Form (architecture)


In architecture, form refers to a combination of external appearance, internal structure, and the unity of the design as a whole, an order created by the architect using space and mass.

External appearance

The external outline of a building includes its shape, size, color, and texture, as well as relational properties, like position, orientation, and visual inertia.
Architects are primarily concerned with the shapes of the building itself, its openings, and enclosing planes.
Forms can have regular shape, or irregular; the latter can sometimes be constructed by combining multiple forms or removing one form from another.
Multiple forms can be organized in different ways:
  • in a line or along a circle;
  • as a regular grid;
  • as an irregular cluster;
  • in a star-like radial pattern.

    Internal structure

Historically, multiple approaches were suggested to address the reflection of the structure in the appearance of the architectural form. In the 19th-century Germany, Karl Friedrich Schinkel suggested that the structural elements shall remain visible in the forms to create a satisfying feeling of strength and security, while Karl Bötticher as part of his "tectonics" suggested splitting the design into a structural "core-form" and decorative "art-form". Art-form was supposed to reflect the functionality of the core-form: for example, rounding and tapering of the column should suggest its load-bearing function. In the tectonics as envisioned by Bötticher, the function had driven the design: the size determined the roof technology to be used, the latter in turn mandated the support requirements, creating a structural outline of the building, architecture was an art of resolution of the conflicts between the functional need and architectural forms that can be built.
New materials had frequently inspired new forms. For example, arrival of construction iron essentially created a set of new core-forms, and many architects got busy inventing the matching art-forms. Similarly, introduction of reinforced concrete, steel frame, and large plates of sheet glass in the 20th century caused creation of radically new space and mass arrangements.

Space and mass

Space and mass are the primary ingredients that an architect uses to compose an architectural form. The essence of a building is the separation between the finite indoor space fit for humans and unrestricted natural environment outdoors. Unlike the physical objects manifesting the mass, the human experience of the void, air-filled indoor space is not obvious, yet the idea of architectural space is very old, going back at least to the , a subdivision of a building into parts.
The psychological effects of space are very common, as suggested by the English language: feeling of insecurity and compression in "confining circumstances" of inadequate space and powerful "elevated experience" of standing above a great expanse. Space and mass in architecture are not entirely separable: as was noted by George Berkeley in 1709, two-dimensional human vision cannot fully comprehend three-dimensional forms, so the perception of the space is a result of immediate visual sensation and the knowledge of textures pre-acquired through touching.
By placing restrictions on the observer's movements, an architect can evoke a variety of emotions. For example, in Gothic architecture, an elongated nave suggests a forward movement towards the altar while the compressive effect of tall walls draws the gaze towards vaults and windows above, causing a feeling of release and "uplifting" experience. Renaissance architecture tries to guide the observer to a point where all the features appear to be in equilibrium, resolving the conflict between the compression and release, thus creating a feeling of being at rest. Neo-Palladianism in England paid attention to the architectural circulation, with the views unfolding as the visitor experiences the building.
The architectural use of space is not restricted to indoors, similar feelings can be recreated on a grand scale in the city landscape. For example, the colonnades of the St. Peter's Square in Rome suggest walking towards the entrance of the cathedral in a way similar to the navigation experiences indoors. At the same time, the facades of a standalone building usually do not create an architectural space, instead the outside of a building can be thought of as a kind of sculpture, with the masses arranged in a large void.
The balance between the space and mass varied with the historical period and function of the building. For example, Egyptian pyramids and stupas in India have practically no internal space, are almost all mass, and thus manifest themselves in a sculptural fashion. The Byzantine architecture, in contrast, offered in its churches an ascetic shell outside combined with sophisticated indoor spaces. Gothic cathedrals expressed the fusion between the secular and spiritual powers through an equilibrium between the worldly facade masses and mystic spaces inside. The relative importance of space and mass can change very quickly: in 1872, Viollet-le-Duc wrote his book, Entretiens sur l'architecture, completely avoiding the use of the word "space" in its modern meaning; just 20 years later August Schmarsow was declaring the primacy of, "forming the space".
Modern architecture, utilizing the steel frame, enabled space partitioning without any practical limits, transparent walls of architectural glass enable visual journeys into the boundless world behind them. At the same time modern materials reduced the contrast between the space and mass, primarily through the reduced mass of the walls.

