“In the Function of Form, internationally acclaimed architect, Farshid Moussavi, provides a provocative critique of the historically opposing relationship between function and form to reveal the contradiction at the heart of modernism. We need to move away from the definition of a function as a utility, she argues, to align it with how a function is defined in mathematics, biology or music. Form, on the other hand, should be considered not only in the way buildings are produced, but also how they perform seasonally. Function and form, considered together in architecture, stand in opposition to the dualism which defined our approach to the built environment throughout the twentieth century.
Moussavi further explores the relationship between the construction of an architectural built form and its aesthetic experience away from the limitations of representation (symbolism), towards repetition and differentiation to nurture multiplicity within the culture.
Fundamental to Moussavi's proposal is that, due to the speed at which technology, the environment, and culture are changing, the rate of change in contemporary architecture has shifted from a process of overhaul and replacement to a mode of continuous and incremental change. This rapid rate of change is the consequence of multiple intersecting causes which are rooted in human (social, subjective, sensorial) as well as nonhuman (natural, objective, technical) spheres. In order to be compatible with these mutating and diverse values, architecture cannot be limited to the representation of a-priori concepts or singular causes and must evolve through constantly producing, enriching and reinventing its environment.
Moussavi revisits the relationship between function and form and proposes that – rather than being considered as the outcome of movements – the history of form contains a continuous thread in which historical ideas have been evolved and transformed to produce novel forms. To illustrate this, The Function of Form presents built forms with distinctive structural systems from 500 to the present and classifies them into seven groups (Grids and Frames, Vaults, Domes, Folded Plates, Shells, Tensile Membranes, Pneumatic Membranes).
To illustrate this, The Function of Form presents a survey of experiments with the repetition and differentiation of structural systems, dating back to 12th centuries such as those with 12th-century vaults, 15th-century domes, or 20th-century frames, and pneumatic and tensile structures, each time generating a novel built form. The Function of Form detaches each building from its original motives, author or context, and presents them side by side each other as a comparative rather than symptomatic study. Particularised and differentiated in this way, these physical structures become mutable and can be re-appropriated and transformed without prejudice, to produce novel built forms with singular effects which individuals with different norms, desires and habits can cohabit.
SAMI MOHAMMED 1001746306
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