Comments on a456: Dankmar Adler on Form and Function

765 ... is it possible to stage a Adler v. Ruskin ...

2008-04-21T10:19:00.000-04:00

765 ... is it possible to stage a Adler v. Ruskin debate in the same terms as a Perrault v. Blondel or Perrault v. Fréart confrontation?

reversealchemy ... interesting point, and I only o...

2008-04-21T10:06:00.000-04:00

reversealchemy ... interesting point, and I only offer Adler's subsequent paragraph as a response:

"Therefore, before accepting of the underlying law upon which all good architectural design and all true architectural style is founded, it may be well to amend it, and say 'function and environment determine form,' using the words environment and form in their broadest sense."

Ibid.

That reminds me of Ruskin, coming from the other d...

2008-04-20T01:12:00.000-04:00

That reminds me of Ruskin, coming from the other direction, at his most diagrammatic/formalsit:

"For instance, the line or curve of the edge of a leaf may be accurately given to the edge of a stone, without rendering the stone in the least like a leaf, or suggestive of a leaf ... because the lines of nature are alike in all her works ... and when they are taken out of their combinations it is impossible to say from which of her works they have been borrowed, their universal property being that of ever-varying curvature in the most subtle and subdued transitions, with peculiar dependence on motion, elasticity, or dependence ..." Ruskin, The Stones of Venice I, p. 224

So form wanders along behind function?

2008-04-18T09:12:00.000-04:00

So form wanders along behind function?