CANKAYA UNIVERSITY
OFFICE OF BASIC AND ELECTIVE
COURSES
-ENGLISH UNITVOCABULARY PRESENTATION
FOR ENG 205 COURSE
WEEK 1
FORM AND FUNCTION
UNIT 1
CANKAYA UNIVERSITY - OFFICE OF BASIC AND ELECTIVE COURSES- ENGLISH UNIT
Form follows function…
Have you ever heard the phrase “form follows
function?” What does it mean?
-It means the way something looks should be
determined by its purpose.
Have you really thought about what it implies about
architecture?
CANKAYA UNIVERSITY - OFFICE OF BASIC AND ELECTIVE COURSES- ENGLISH UNIT
Form follows function…
 Form follows function is a principle associated
with modern architecture and industrial design in the
20th century. The principle is that the shape of a building
or object should be primarily based upon its intended
function or purpose.
 The American architect Louis Sullivan, mentioned the
phrase “Form follows function” in his article The Tall
Office Building Artistically Considered in 1896.
 According to Sullivan, the shape and organization of a
building should be determined only by functional
requirements.
 This is the famous
Wainwright Building
(also known as the
Wainwright State
Office Building)
by Louis Sullivan.
 It is described as
“a highly influential
prototype of the
modern office
building”.
 When people look at this
building, they can understand
that it is an office building. So,
shape of the building is
parallel with its function.
Sullivan said that “form follows function”, but does it
really?
Can you tell whether a building is a theater, a library, or a
museum just by looking at the outside? In a research
study at Ohio State University, 160 people from three
distant cities were shown pictures of buildings and asked
to guess the purpose of those buildings. Most people
couldn’t. Could you?
Now, look at the pictures of some buildings and try to
guess the purpose of them…
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Sydney Opera House
Hotel Sofitel, in Tokyo
Designed by
architect Orlando De
Urrutia. It looks like a water
droplet falling from the sky.
The Water Building Resort
seeks to be the first
building in the world to
generate pure drinking
water from the atmosphere
using solar power.
The Water Building Resort
in Spain
Stata Center is an academic
complex designed
by architect Frank
Gehry for
the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
(In the building there are
the Computer Science and
Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory, the Laboratory for
Information and Decision
Systems, as well as the
Department of Linguistics and
Philosophy.)
Guggenheim Museum
in Bilbao Spain
Dancing House in Prague
by Vlado Milunić and Frank Gehry
Gasometer B
in Vienna
(In Gasometers indoor
facilities include a music
hall, movie theatre,
student dormitory, and
so on... )
Plaza de castilla, Madrid
The crooked house in Sopot, Poland
(a shopping center)
Answer Key
Exercise I: Answer the questions. (p.2)
1.What does “form follows function” mean?
It means the shape of a building or object should be primarily
based upon its intended function or purpose.
2. Why did the researches show different photographs of
different buildings to people? What was the result?
To see if people can identify the function of a building
looking at its shape. Only 32% of the people in the study
chose correctly.
3. Why do some researches believe that form should follow
function?
If buildings clearly show their purpose, visitors can more
easily find their way, and city life becomes more comfortable
and understandable for everyone.
Ex.1(p. 2)
4. Do you think it’s important for architects to design buildings
that indicate their use?
5.Look at the photos of San Francisco Art Museum and the
Seattle Public Library on the previous page. Both of these
buildings have a serious purpose. Why do you think the
architects designed these buildings in this way?
Answer Key
Exercise II: Label the pictures below with these adjectives of
shape. (p. 2)
curved cylindrical
vertical horizontal
1.
inclined tapered oval
rectangular elliptical
2.
CURVED
3.
TAPERED
OVAL
curved cylindrical
vertical horizontal
4.
inclined tapered oval
rectangular elliptical
5.
HORIZONTAL
7.
6.
RECTANGULAR
8.
INCLINED
ELLIPSE
9.
VERTICAL
CYLINDRICAL
Exercise III: In pairs, take turns to describe each building briefly (without
naming or identifying it). (p. 3)
A) The Hearst Tower
B) Capital Gate
C) The Swiss Re Building
Exercise V: Correct the false information in these statements.
(p.3) - Answer Key
1. The Hearst Tower has by far the most extensive (or greatest) floor
area of the three buildings, and is also the tallest and has the
largest number of storeys. The floor plan is th closest to a
rectangular shape. The top of the tower is the most (least) tapered
(or pointed) of the three.
2. Capital Gate has the fewest storeys, and easily the shortest of the
three towers, with the least extensive floor area. It has the most
curved shape of the three, and is the most inclined (or leaning)
from the vertical.
3. The Swiss Re Building has the most conical overall shape, and the
most circular floor plan of the three. The narrowist point is at the
top of the tower, and the widest part is at the base (16th floor). It
is the least tall of the three buildings and has the fewest storeys
and the least extensive floor area.
Exercise V: Correct the false information in these statements.
(p.3) - Answer Key
1. The Hearst Tower has by far the most extensive (or greatest) floor
area of the three buildings, and is also the tallest and has the largest
number of storeys. The floor plan is the closest to a rectangular
shape. The top of the tower is the wrong: most (correct:least)
tapered (or pointed) of the three.
2. Capital Gate has the fewest storeys, and easily the shortest of the
three towers, wrong: with the least extensive floor area. It has the
most curved shape of the three, and is the most inclined (or leaning)
from the vertical.
3. The Swiss Re Building has the most conical overall shape, and the
most circular floor plan of the three. The narrowist point is at the
top of the tower, and the widest part is at the wrong: base (correct:
16th floor). It is the least tall of the three buildings and has
wrong:the fewest storeys and the least extensive floor area.
Answer Key
Exercise VI: Read the descriptions. Write the description number
next to the picture. (p. 4)
Burj Khalifa
4. This building is likely to
remain the tallest building in
the world for many years. The
Y-shaped base gives the
structure great stability. The
lower part of the building
provides 160 floors for human
occupation. The top 46 levels
of the thin, pointed spire are
for maintenance and services
only.
Taipei 101
3. For a time, this was the
tallest building in the
world. It has an unusual
shape: eight tapering
sections rest upon a huge
base or pedestal, which
also tapers upwards from
the ground floor, which is
in the shape of a square.
Shangai World Financial Centre
1. The base of the building
is square, but for three
quarters of its height, it
tapers to its recognizable
rectangular top, where an
opening reduces the
stresses of a wind pressure.
Its shape is often compared
to a giant bottle-opener.
The hotel on the 79th to
93rd floors is the highest in
the world.
Petronas Towers
2. When this building was
completed in 2004, it was the
highest in the world. The
towers remain the tallest twin
towers in the world. The two
spines at the top of the
building, which are not
antennas, form part of the
structure. The towers are
linked by a two-storey sky
bridge linking the 41st and
42nd floors.
OPTIONAL TASK (p. 4)
B
C
A
D
In pairs, talk about the
shapes of the buildings in
the picture.