ABSTRACT
Architectural Theory of Modernism presents an overview of the discourse on function-form concepts from the beginnings, in the eighteenth century, to its peak in High Modernism. Carlo Lodoli is credited with introducing the term 'function' to architectural theory and, hence, often cited when deriving the history of functionalism. Lodoli was an illustrious figure in eighteenth-century Venice. Portraits depict him as a modest Franciscan monk, but he held important offices such as chief censor of the Republic of Venice. The disagreement between Francesco Algarotti and Andrea Memmo primarily concerned the question of the extent to which stone construction should imitate wood construction. In the discussion of how to find architectural forms, the concept of function supported a rational approach, as opposed to the imitative use of a historical canon of forms. Lodoli's concept is the most plausible of Algarotti, Francesco Milizia, and Memmo when it comes to reading the general characteristics of a function: action, relation, and reference to a whole.