Symbolism

The form can be considered to have a direct symbolic value used for communication between the architect and the customer. In particular, most art historians agree that the triangular pediment in the Greco-Roman architecture is not just an imitation of an older roof construction, but a representation of the divine. This idea, first presented in the modern times by a little-known architect Jean-Louis Viel de Saint Maux in 1787, was hinted at by Cicero much earlier. Cicero also suggested that the utilitarian and symbolic meanings of the pediment are not necessarily contradictory: originally designed as part of the gabled roof to protect from the rain, the pediment had gradually acquired a religious value, so if a building was designed for heaven, where the rain does not fall, dignity would dictate to add a pediment on top of it.
The ability of architecture to represent the universe and the common association of a sphere with the cosmos caused an extensive use of spherical shapes since the early Roman construction.

Theories

Multiple theories were suggested to explain the origination of forms. Gelernter considers them to be variations of five basic ideas:
  1. A form is defined by its function. For a building to be "good", it should fulfill the functional requirements imposed by external physical, social, and symbolic needs. Each set of functions corresponds to an ideal form ;
  2. A form is a product of the designer's creativity. An architect's intuition suggests a new form that eventually blossoms, this explains similarities between the buildings with disparate functions built by the same architect;
  3. A form is dictated by the prevailing set of attitudes shared by the society, the Zeitgeist. While expressing his individuality, an architect still unconsciously reflects the artistic tastes and values that are "in the air" at the time;
  4. A form is defined by the socioeconomic factors. Unlike the Spirit of Age theory, the externalities are more physical. Architects live in a society and their works are influenced by the prevailing ideology ;
  5. Architecture forms are timeless, the good ones cross the geographical, cultural, and temporal borders. For hundreds of years, these beliefs were embodied in "The Five Orders of Architecture". According to the theory of types, there are only few basic building forms, like basilica or atrium, with each generating multiple versions with stylistic differences.

    Early theories of form

As the nomadic cultures began to settle and desired to provide homes for their deities as well, they faced a fundamental challenge: "how would mortals... know the kind of built environment that would please the gods?" The first answer was obvious: claim the divine origin of the architectural form, passed to architects by kings and priests. Architects, not having an access to the original source, worked out the ways to scale buildings while keeping the order through the use of symmetry, multiples and fractions of the basic module, proportions.
Plato discussed the ideal forms, "Platonic solids": cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron). Per Plato, these timeless Forms can be seen by the soul in the objects of the material world; architects of latter times turned these shapes into more suitable for construction sphere, cylinder, cone, and square pyramid. The contemporaneous Greek architects, however, still assumed the divine origins of the forms of their buildings. Standard temple types with predetermined number and location of columns eventually evolved into the orders, but Greeks thought of these not as frozen in time results of the cultural evolution, but as timeless divine truths captured by mortals.
Vitruvius, in the only surviving classical antiquity treatise on the subject of architecture, acknowledges the evolutionary origination of forms by referring to the first shelters built by the primitive men, who were emulating the nature, each other, and inventing. Through this process, they had arrived to the immutable "truth of Nature". Thus, to achieve the triple goal of architecture, "firmness, commodity, and delight", an architect should select a timeless form and then adjust it for the site, use, and appearance.
File:Abteikirche Maria Laach, 1906.jpg|thumb|Simple geometric elements form the exterior of Maria Laach Abbey, 12th century AD
Medieval architects strived in their designs to follow the structure of universe by starting with simple geometrical figures and combining them into evolved forms used for both plan and sections views of the building, expecting better structural qualities and adherence to the perceived Divine intentions.
Renaissance brought a wholesale return in architecture to the Classical ideals. While Giacomo da Vignola and Andrea Palladio had tweaked the proportions recorded by Vitruvius, their books declared the absolute, timeless principles of the architectural design.