The Function Of Style Farshid Moussavi Pdf [2021] (2024)

The Function of Style is the third volume in a highly influential series of publications developed through research at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Each book in the trilogy tackles a core element of architectural production, building upon the insights of the previous volume to forge a comprehensive theoretical framework for contemporary practice.

Moussavi challenges the traditional view of style as a unifying narrative or a period-specific label. Instead, she presents it as a productive tool for contemporary practice:

Moussavi moves away from the 20th-century preoccupation with either purely functionalist, "form follows function" architecture, or the chaotic,, eclectic postmodernism of the 1970s and 80s. She proposes an alternative: a "function of style" that is in tune with the "micro-politics of the everyday". the function of style farshid moussavi pdf

Moussavi’s work offers a powerful critique of the contemporary "starchitect" phenomenon, where style is often reduced to a signature formal gesture used for corporate branding. The Function of Style provides an alternative path forward, emphasizing that style is grounded in the rigorous, everyday craft of construction. Key takeaways for modern practitioners include:

: She ditched the traditional "white cube" for a mirrored black stainless steel exterior that reflects its environment and a flexible interior where art and social life coexist. The Function of Style is the third volume

Summary

The key is that these borrowed ideas, originally designed for specific activities of everyday life (residing, working, learning, shopping, etc.), are not copied wholesale. Instead, they are . This process of appropriation and variation is what produces singular buildings that are related to one another (through shared lineage) but also profoundly different (through unique variation). This network of connections is not just a theoretical concept; it is literally illustrated on the book's cover and in detail throughout its pages. Instead, she presents it as a productive tool

While aesthetics often require cultural education or historical knowledge to appreciate, affect is immediate and universal. It is the feeling of compression in a low-ceilinged concrete corridor, or the feeling of expansiveness in a sunlit, glass-enclosed atrium.

Other critics point to the book's structure as both a strength and a weakness. The Archidose blog, while acknowledging the value of having "so much information packed into one book," argues that what is presented is often "elementary—the building blocks upon which future" work might build. The same review notes that the book "includes just about every modern building that students of architecture should learn about," but also "far too many Farshid Moussavi projects," suggesting a certain degree of self-reference.

Published in 2014 by Actar in collaboration with the Harvard GSD, The Function of Style is a 595-page illustrated volume that offers a new, productive, and operational definition of style. Moussavi argues that in the face of the incredible diversity of 21st-century architecture—ranging from curvilinear forms to crystalline, digital, and raw concrete aesthetics—style should not be viewed as an arbitrary, eclectic choice.

This structure makes The Function of Style an invaluable resource for practitioners. One Amazon reviewer calls it "an excellent summary of the most relevant contemporary projects, their key moves and their location within a wide context of architectural ideas". For students and architects alike, the book offers a kind of visual thesaurus of contemporary design strategies—a reference tool for understanding not just what forms are being built, but why they work.