Interrelation between form function

and circulation
Submitted by:
Janvi singla (47)
Deepika sanan(57)
Damanpreet gill(58)
Muskan gupta(63)
Avreen kaur(65)
 Form follows function
Form follows function is a principle associated with modern architecture and
industrial design. The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be
primarily based on its intended function or purpose.

It is a principle that governs and builds in foundation in any architectural piece

comprising of any form.

Buildings covered in this ppt are:

1. The Wainwright Building

2. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
3.
How are form and function related
 THE WAINWRIGHT BUILDING

Location: ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

Designed by: Adler and sullivan

Built :1891

Style: Chicago School

 LOUIS SULLIVAN: FATHER OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE

❏ Their buildings were not only functional examples

of metal frame technology, but successful artistically
in unifying a skyscrapers repetitious components.

❏ This building Considered as a column

●TOP - CORNICE
●Tenth storey as the frieze
●Next 7 stories as “fluted
shaft”
●First two storey as a “base “

❏ He doubled the number of vertical piers to express not just function but as a design
element forcing the eye to read the middle ten floors as one continuous soaring unit.
❏ He defined the style in architecture which express the
“verticality” of high rise building

❏ His architecture was defined by beautiful modular

ornamentation on simplistic building forms, striking a
perfect balance in art nouveau and modernism.

❏ The underlying idea behind his philosophy is “efficiency”.

Efficiency in materials, space planning and ornamentation
provides a way to minimize the cost of construction and
increase the profit margin.

❏ The idea of efficiency suddenly became central to the

high rise architecture because of modular construction
that greatly supposed repetition.
 MATERIALS
This building is remarkable for its steel- framed structure,
which allowed a dramatic increase in window area by bay-
wide windows, which in turn allowed for the greatest amount
of daylight into the building materials.
In between the windows were lavish bands
of terra-cotta. The lavish bronze plated glass
iron ornamental work above the rounded tower
was also meant to be functional.
Both the use of bronze and terracotta was
important to setting the building apart from
others because it was essentially fire-
resistant.
Mahogany and marble fixtures.
Incandescent lights. Buildings is expressed in
steel frames. They have lavish foliate
ornamentation.
The very first human expression of a tall steed office
building “architecture”
● Height- 45m
● First floor-street accessible shops
● Second floor- easily accessible public office.
● Higher floor- honeycomb office.
● Top floor-water tanks and building machinery.
The building was name after a
local financier, Ellis Wainwright,
who needed office space to
manage the St. Louis Brewers
Association .
 SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
Location: 1071 Fifth Avenue (at 88th Street) New
York, NY
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959)

Built in: 1959

Type: Art museum

Architectural style: Modern

 THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM FROM THE OUTSIDE
● Whereas the rest of Fifth Avenue presents
buildings that are rectangular, vertical, and
decorated with bits of ornamentation, the
Guggenheim counters this regularity with its
purely sculptural facade. Its clean circular
and horizontal design is devoid of surface
decoration.
● From the street, the building looks like a
white ribbon rolled into a cylindrical shape,
slightly wider at the top than at the bottom.
Internally, the galleries form a spiral. Thus,
the visitor sees the work as you walk up the
illuminated spiral ramp. Its design was
inspired by a "Ziggurat" Babylonian temple
pyramid, inverted.
● As you face the outside of the museum you will
see three distinct formations. To your right, and
most imposing, is the large rotunda. To the left,
the small rotunda echoes the circular shape on a
smaller scale. Until 1988 it was used as
administrative offices, but is now open to the
public.
● The Museum Guggenheim exhibits a great
difference to the buildings in the vicinity because of its spiral shape, marked by the
merging of triangles, ovals, arcs, circles and squares, which correspond to the
concept of organic architecture used by Frank Lloyd Wright in his designs
 THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM ON THE INSIDE
● As you step forward the low-ceilinged
area suddenly opens into the rotunda
and draws your eye upward to the
overarching skylight.
● A visitor's first intake is a huge atrium,
rising 92' in height to an expansive
glass dome. Along the sides of this
atrium is a continuous ramp uncoiling
upwards six stories for more than
one-quarter of a mile, allowing for one
floor to flow into another. The ramp
also creates a procession in which a
visitor experiences the art displayed
along the walls as they climb upwards
towards the sky.
● This diagram shows the interior plan of the
Guggenheim Museum. According to
Wright’s design, visitors would enter the
building, take an elevator to the top, and
while descending along the spiral ramp view
different art forms.
USE OF GEOMETRIC SHAPES
Most buildings contain interior spaces that
are rectilinear. Frank Lloyd Wright thought
in curves and straight lines—triangles,
circles, ovals, squares, and spirals—as well
as shapes adapted from nature.Wright
believed that structure created beauty and
geometric forms gave his work a consistent
and systematic quality. Look down and you
find circles in the terrazzo floor beneath
your feet. Look up at the underside of the
ramp and you see it punctuated by
triangular lighting panels.
 FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
“Form follows function—that has been misunderstood. Form and function should
be one, joined in a spiritual union.” -- FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

The principle of form follows function is

thoroughly visible in the plan for the
Guggenheim Museum. According to
Wright’s design, visitors would enter the
building, take an elevator to the top and
enjoy a continuous art-viewing experience
while descending along the spiral ramp.
 MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION
It took 7,000 cubic feet of concrete and 700 tons of structural
steel to form the structure and shell of the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum. Various subcontractors worked together
to create the one-of-a-kind plywood forms that shaped the iconic
sweeping curves of the building. The museum is constructed of
“gun-placed concrete” (also referred to as “gun-concrete” and
“gunite”), which is sprayed into a plywood formwork rather than
poured.