Comparative Study on Architectural Contemporary Schools Based onInteraction of Form, Function and Structure

The aim of current paper was to study the role of structure and structural thinking in the architectural design process in the three contemporary architectural schools. Paying attention to the structure along with other components of architecture (i.e. form and function) is of great importance in the architectural design process. Such attention in the past by the architects caused unity of the structure with other components. In the current era, development of the sciences and technology in different fields such as architecture and complexity in design and architecture has caused professionalization of different stages of design process. Hence, the professions such as structure engineering and architectural engineering have required static thinking and establishment of the structure, to loose structure unity with other architectural components, at some cases. In this paper, since structure influences and is influenced by the tow components of form and function it was tried to study their triple relationship in the form of three contemporary architectural schools (i.e. modern architecture, High-tech architecture and deconstruction architecture). To do so, a triple theoretical model was developed in order to explain the relationship among three components of structure, form and function. The research method of the study was descriptive-analytical. Hence, first the relationship among these components was described in each school with focus on the issue of structure. Then relying on the content analysis method and referring to written and visual resources of architectural example of each school, it can be concluded that modern architecture focuses on separation of form and function from structure, deconstruction architecture emphasizes on the issue of “ structure follows form” and in the high-tech architecture structure is a determining factor in formation and construction.