Form and Function Stage 1 Lecture Contextual and Critical Studies Andrea Peach
Modernism Dominant ideology throughout western industrialised world in art, design and architecture for most of the twentieth century
How things used to look …
Adolf Loos 1928 Essay on Ornament and Crime: Evolution is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of everyday use
Adolf Loos 1901 Armoire - Vienna, Austria A plain piece of furniture is more beautiful than all the inlaid and carved museum pieces
Adolf Loos 1928 Steiner House - Vienna, Austria
Louis Sullivan 1896 It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and things superhuman… that form ever follows function, This is the law …
Form and Function Louis Sullivan 1896 Form and function are one … Guarantee Building, Buffalo New York, 1895
Modernism USE should determine the FORM of an object If an object is made to function well it will by definition be beautiful (also referred to as Functionalism)
Rules of Modernist Design Objects should be: simple, honest and direct Well adapted to their purpose No ornament
Rules of Modernist Design Standardised Machine-made Reasonably priced Expressive of their structure and materials
Marcel Breuer 1926 Nickel-plated steel and lacquered wood Nesting Tables Germany
Mies van der Rohe 1927 Chrome-plated tubular steel, oil cloth Cantilever Chair Germany
Howell Chromasteel USA 1946 Here is gay, sparkling furniture that brings new beauty and charm into your kitchen … its the kind that seems to stay new looking indefinitely
Greta von Nessen 1952 Aluminum and enameled metal Anywhere lamp Germany
Ocean - Bianco Table / Gamma Chairs - chromed tubular steel frame 2006 …
Modernism A term used to refer to the principle that nothing is included in a design that does not enhance the objects purpose
Marianne Brandt 1924 Tea infuser Germany, Bauhaus
Deutscher Werkbund 1929 Die Form = The Form
Die Wohnung Stuttgart 1927
Weissenhof Seidlung 1927 Mies van der Rohe Walter Gropius / Marcel Breuer
Giso lights 1928 Rotterdam The Netherlands
Machine Age 1920s Machines are replacing hand work; the spheres are smooth; the cylinders have the kind of precision only attainable in theory: without fuss, the machine produces surfaces which are faultless.
Machine Age 1920s Russian Constructivist printed textile
Marcel Breuer 1931 This metal furniture is intended to be nothing but a necessary apparatus for contemporary life
Le Corbusier 1929 Metal plays the same part in furniture as cement has done in architecture. It is a revolution.
John Gloag 1929 Metal is cold and brutally hard... It gives no comfort to the eye
Modern carpet designs may provide endless entertainment for your friends Heath Robinson 1936
De Staalstoelophoon 1934
Functionalism, Yes, But. The Titanic - Photomontage Stanley Tigerman, 1978, USA
Alessandro Mendini 1978 Redesign of Modern Movement Chairs Wassily by Breuer, Italy 1925
Functionalism, Yes... Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Chair 1929
Functionalism, Yes... 21st century 1929
Functionalist Design George Marcus Prestel 1995 Form Follows Function Susan Lambert V&A Museum 1993