A Quote by Roland Barthes

Architecture is always dream and function, expression of a utopia and instrument of a convenience.

Roland Barthes

Quote Topics

Always Architecture Convenience Dream Expression Function Instrument Utopia

Quote Author

Roland Barthes
French - Critic
November 12, 1915 - March 26, 1980

Eiffel saw his Tower in the form of a serious object, rational, useful; men return it to him in the form of a great baroque dream which quite naturally touches on the borders of the irrational ... architecture is always dream and function, expression of a utopia and instrument of a convenience.

Roland Barthes

The bones of my architecture are very much related to the structure, to the physical fact of how a building can stand up; it's also related to geometry and a certain understanding of the architecture in which there is a balance between expression and function.

Santiago Calatrava

The basic idea of a hyper instrument is where the technology is built right into the instrument so that the instrument knows how its being played - literally what the expression is, what the meaning is, what the direction of the music is.

Tod Machover

There is no ecological architecture, no intelligent architecture and no sustainable architecture - there is only good architecture. There are always problems we must not neglect. For example, energy, resources, costs, social aspects - one must always pay attention to all these.

Eduardo Souto de Moura

In any architecture, there is an equity between the pragmatic function and the symbolic function.

Michael Graves

Capitalism is always evaluated against dreams. Utopia is a dream. It doesn't exist.

Rush Limbaugh

To me, form doesn't always follow function. Form has a life of its own, and at times, it may be the motivating force in design. When you're dealing with form as a sculptor, you feel that you are quite free in attempting to mould and shape things you want to do, but in architecture, it's much more difficult because it has to have a function.

I. M. Pei

Truly great architecture always transcends its stated function, sometimes in unanticipated ways.

Martin Filler

The suburbs have always been like an American version of utopia and a reflection of their hopes and fears. Erika's version of American suburban utopia - which I am renaming the outer ring - is a diverse place, with affordable housing, the possibility for people to have small businesses, which is more realistic in the outer ring than in the city with its huge costs, decent public transportation and the ability to access art and cultural events. That's my dream for America.

Erika M. Anderson

It is function of government to invent philosophies to explain the demands of its own convenience.

Murray Kempton

Does it follow that the house has nothing in common with art and is architecture not to be included in the arts? Only a very small part of architecture belongs to art: the tomb and the monument. Everything else that fulfils a function is to be excluded from the domain of art.

Adolf Loos

What begins as a Utopian vision, always - always - ends in bloodshed. Because you have to force a utopia on a free people. Free people want to pursue their own happiness, but a one-size-fits-all approach requires herding the free, against their will, into the state's idea of what's right. Then it's not utopia.

Greg Gutfeld

I don't wish to defend everything that has been done in the name of Utopia. But I think many of the attacks misconceive its nature and function. As I have tried to suggest, utopia is not mainly about providing detailed blueprints for social reconstruction. Its concern with ends is about making us think about possible worlds. It is about inventing and imagining worlds for our contemplation and delight. It opens up our minds to the possibilities of the human condition.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger

When I work on sculpture, I don't have to worry about function. When I work on a piece of architecture, I must think about function all the time.

Santiago Calatrava

You cannot have good architecture merely by asking people's advice on occasion. All good architecture is the expression of national life and character; and it is produced by a prevalent and eager national taste, or desire for beauty.