Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern architecture. Modern architecture is the term given to the range of approaches in architecture, first appearing at the beginning of the 20th century, that rejected historic precedent as a source of architectural inspiration and considered function as the prime generator of form, employing materials and technology directly, rather than softening with...

The place of functionalism in building can be traced back to the Vitruvian triad, where 'utilitas' (variously translated as 'commodity', 'convenience', or 'utility') stands alongside 'venustas' (beauty) and 'firmitas' (firmness) as one of three classic goals of architecture. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He was the author of De Architectura, known today as The Ten Books of Architecture, a treatise in Latin on architecture, and perhaps the first work about this discipline. ...

In the early years of the 20th Century, Chicago architect Louis Sullivan popularized the phrase 'form follows function' to capture his belief that a building's size, massing, spatial grammar and other characteristics should be driven solely by the function of the building. The implication is that if the functional aspects are satisfied, architectural beauty would naturally and necessarily follow. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Louis Sullivan Louis Henry (Henri) Sullivan (September 3, 1856 - April 14, 1924) was an American architect, called the father of modernism and is considered by many to be the creator of the Prairie School of architecture. ... Form follows function is a slogan and principle of Modern architecture, including specifically: Adolf Loos The Bauhaus The Prairie Houses Horatio Greenough Louis Sullivan The Modernist Movement It is meant to suggest that architecture should let the physical characteristics necessary to creating a structure dominate in its appearance, rather than...

Sullivan's credo is deeply ironic, considering the non-functional nature of the intricate ornament he is known for. The credo also does not address whose function he means. The architect of an apartment building, for instance, can easily be at cross-purposes with the owners of the building regarding how the building should look and feel, and they could both be at cross-purposes with the future tenants. Nevertheless 'form follows function' expresses a significant and enduring idea. In architecture ornament refers to decorative detail on buildings. ...

The roots of modern architecture lie in the work of the Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier and the German architect Mies van der Rohe. Both were functionalists at least to the extent that their buildings were radical simplifications of previous styles. In 1923 Mies van der Rohe was working in Weimar Germany, and had begun his career of producing radically simplified, lovingly detailed structures that achieved Sullivan's goal of inherent architectural beauty. Corbu famously said "a house is a machine for living in"; his 1923 book Vers une Architecture was, and is, very influential, and his early built work such as the Villa Savoye in Poissy, France is thought of as prototypically functional. Modern architecture is the term given to the range of approaches in architecture, first appearing at the beginning of the 20th century, that rejected historic precedent as a source of architectural inspiration and considered function as the prime generator of form, employing materials and technology directly, rather than softening with... The Villa Savoye near Paris Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887–August 27, 1965) was a Swiss architect famous for what is now called the International style, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Theo van Doesburg. ... Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies) (March 27, 1886 - August 17, 1969) was an architect and designer. ... In the days of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), Germany was rendered unable to project itself economically and politically on the world stage by the harsh terms and reparations placed upon the country enumerated in the Treaty of Versailles (1918) that ended World War I. During this interbellum period, Germany... Interior of Villa Savoye Categories: France geography stubs | Buildings and structures stubs ...

In the mid 1930s functionalism began to discussed as an aesthetic approach rather than a matter of design integrity. The idea of functionalism was conflated with lack of ornamentation, which is a different matter. It became a pejorative term associated with the most bald and brutal ways to cover space, like cheap commerical buildings and sheds, then finally used, for example in academic criticism of Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes, simply as a synonym for 'gauche'. In the US postage stamp commemerating Buckminster Fuller and his contributions to architecture and science, some of his inventions are visible. ... The American Pavilion of Expo 67, by R. Buckminster Fuller, now the Biosphère, on Île Sainte-Hélène, Montreal A geodesic dome(IPA: jiədɛzɪk/jiədizɪk dəʊm) is an almost spherical structure based on a network of struts arranged on great circles (geodesics) lying on the surface of a sphere. ...

For 70 years the preeminent and influential American architect Philip Johnson held that the profession has no functional responsibility whatsoever, and this is the prevailing view today. The most well-known architects in the west, like Frank Gehry, Steven Holl, Richard Meier and I.M. Pei, see themselves as artists with no responsibility to clients or users. Their buildings are works of art and not subject to practical criticism. The position of postmodern architect Peter Eisenman is based on a user-hostile theoretical basis and even more extreme: "I don't do function." The debate about functionalism and aesthetics is often framed by them as a mutually exclusive choice, when in fact there are architects, like Will Bruder, James Stewart Polshek and Ken Yeang, who attempt to satisfy all three Vitruvian goals. Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 (Cleveland, Ohio) – January 25, 2005 (New Canaan, Connecticut)) was an influential American architect. ... The Gehry tower in Hannover Frank Owen Gehry (born Ephraim Goldberg on February 28, 1929) is an architect known for his sculptural approach to building design. ... Steven Holl (born 1947, Bremerton, Washington) is an American academic architect best known for the 1988 Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland and the controversial 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT. Holl graduated from the University of Washington in 1970, established his offices in New York City in 1976, and... Richard Meier is a late twentieth century American architect known for his use of the color white. ... Ieoh Ming Pei (貝聿銘 pinyin Bèi Yùmíng) is a Chinese American architect born in Suzhou, China on April 26, 1917. ... Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, design, architecture, art, literature, religion, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... One of Eisenmans homes from his New York Five period Peter Eisenman (b. ... Will Bruder (1946, Milwaukee, Wisconsin - ), American architect most active in the American southwest. ... Dr. Ken Yeang is a prolific Malaysian architect and writer best known for developing environmental design solutions for high-rise buildings. ...

References

Link to Quote (http://www.great-quotes.com/db.cgi?db=db&uid=default&Author_First_Name=Le&Author_Last_Name=Corbusier&mh=10&sb=---&so=ASC&ww=on&view_records=View+Records.com)

Vers une Architecture and Villa Savoye: A Comparison of Treatise and Building (http://www.lesterkorzilius.com/pubs/ma/vua_vs/00.htm) - A multipart essay explaining the basics of Le Corbusier's theory and contrasting them with his built work.

Behne, Adolf (1923). The Modern Functional Building. Michael Robinson, trans. Santa Monica: Getty Research Institute, 1996.

Forty, Adrian. "Function". Words and Buildings, A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture. Thames & Hudson, 2000, p. 174-195.