ABSTRACT
We live in fragmented times. The arrival of the twenty-first century was accompanied by a diversity of architectural attitudes and thus designs. This diversity is not surprising because the Modernists’ focus on what they called “function” gave way to concerns of style and during the latter part of the twentieth century to “signification” (Venturi and Scott Brown 2004). Architectural theory today focuses not on describing and explaining how the built world can and does function but on the ideas and works of individual architects, and/or schools of architectural thought whose members espouse similar views. In practice the concern for the functionality of buildings has not disappeared but rather architects today emphasize different functions than their predecessors. To understand our contemporary architectural theories and practices we need a clear theory of functions. Such a theory must be of practice and live and die by its practical utility. In order to achieve this end our story begins by looking at our contemporary architectural ideas and their philosophical underpinnings.
