FORM & FUNCTION
From my understanding, form is
an outlook of an object while function is the usage of an object. In architecture
nowadays, when comes to discussion about ‘FORM & FUNCTION’, students or
people always confuse about whether function comes first or function comes
after form. For me I think it really based on how a person wanted to define it.
In early 20th century, form follow function is a principle
associated with modernist architecture and industrial design. For further explanation,
the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended
function or purpose.
“It is pervading law of all
things organic and inorganic, of all 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 follow function. This is the law.”
~ LOUIS SULLIVAN
As Louis Sullivan had stressed
about “Form follow Function” was actually right as he emphasized later on his
statement of “rule that shall permit of no exception”. I was agreed with his
principles as functionality must always be priority before form. Another
meaning is in each of form or spaces has their own function. As student, we
already have been taught that by our lecturer in most of the architectural
school nowadays. Fancy forms of architecture design may be attracted the eyes
of everyone but functionality may be affected or limited.
For an example, Louis Sullivan
have said, different kind of building somehow has the fixed concept on
designing, like a tall building office, what comes first that must be the fancy
entrance, continue to the first floor which emphasis materiality.
As we know, we all come across
historic cities or settlements in our lifetime. Whether it be The Colosseum in
Rome or the A’Famosa in Malacca, Malaysia, both of them have their own
importance in history. A lot of factor play an important role in making them distinct,
whether it be cultural and traditional values, architecture, climate and geomorphological
features.
There’s one of the ways to
conserve them is by adaptively reusing them. Adaptive reuse is the act of
finding a new use for a building. The recycling of buildings has been an
important and effective historic preservation tool. For example, this semester
we went to Kilang Bateri, Muar, Johore for our design class site visit. As I can
see, the interior of the factory is change to food court, selling local clothes
etc. but the façade or the form of the factory still remain. In the context of
sustainable development, community have a lot to gain from adaptively reusing
historic buildings.
"The general public will almost always stand behind the traditionalists. In the public eye, architecture is about comfort, about shelter, about bricks and mortar".
~ BERNARD TSCHUMI
CASE STUDIES
THE GREEN BUILDING – (fer)
studio
From dry goods store transformed
into The Green Building. Based on the idea that sensible architecture emerges
between spatial programmatic relationships, the architect designed the project
to instill an experience of place within the surrounding environment. Establishing
a design order enabled the sustainable features of the project to fall into
place and set up a natural co-dependency between design and sustainability.
Innovative Re-Use Design: Understanding the history of the building and the
context of the neighbourhood, the architect inventoried the existing building
components to determine its weak points. Elements of the building were carved
away to allow a new re-use form to emerge triple height volumes adjacent to
single stories activate a sense of openness by being next to an adjacent
compressive space. In the center, all components, both spatial and technical,
merge into the design core, which visually connects to every space in the
building.
"No design works unless it embodies ideas that are held common by the people for whom the object is intended".
~ ADRIAN FORTY
Re-used Materials:
In addition to saving the original mortar shell of the structure, The Green
Building team re-used as much as of material from the original building. As
example, structural wood from the original building was re-milled into finished
flooring and furniture. Bricks from the original building were carefully
disassembled and re-used in the other areas for remodel.