The Function of Form - Softcover

Moussavi, Farshid

Softcover

ISBN 10: 8496954730 ISBN 13: 9788496954731

Publisher: ACTAR, Harvard Graduate School of Design, 2009

Synopsis

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 function as utility, she argues, to align it with how 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 sensorially. 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. This book provides a thought-provoking account of the challenges facing the 21st century built environment, and an enlivened awareness of the wider possibilities of architectural form.

About this title

About the Author

Farshid Moussavi is Professor in Practice in the Department of Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She trained at the GSD, University College London, the Bartlett School of Architecture, and Dundee University. Prior to establishing Foreign Office Architects (with Alejandro Zaera Polo) in London in 1992, she worked with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Genoa and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture in Rotterdam. Her London-based firm, FOA, is recognized as one of the most creative design firms in the world, deftly integrating architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture in their projects. They have produced numerous critically-acclaimed international projects, most notably the Yokohama Ferry Terminal. Other built projects include the Bluemoon Hotel in Groningen, The Netherlands, the Spanish Pavilion in the 2005 Aichi International Expo in Japan, a technology center in Logrono, a publisher's headquarters in Paju, Korea as well a department store and Cineplex and pedestrian bridges in Leicester.

Edition details

• Publisher: ACTAR, Harvard Graduate School of Design
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 8496954730
• ISBN 13: 9788496954731
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 520