people’, in fact defining both the bunker and
Berghain as monuments without reference to Nazi or communist ideologies. Giedeon affirms
this by saying that ‘periods, which exist for the moment, have been unable to create lasting
monuments’.
Queue in front of Berghain

It is in these spaces that a younger generation of Berlin people creates ‘underground’ art,
music and leisure. This generation thrives on the ‘scars’ created by the Second World War
and the Berlin Wall. This turns the horrors and meaning of these spaces into a true identity
for present as well as future Berlin.

Perhaps the perception of all the architectural paradigms that remain in Berlin will change.
Hopefully this will create support for the city’s unique heritage, as a laboratory for
architectural styles and ideas, maybe the last tangible utopian place on earth. Just as Rome is
a map for understanding the ancient world, Berlin can help us understand today’s power of
architecture and yesterday’s architecture of power.

9.4.3 GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO

Introduction
The work of American architect Frank O. Gehry, the Guggenheim Museum has played a key
role in the urban revitalization and transformation of the area, in addition to becoming the
symbol of the city of Bilbao, Spain. The building is a perfect example of the more avant-
garde architecture of the twentieth century and represents a landmark for its innovative
architectural design both abroad and domestically, forming a seductive backdrop for the
exhibition of contemporary art. Visits can be made to both the interior and the exterior of the
building.

Situation

It is situated on a plot of 32,500 square meters, of which 24,000 square meters are occupied
by building. 9,066 square meters are devoted to exhibition spaces.

The museum is located 16 meters below the elevation of the city at the estuary of the
Nervion. El Puente de La Salve, one of the main entrances of the city, crosses through the
building.

Concept

The design of the building follows the style of Frank Gehry. Inspired by the shapes and
textures of a fish, it can be considered a sculpture, a work of art in itself. The forms do not
have any reason nor are governed by any geometric law. The museum is essentially a shell
that evokes the past industrial life and port of Bilbao. It consists of a series of interconnected
volumes, some formed of orthogonal coated stone and others from a titanium dkeleton
covered by an organic skin. The connection between volumes is created by the glass skin.
The museum is integrated into the city both by it height and the materials used. Being below
the benchmark of the city, it does not surpass the rest of the buildings. The limestone, of a
sandy tone, was selected specially for this aim. Seen from the river, the form resembles a
boat, but seen from above it resembles a flower.

Spaces

Under the chaotic appearance created by the opposition of fragmented regular forms with
covered stone, curved forms coated in titanium and large glass walls, the building is built
around a central axis; the hall, 50 meters high, a monumental empty space topped by a metal
dome. Around it, a system of curved bridges, glass elevators and stair towers connecting the
19 galleries spread over three floors, which combine classic rectangular space with other
unique forms and proportions, all lit by the dome zenith. Temporary exhibitions and large-
format works have a place in a gallery of about 30 m. wide and nearly 130 m. long, free of
columns, located on the volume that passes under the La Salve Bridge.

Structure

Because of their mathematical complexity, the sinuous curves were designed using a three
dimensional design software called Catia, which allowed designs and calculations that, years
earlier, had not been possible.

The building is built with load-bearing walls and ceilings, which have an internal structure of
metal rods that form grids with triangles. The shapes of the museum could not have
succeeded if it did not use load-bearing walls and ceilings. Catia determined the number of
bars required in each location, as well as the bars positions and orientations. In addition to
this structure, the walls and ceilings have several insulating layers and an outer coating of
titanium. Each piece is unique and exclusive to the place, determined by Catia. Instantly
hailed as the most important structure of its time, Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum
Bilbao has celebrated more than a decade of extraordinary success. With over a hundred
exhibitions and more than ten million visitors to its credit, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
has changed the way people think about museums, and it continues to challenge assumptions
about the connections between art, architecture, and collecting. The museum of modern and
contemporary art is probably the biggest attraction in the city. One would need almost the
same amount of time to admire the building outside as one would need to see the art works
displayed inside. The building was created to represant a ship, with titanium sheets
resembling fish scales, as a symbolic reference to its location adjacent to the River Nervion.

When it opened in 1997, the Frank Gehry–designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao—a

spectacular structure made of titanium, glass, and limestone—was hailed as the most
important building of its time. Located in the Basque city of Bilbao in northern Spain, the
museum features exhibitions organized by the Guggenheim Foundation and by the
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, as well as selections from the permanent collection of the
Guggenheim Museums.

CHAPTER 10

10. CONCLUSION

10.1 INTRODUCTION

Does all of the above mean that you should ignore “form follows function” completely? Not
at all. Use the descriptive interpretation of “form follows function” as an aesthetic guide.
Beauty often does come from function. A building should not look like a boat or a magazine.
Each has a different function, and that function helps to define what makes it successful.
Objects with different functions should look different aesthetically.
However, don’t apply the prescriptive interpretation of “form follows function” as a design
rule. Pure function may not be the most important factor of success. Focus on the relative
importance of both form and function as based on your criteria for success when making
design decisions. Balance form and function as needed, while letting success criteria guide
your decisions.

Architecture is not only art or not only science. Architecture is about the equal combination
of both art and science (i.e.) both form and function. Architecture is a blend of science and
art. Scientifically, architecture must adhere to the laws of nature and respond to program,
function, schedule and budget. Artistically, architecture must respond to the human condition
in (in) tangible and meaningful ways; it must be powerful and aesthetically stimulating.
Architecture must engage the senses in a poetic and phenomenological fashion while
performing its ultimate purpose of shelter. Architecture is what we do, what we create and
who we are. It is our job, our art, to blend science and art into a harmonious whole that makes
a positive impact on the individual, community and environment. It is understood that most
people do not see architecture in this way; however through actions that we can make our
definition of architecture apparent, and achieving that both form and function in a correct
proportion which doesn’t give place to partiality and the design process is one that exudes all
of this.

10.2 OBSERVATION

The simplicity of form follows function is Blessing and Curse at the same time. On the one
hand, it is a catchy alliteration. On the other hand, it is a complex issue that cannot be
communicated entirely through the simplified statement.
Aesthetics communicates properties
Aesthetic aspects like the look, feel, smell, sound and taste of an object provide information
about its function. Therefore, aesthetic features cannot only be leveraged to allow an object to
look beautiful, but also to explain what it is and what you can do with it.
Ornaments are not necessarily redundant
FFF forbids visual elements which serve no function. Therefore, it seems likely that it also
forbids skeuomorphism. A “skeuomorph” is an attribute that an object has become
“inherited” from its old predecessor. An example is the motor of an electric car: originally it
is completely silent. But some electric cars get the sound of gasoline-powered cars as a
“skeuomorph”. Although the artificially added noise is seemingly unnecessary, it makes
sense after a more detailed consideration: it causes that pedestrians perceive electric cars
better, because they hear it.
It is often criticized that superfluous ornamental elements go hand in hand with this style.
But, if you implement skeuomorphism correctly, its stylistic devices serve the function to
make an interface more understandable for inexperienced users by reminding them of objects
and concepts from the real world.

10.3 CONCLUSION