The Function of Ornament by Farshid Moussavi

by Farshid Moussavi

Architecture needs mechanisms that allow it to become connected to culture. It achieves this by continually capturing the forces that shape society as material to work with. Architecture's materiality is therefore a composite one, made up of visible forces (structural, functional, physical) as well as invisible forces (cultural, political, temporal). Architecture progresses through new concepts that connect with these forces, manifesting itself in new aesthetic compositions and affects. Ornament is the by-product of this process, through which architectural material is organized to transmit unique affects. This book is a graphic guide to ornaments in the twentieth century. It unveils the function of ornament as the agent for specific affects, dismantling the idea that ornament is applied to buildings as a discrete or non-essential entity. Each case operates through greater or lesser depth to exploit specific synergies between the exterior and the interior, constructing an internal order between ornament and material. These internal orders produce expressions that are contemporary, yet whose affects are resilient in time.

Genres: Architecture, Design, Art, Nonfiction

Paperback Bunko

First published January 15, 2006

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly 100 years ago Loos wrote Ornament und Verbrechen. One of his arguments is that the use of ornament causes an object to go out of style. But if ornament can have function, as illustrated with several case studies in this book, then ornament begins to undergo an isomorphisim of meaning. The beautifully done illustrations- the majority from vector formats, do not allow materiality to become an issue. The form of the ornament is of primary concern. This allows the examined ornament to supersede questions of materiality and style. Strong introductory essay and a wonderful graphic reference.

[Mahshid Parchami · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب جالبی برای بررسی انواع دیتیل نما. البته بیشتر نماهای خاص و پوسته ای بررسی شده اند.

[Jay.FB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.. but nothing new. I expected more text rather than drawings. A little underwhelming tbh.

ينفع مرجع سريع للتصميم.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

In August 2010 I realized I had begun to grow dissatisfied with my reading. Rather than let myself fall into a slump, I decided to change direction. My reading had become dictated by whatever I had picked up on a whim at the library and the ARCs I had to agreed to read and review on my blog. With going back to school and realizing I would be having a lot of assigned reading and limited time due to homework, I needed to refocus my reading efforts. I decided I would, to be the best of my efforts, start reading books off my wishlist. With money being tight, that means checking them out from the library or via the Link+ system. In four months time I have crossed 18 books off my list.

One of the earliest books crossed off is The Function of Ornament by Michael Kubo. I believe it was an Amazon recommendation for me when I was ordering some art history and design books in my early days as a web designer. Back in those days there weren't many books specifically written about web design so I found my inspiration instead from other media. Bauhaus principles of design actually work well for web design.

So here I am a decade later and in the process of changing careers (fingers crossed). I have finally sat down to read The Function of Ornament. It's not what I expected but it was interesting nonetheless. The book has two parts: a short, theoretical introduction to why humans build the way they do and why ornamentation remains so popular in architecture. The remainder of the book are graphical examples of design working with function.

Not being an architect myself, the book was visually overwhelming. It ended up reading by first flipping through to just look at all the pretty pictures (and they are lovely!) and the going back to read in depth about the buildings that caught my eye the most.

I can say I am glad to have checked it off my list. I'm sure an architect or architecture student would get far more out of the book than I probably did.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I cant speak to whether this was a worthwhile graduate level studio or not, but certainly this is a nicely conceived assortment of precedent diagrams. Set up as a taxonomy of materials and affects (or "effects" I would think - their title not mine), the diagrams are compelling and mostly informative. As befits a studio or seminar type production, the selections are somewhat limited and random (is Saarinen’s London Embassy cladding more “structural” in nature than LAB’s Federation Square “screen”?) but I appreciate the range of work from different periods, locations, scales, and types. The text is a bit limited - clear and legible mostly but not overly informative and encompassing. The diagrams are equally limited in many cases, not often giving a sense of how the studied portion relates to the architecture as a whole. They also vary from project to project - and exploded section axon here, a frontal perspective there - perhaps too much in scale and comparative type to knit everything together. Nonetheless I think a worthy publication that you might just want to check out of the library as you can “read” it pretty quickly and just scan any particular diagrams that catch your fancy.

[Vanzetti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a little bit more of text rather than just a breve introduction. In terms of graphics the wall sections are not well detailed. Yes is not a construction book but as an architect you know thats a plus. Overall is good so 3 stars is fair enough.