The document discusses structuralism as a theory in architecture and urban planning that arose in the mid-20th century as a response to functionalism. It highlights the interrelationship between social structures and built forms, emphasizing the importance of user participation and a more human-oriented approach to design. Key figures such as Aldo van Eyck and notable architectural examples are presented to illustrate the principles and aesthetic considerations of structuralism.

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Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture
structuralism
In architecture
Theory of architecture
Abubeker fedlu 2015

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Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture 2
Acknowledgment
I want to acknowledge those who helped during these project. I’d like
to thank Dire Dawa University and Department of Architecture. I also
want to thank my teacher AR Fethi Ramadan for giving me this
chance and for the way of teaching technique so that I can do
increase my knowledge and my working skills. Thanks ,too, my friends
and classmates for being such a supportive.
Thank You
Abubeker Fedlu

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Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture 2
c o n t e n t s
Cover page
Preface
Acknowledgment
Introduction 1
Literature review 2
Analysis 4
Case studies 5
Understanding 9
Recommendation 10
Bibliography 11

5. Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture 5
Structuralism is a mode of thinking and a method of analysis
practiced in 20th-centurysocial sciences and humanities.
Methodologically, it analyses large-scale systems by examining
the relations and functions of the smallest constituent
elements of such systems, which range from human languages
and cultural practices to folktales and literary texts.
In Europe, structuralism is seen as a parallel movement to
American postmodern architecture. The first interpretations of
both movements came up in the 1960s. Through publications
and presentations by authors such as Charles Jencks, Robert
Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, postmodern architecture was
successful throughout the world for decades. While
postmodernism is concerned with an architectural style, many
aspects of architecture and urbanism are treated in the
structuralist movement.
Structuralism
STRUCTURALISM
Manifesto
One of the most influential manifestos for the Structuralist
movement was compiled by Aldo van Eyck in the architectural
magazine Forum 7/1959. It was drawn up as the programmed for
the International Congress of Architects in Otterlo in 1959. The
central aspect of this issue of Forum was a frontal attack on the
Dutch representatives of CIAM-Rationalism who were
responsible for the reconstruction work after World War II, (for
tactical reasons, planners like van Tijen, van Eastern, Merkelbach
and others were not mentioned). The magazine contains many
examples of and statements in favor of a more human form of
urban planning. This congress in 1959 marks the official start of
Structuralism, although earlier projects and buildings did exist.
Only since 1969 has the term "Structuralism" been used in
publications in relation to architecture
INTRODUCTION

6. Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture 6
Structuralism as a movement in
architecture and urban planning
evolved around the middle of the 20th
century. It was a reaction to CIAM-
Functionalism (Rationalism) which had
led to a lifeless expression of urban
planning that ignored the identity of
the inhabitants and urban forms.
Structuralism in a general sense is a
mode of thought of the 20th century,
which came about in different places, at
different times and in different fields. It
can also be found in linguistics,
anthropology, philosophy and art. At
the beginning of the general article
Structuralism the following
explanations are noted:
"Structuralism is a theoretical paradigm
emphasizing that elements of culture
must be understood in terms of their
relationship to a larger, overarching
system or structure."
STRUCTURALISM
Structuralism
L i t e ra t u r e r e v i e w

7. Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture 2
STRUCTURALISM
Theoretical origins, principles and aspects
 Built structures corresponding in form to social
structures, according to Team 10 (Working
group for the investigation of
interrelationships between social and built
structures).The archetypical behavior of man
as the origin of architecture Different
Rationalist architects had believed in the idea
that man and society could be manipulated.
 Coherence, growth and change on all levels of
the urban structure. The concept of a Sense of
place. Tokens of identification (identifying
devices). Urban Structuring and Articulation
(of the built volume).
 Polyvalent form and individual interpretations
(compare the concept of langue et parole by
Ferdinand de Saussure). User participation in
housing. Integration of "high" and "low"
culture in architecture (fine architecture and
everyday forms of building). Pluralistic
architecture.
L i t e ra t u r e r e v i e w

8. Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture 2
STRUCTURALISM
Aesthetics of number
The term "aesthetics of number" is
introduced by Aldo van Eyck in the
architectural magazine Forum
7/1959.In his article van Eyck showed
two works of art: a structuralist
painting by the contemporary artist
Richard Paul Lohse and a Kuba textile
(Bakuba tissue) by an African artist of
the "primitive" culture. The
combination of these two cultures has
a symbolic meaning in the structuralist
movement.
Municipal Orphanage in Amsterdam,
"Aesthetics of Number", 1960 (Aldo
van Eyck)
Structure and coincidence
In the 1960s the structuralists criticized
the narrowness of the functional
principle "Form Follows Function". In
historic cities they found solutions for a
new form principle: an interpretable,
adaptable and expandable architecture,
see below Historic Cities II. In the
magazine Forum they developed ideas
about "polyvalent form and individual
interpretations", "reciprocity of form"
and "participation".In our time the
notion "open structures" is also used in
discussions.
Parliament building
of North Rhine-
Westphalia in
Düsseldorf, 1979-
1988
Participation of the
inhabitants, inside
and outside
"Interpretable,
adaptable and
expandable"
A N A LY S I S

9. Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture 2
STRUCTURALISM
Urban structuring the art of town planning
 Examples of urban planning and urban
structuring. About the relation
between historic and contemporary
architecture.
 Le Corbusier wrote: "I was labelled a
revolutionary, whereas my greatest
teacher was the Past. My so-called
revolutionary ideas are straight out of
the history of architecture itself."
Amsterdam, Basic
structure: U-shape
Barcelona,
Gridiron Plan
Venice, Basic
structure:
S-shape
Washington, D.C.,
L'Enfant Plan
Historic cities
New cities
 New cities in the twentieth century.
The term "Urban Structuring" is
introduced by Alison and Peter
Smithson, the term "Articulations" (of
the built volume) by Herman
Hertzberger. Both terms are used as a
title of an architectural book.
A N A LY S I S

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Aldo van Eyck was born in Driebergen,
Holland in 1918. He lived with his
family in Golders Green in London
from October 1919 to July 1935.
Educated in England at Prince Alfred
Primary School in Hampstead, London
from 1924-32 and at Sid cot School in
Winscombe near Wells from 1932-35.
He returned to Holland to study at the
Royal Academy of Visual Arts in the
Hague 1935-38.
STRUCTURALISM
Aldo van Eyck
C A S E S T U D E S
Traditional Dogon Houses
The Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck who,
for a while edited the influential
magazine Forum vigorously pursued
his interest in the relationship between
the social structures and the built form
of traditional cultures, making several
field trips to the Dogon people of
north West Africa to study their
indigenous shelter.
Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture

11. STRUCTURALISM
C A S E S T U D E S
Amsterdam Orphanage, at Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, 1955 to 1960.
 This building made Van Eyck's
reputation world-wide. It
became the icon of the
structuralist - Team 10 revision
of modernism.
 people finding it more
expressive of the idea of
humanism than its actuality.
 Sharp described it thus "… A
cult building in the 1960s, Van
Eyck's orphanage brought to
the surface an idiosyncratic
interpretation of modern
architectural ideas enriched
by pattern and forms and by
balancing repetitive pavilions.
 Constructed in
reinforced concrete panels
and glass bricks
Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture

12. STRUCTURALISM
C A S E S T U D E S
Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture
 A special place in the history of
structuralism takes metabolism, named
after a group of Japanese architects
working under the direction of Kenzo
Tange. In 1960, Tange presented the plan to
build a new neighborhood on artificial
islands and the footbridge stretched over
the bay near Tokyo. The plan resembles a
tree trunk from which branches sprout
leaves covered with residential buildings -
and this is the essence of metabolism,
binding individual living spaces with the
"bloodstream" of infrastructure and
communications.
Kisho Kurokawa, Nagakin,
Tokyo, 1972
metabolism
 Another design presented at the Expo-67
gave rise to awe the audience and futuristic
Utopian hopes. It was the Montreal
Biosphere, designed by Buckminster Fuller,
who developed and implemented the
concept of geodesic domes designed by
German engineer Walther Bauersfeld. This
ideal, geometric form has become
synonymous with universe, a symbol of
Earth and inspired eco-architect, These
visions were not realized, but the Biosphere
has become a symbol of modern
architecture, and its example is the roof of
the Golden Terraces next to Warsaw
Central Station
Geodesic structure of the
Golden's Terrace in
Warsaw

13. STRUCTURALISM
S T V s F U
Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture
 Structuralism movement was influenced by
and contrasts the Functionalist ideas of
notable architects Le Corbusier and Mies
Van Der Rohe. Functionalism emphasized
the functional elements of high-rise buildings
such as overhangs, columns, roof gardens
and open-space floor plans.
 They used standardized and prefabricated
building materials such as reinforced
concrete and steel. Prominent Dutch
architects Aldo van Eyck and Herman
Herzberger created Structuralism movement
in reaction to Functionalism and Rationalism
in Dutch architecture. Structuralists labeled
the Functional design as too uniform and
large scale resulting in lifeless buildings and
cities without identification of its inhabitants
and urban forms.
 Dutch Structuralism embraced the
relationship between social organization and
building structures based on unity, growth
and change thus making open-ended
structures using numerous repeated
elements. There was also an emphasis of
the relationship between the growing and
repeating structural elements and the users
which would create a growing community
inside this structures with an open ended
numbers.
Structuralism vs Functionalism

14. STRUCTURALISM
U N D E R S T A N D I N G
Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture
What I have analyzed as structuralism in
architecture, and city-planning
characterized on social and cultural
ideas.
Those social and cultural things must be
symbolized through structure.
These structure may not be identical or
simply recognizable because as the
social and cultural beliefs differ from
each other.
Some times and mostly those structures
are complicated and patterned these
implies the social and cultural beliefs
and complicated and hared to
recognize. Above
For example these building
is complex and it is
integrated with the habitat
and social environment
lifeless expression of urban
planning that ignored the identity
of the inhabitants and urban
forms.
Functionalism is the
principle that architects
should design a building
based on the purpose of
that building.

15. STRUCTURALISM
R E C O M M E N D A T I O N
Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture
The recommendation that I would like
to give is that structuralism in
architecture is very important for the
continuing of social, cultural and the
whole habitat and the environment.
But when I say important the function
of the building must be considered and
the client is the main consideration.
Also the urban context must be
considered under consideration.

16. STRUCTURALISM
B I B L O G R A P H Y
Structuralism Architecture Theory of Architecture
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu
nctionalism_%28architecture%
29
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar
t_Nouveau
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H
alen_Estate
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H
erman_Hertzberger