The document discusses the principles of form following function and circulation in building design. It provides the Sydney Opera House as a case study, describing its iconic shell-like form which was designed based on the functional requirements of the performance spaces. The form uses pre-cast concrete rib segments and tensioned steel cables to support the shells. It also examines the Guggenheim Museum, whose spiral design was intended to allow visitors to view the artwork along an ascending walkway, making the building itself a work of art.

1. Designing the Form of a
Building
SUBMITTED BY: -
Shivang Madaan(42), Rajvir Singh(51), Gurleen Kaur(67), Snehael Goel(72), Sarthak Singla(82)

2. Content
Form Follows Function
Form Follows Circulation
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3. Form follows
Function
“It is the pervading law of all things organic
and inorganic, of all things physical and
metaphysical, of all things human and all
things superhuman, of all true manifestations
of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the
life is recognizable in its expression, that form
ever follows function”.
- Louis Sullivan
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4. Form V/S Function
Form: -
Function is the essential act that an object, process or idea
should carry out..
E.g. House is meant as a space to live in, protecting us
from the environment.
Function: -
Form is the object, process or idea was designed so that it
would work
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The Sydney Opera House
• The Sydney Opera House is a performing arts centre at Sydney
Harbor in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the 20th
century's most famous and distinctive buildings.
• It was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, following an
international architectural competition in 1957.
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6. Function of the Opera House
• It is sensible for an architect to start the design process with a clear idea of the functions a new structure is to
perform, then to design the structure to meet those requirements. If the functional requirements are not enabled by
the form of the building, then the design was not fit for purpose.
• At times, buildings are constructed which do not comply with the apparent primary reason for their existence. At
times, the basic design is not entirely suitable.
• The main function of the Opera House’s is to ornament the Sydney Harbor and to be Iconic , rather than just being
particularly successful in a technical sense as a venue for theatre performances.
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7. Form of the Opera House
• The form of the Opera House is built using shells
• All the shells were created as sections from a sphere,
supported on arched ribs.
• Each of the shells is made of pre-cast concrete rib
segments rising to a ridge beam, held together by 350
km of tensioned steel cable.
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Utzon’s Original Sketch of the Opera House
Opera House Proposed SectionOpera House Under Construction
Opera House Final Construction Phase

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Plan of one of the Concert Halls
Actual Section of the Opera House
One of the Concert Halls

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12. Project Summary
• Address: Bennelong Point, Sydney, Australia
• Construction started: March 1959
• Completed: 1973
• Height: 65 m
• Length: 183 m
• Width : 120m
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• Architect: Jørn Utzon
• Mechanical engineer & Lighting Designer: Steensen Varming
• Structural engineer: Ove Arup & Partners
• Construction cost: A$102 million
• Owner: NSW government
• Concert hall capacity: 2,679
This was a truthfully visionary project, which places Sydney on the map as a city. It is not only an iconic building in terms of
architecture, but also a great cultural hub for the city. Its design is so unusual it is timeless. It’s more than just “A place for
people to come and see performances” but the poster child for innovation, design and culture in Australia.

13. Form follows Circulation
Path of movement that bring series of internal and external
spaces together is called Circulation.
Configuration of path (linear, radial, network, grid and spiral)
Circulation elements:
1. Approach
2. Entrance
3. Insite circulation (horizontal, vertical)
4. Path-space relationship
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14. Solomon R.Guggenheim Museum, USA
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Concept: -
• The building in itself has become a work of art - resembles a white ribbon rolled into a cylindrical shape, slightly wider at the top than at the
base.
• Internally, the galleries form a spiral. As such, the visitor views the works while walking along an ascending, illuminated helical ramp, like a
promenade.
• It’s design was inspired by a “ziggurat”, a pyramidal, stepped and inverted Babylonian temple.
Principle: -
• The route around a large void encourage reflection and enjoyment of the art. The meaning of the art is communicated through the rhythms of
this New York museum.

15. Spaces: -
• Organic architecture-fusion of triangles, ovals, arches, circles and squares.
• The visit begins in the elevators and slowly leads the visitors on a journey where the art works are exhibited along a
spiral, illuminated by a large overhead skylight, divided in the form a citrus fruit.
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16. Why are the walls of the Guggenheim Museum are lightly inclined
toward the exterior?
This is because its founder and architect thought that the paintings placed on a smoothly inclined wall could be seen
with a better perspective and would be better illuminated than if they were hung in a purely vertical position. This is
the principal characteristic of the building, the hypothesis on which the project is based. It is a new idea, but can act as
a precedent of great importance for the future.
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17. Circulation
• Stepping into the atrium space, the mystery reveals it self unfolded by the apparent floating spiral, “an inbreaking wave” where one floor close
into another instead usual superimposition of satisfied layer .
• The visitors can engage with the art work in three different ways: form up close within the intimate frame space, from the inner area of the
ramp and the from across the entire width of the space.
• The journey doesn't have a specific final point . At the end of the ramp, in a space animated by the moods of the light ,just below the sky ,the
promenade continues in the opposite direction, descending towards the starting point in an endlessly loop. After walking down the spiral in a
movement attracted by the force of gravity, one could relax grabbing some refreshments in the museum atrium at the ground floor.
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21. Project Summary
• Address: Guggenheim Museum in New York, United States
• Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright
• It was founded in 1937 in the Upper East Side, New York
• Built in :1956-1959
• Height: 92 ft
• Area: The museum has a total of 24,000 square meters of which 200 are
occupied by a library, 600 by an auditorium, 1,100 by a shop and the
restaurant and cafeteria occupy another 1,100 square meters.
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