The Architecture of Use

by Stephen Grabow, Kent Spreckelmeyer

By analyzing ten examples of buildings that embody the human experience at an extraordinary level, this book clarifies the central importance of the role of function in architecture as a generative force in determining built form. Using familiar twentieth-century buildings as case studies, the authors present these from a new perspective, based on their functional design concepts. Here Grabow and Spreckelmeyer expand the definition of human use to that of an art form by re-evaluating these buildings from an aesthetic and ecological view of function. Each building is described from the point of view of a major functional concept or idea of human use which then spreads out and influences the spatial organization, built form and structure. In doing so each building is presented as an exemplar that reaches beyond the pragmatic concerns of a narrow program and demonstrates how functional concepts can inspire great design, evoke archetypal human experience and help us to understand how architecture embodies the deeper purposes and meanings of everyday life.

Genres: Architecture

210 pages, Paperback

First published October 3, 2014

Reviews

[d · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if I'm just too used to the incomprehensible density of archispeak, but there is an incredible clarity to the book's structure and the arguments presented. Grabow and Sprecklemeyer argue that contemporary functionalism has deviated from the Sullivanic form-follows-function ethos to "become so self-referential, so concerned with their own existence and self-definition that today art seems to be about works of art instead of being about the world, and architecture about buildings, not about life. Both deal more with the philosophical issues of representation than with their contents. and as such, "The functional and utilitarian dimension of architecture has been pushed aside". Hence, they push for the emergence of a new functionalism: one that elevates "function" beyond practicality, toward celebration of a building's human use and its place and time. In the authors' own words,
"What makes each a functional building is the degree to which this expected devotion to craft is leavened by structural economy, industrial clarity, and formal simplicity. They are functional in the sense that they express the hand of the maker in a language firmly connected to and expressive of the modern condition."

The thesis is interesting in itself but what really makes this book are the wonderful examples they laid out, each coming from a different, seemingly ubiquitous "functional" typology (i.e. banks, sanatoriums, and offices). In each, they discuss the elevation of mundane human activity through architecture that connects with its community and context. Their selection has a nice diversity in approach. There's subtlety (Aalto's Paimio Sanatorium, van Eyck's Amsterdam Orphanage), then there's boldness (The National Farmers' Bank), then there's divine (Wright's Larkin Office Building, and the other religious buildings). My favorite, however, is the Berlin Philharmonie by Scharoun. It's incredibly innovative, rooted in community experience, and easily understandable (simple yet intelligent moves). I appreciate how the conclusion added even more examples by contrasting or supplementing a newer building for each chapter's argument.

I had so much fun reading this. The writing's biting and their criticisms are fantastic. I took pages and pages of notes. This had me questioning what architecture means for mundanity, which is the majority of human life anyway. Luckily I don't have to be too definitive in answering, as Grabow and Sprecklemeyer present a wide variety of solutions. However, I notice that the functionalism they purport doesn't even have to be the glorification of the everyday--but just a sincerity in designing for people and the deep empathy this requires of an architect.

Easily one of the best architectural theory books I've read, or architecture book, period. I'm so happy I picked this up purely by chance. When I saw that the foreword was by Pallasmaa, I knew I was in good hands. I'd recommend this to architecture students.

[Notes in separate Google Doc because of length.]