SUS_225 Form follows function: functionalism and its partial aspects and forms

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jakub Sochor (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
PhDr. Dagmar Koudelková
Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Ing. Alena Albíniová
Supplier department: Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 10:00–11:40 N51, except Mon 21. 4. to Sun 27. 4.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 6 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The course is oriented towards architectural functionalism. It follows an important reformist movement, which will be presented in the context of the historical transformations of architecture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the scientific and technological development of society (e.g. in terms of transport technologies) and the transformations of sub-sectors of culture (especially avant-garde visual arts).
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to: • - be oriented in the functionalist architecture and specify its various forms; • - place the architectural phenomenon in a broader socio-cultural context; • - understand the theoretical writings of key figures in 20th century architecture.
Syllabus
  • 1. On the threshold of modern architecture (introduction); the transformation of building culture and practice at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries; • 2. The transformation of the relationship to mimetic representation and the development of abstract aesthetics (based, e.g., on Neoplasticism) in connection with the departure from traditional stylistic elements; • 3. Functionalism, Constructivism, International Style; terminological and content definition; • 4. „Machine for living“: mechanization of aesthetics and its consequences; modern transport technology and its overlap into architecture (aeronautics, automobilism, nautical symbolism and metaphor); • 5. Typization, standardization and prefabrication. Approaching self-supporting structures (steel, reinforced concrete), new materials and application (terrazzo, xylolite, the rise of glass concrete) or the role of streamlining and ergonomics, from details (the use of large tiles to eliminate joints) to larger concepts (the so-called Frankfurt kitchen of Margarette Schütte-Lihotzky and its pioneering role in kitchen design); • 6. The issue of function in architecture, including its historical framework (Vitruvius, Carlo Lodoli, etc.); the theme of formalism and its residues in the morphology of functionalist architecture; • 7. Consequences of functionalist reform; economy of furnishing, built-in furniture; absence of traditional style-forming components; neofunctionalism.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • FRAMPTON, Kenneth. A genealogy of modern architecture : comparative critical analysis of build form. Edited by Ashley Simone. Zurich: Lars Müller Publishers, 2016, 303 stran. ISBN 9783037783696. info
  • LONG, Christopher. The new space : movement and experience in Viennese modern architecture. Photo by Wolfgang Thaler. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016, xv, 246. ISBN 9780300218282. info
  • WRIGHT, Frank Lloyd. Modern architecture : being the Kahn lectures for 1930. Edited by Neil Levine. Facsim. ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008, lxxv, 114. ISBN 9780691129372. info
  • TEIGE, Karel. Modern architecture in Czechoslovakia : and other writings. Edited by Jean-Louis Cohen, Translated by Irena Žantovská Murray - David Britt. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2000, xi, 367. ISBN 089236596X. info
  • HITCHCOCK, Henry-Russell and Philip JOHNSON. The international style. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1995, 269 s. ISBN 0393036510. info
  • Bauhaus Berlin : Auflösung Dessau 1932; Schließung Berlin 1933; Bauhäusler und Drittes Reich; eine Dokumentation zusammengestellt vom Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin. Edited by Peter Hahn. Weingarten: Kunstverlag Weingarten, 1985, 301 s. ISBN 3817020023. info
    not specified
  • Albers and Moholy-Nagy : from the Bauhaus to the New World. Edited by Achim Borchardt-Hume. London: Tate Publishing, 2006, 190 s. ISBN 1854376381. info
Teaching methods
Lectures, field trip.
Assessment methods
Colloquium.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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