Week 8 - Project Development Notes*

Functional Architecture

In architecture, functionalism 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. Functionalism had the strongest influence in Germany, Czechoslovakia, the U.S.S.R., and the Netherlands. 

The place of functionalism in a building can be said to have three classic goals of architecture. These are:

-  'Utilitas' Translated as commodity, convenience, or utility.

- 'Venustas' Translated as beauty.

- 'Firmitas' Translated as firmness.

Modernism

Popular notions of modern architecture are heavily influenced by 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. Le Corbusier famously said "a house is a machine for living in"; his 1923 book Vers une architecture was, and still is, very influential, and his early built work such as the Villa Savoye in Poissy, France, is thought of as prototypically function.

Le Corbusier

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Le-Corbusier

Locations/Recce Notes for Architectural/Symmetry Shoots
http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/london-architectural-landmarks#22

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_(architecture)

2. Vers une Architecture and Villa Savoye: A Comparison of Treatise and Building - A multipart essay explaining the basics of Le Corbusier's theory and contrasting them with his built work.