Function first or form first—a comparison of two design methods for undergraduate basic course

Xie Guanyi,Duan Huifang,N Hamid,S Zhou

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202018903038

Abstract

Talking about form and function in the architecture, two major traditions in design are always inevitable. They are two methods of architectural design: the first one is used by Beaux-Art system which takes form and order as the core; the second one is of Bauhuas system which focuses on function. Architecture is closely related to the interior, so are there also two design methods in the field of interior design? Through analysis of interior design textbooks in different academies, it was found that most existing design methods are based on function. Function-based design methods have a series of operable standard methods for function, but also have the problem of high level of functional logic and low level of formal logic. Does interior design also have a design approach starting from form and order and unifying function logic and formal logic? By transplanting the “kit-of-parts approach” in architectural design into interior design, applying the two design methods in undergraduate course of environmental design and comparing the two course design results, it was verified in this paper which design method is easier to balance form and function in basic design course.

Highlights

By the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Beaux-Arts “composition method” represented by the École Supérieure Libre d’art de Paris had formed a clear subject system
In its early stage Bauhuas focused on space contents in elementary training, but later functionalist design method became dominant in modern architectural design and teaching
The function-based design method, without a clear guideline for formal space, has its one-sidedness, just as American scholar Herdeg termed the late stage of Bauhaus “decorative diagram”, namely an architectural design process of “generating an architectural diagram according to objective functional analysis and overlaying a series of abstract decorations on it”

Summary

Function and form : two traditions of architectural design

By the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Beaux-Arts “composition method” represented by the École Supérieure Libre d’art de Paris had formed a clear subject system. By the early 20th century, Julien Guadet, a teacher of the École Supérieure Libre d’art de Paris, presented the concept “element of composition”, since when composition replaced disposition as a core issue in design To put it composition is to deal with the relations among volume, space and elevation based on the principle of axial symmetry, and the design mainly focuses on how to deal with the relations among the three and integrate them into a whole[1]. In its early stage Bauhuas focused on space contents in elementary training, but later functionalist design method became dominant in modern architectural design and teaching It stressed the analysis of facts and the decisive roles of external factors and use functions in architectural modeling. In 1950, Texas Educational Reform put forward the teaching idea of “kit-of-parts approach” which matched modern architecture, and used this approach to cope with Bauhaus’ formal logical weakness in its later stage

Function-first design method

Application and comparison of two design methods in teaching

Conclusion

Wang Fangji

Tong Ming