LECTURE 07
ARTICLE READING
What is the relationship between form & function over the lifespan of an architectural work? Meaning how does renovation, adaptive reuse, etc, affect how building are both designed initially and transformed later?
The form and function, actually both of this always is an argument of architecture from last time until today. And the topic of form and function which is an architect really inquired into it and also become a most feverish topic in contemporary architecture today. But what make me most inspire is the article which written by Richard Hill, “Purpose, Function, Use”. I am really agree what he talking about and I feel like a really good building must include those aspects that like what he said, “Purpose, Function, Use”.
Besides that, one the example that Richard Hill given was there is a purpose, namely that children should be educated, and the function of a school is to fill that purpose. However, what is meant here by “school” is not a building but that complex system –let us call it a “pedagogic system” of human activity and practical resource. Meaning to say, a building must have a purpose, if without purpose, it will be an unknown building. And the function for a building is to fulfil the purpose. Lastly, the user for a building is for as a shelter.
However, what is the relationship between form and function over lifespan of an architectural work? In my own understanding, like in nowadays, the modernism era, due to the advanced technology and civilisation, it can help to build and provide or perform gratefully in renovation, adaptive reuse or maybe the extension of a very old building. The intention of adaptive reuse is the process of re-purposing the building, old buildings that have outlived their original purpose for different uses or function while retaining their historic features. As to what Frank L. Wright said “form and function should be built as whole”. For example, a closed school, like Reverside School, may be converted into condominiums. An old factory may become a hotel. A rundown church may find new life as a restaurant….. And a restaurant may become a church. "Adaptive reuse is a process that changes a disused or ineffective item into a new item that can be used for a different purpose. Sometimes, nothing changes but the item's use."—Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage.
The case study that I used in adaptive reuse is an old building which was Bankside Power Station in London for use as the Tate Gallery. Formerly off-limits to the general public, it now receives about five million visitors a year. London’s Bankside Power Station stood disused from 1981 until 2000, when it opened to the public as The Tate Modern. The architect creating a contemporary public space without diminishing the building's historical presence. The impressive cultural icon has since become the most visited museum of modern art in the world, revitalizing its formerly sequestered, industrial neighbourhood.
The original building was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in the late 1940s and was decommissioned after just three decades of use. Situated across the Thames from St. Paul's Cathedral, the station's chimney stands as a counterpoint to the cathedral's dome.
The architect chose to enhance the urban character of the building without detracting significantly from its form, allowing it to remain an experiential and visual piece in itself. The most apparent exterior alteration is the light beam set atop its roof, a horizontal contrast to the towering chimney.
The transition between old and new is not always obvious, however. The architect referenced the industrial character of Scott’s design in each detail, avoiding jarring interventions which might distract from the works of art. The heavy stair rails, cast iron grills, and unfinished wood floors harmonize with the original aesthetic. Like the quote by Richard Hill said “the aesthetic of architecture should be based on recognising its usefulness.”
In the nutshell, in my own opinion, form and function in contemporary architecture today, it can perform nicely together. It can always changing the form or function once the building got renovated and reused. It also can call it as adding a new life of a building.
