Topological and geometric form, projective and operational function, and the structure of objects

Abstract

Theoretical research essay for educational and professional purposes. It concentrates on the concepts of form, function and structure as analytical categories for the theory of functional artificial objects, with some clarifications in the field of architecture. Apart from clarifying concepts for theoretical teaching, it is an instrumental epistemology for the design process. The more clarity of these categories, the more precise the design as a soft technological practice aimed at environment modification. As it is a founding theory, the concepts come from classical bibliography, not ephemeral, and from philosophy and language dictionaries. Under the empirical-analytical method concepts are collated with a deep analytical reflection after the experimental relationship with artificial objects and their properties. These concepts are defined and used in abundant design literature, many times without going into them or in a contradictory way. There has been ambiguity in the concept of form, in addition to suffering a questionable aesthetic contamination; its morphological character is emphasized and the categories of geometric shape and topological shape are proposed as sufficient. The concept of function, reduced to the practical utility of objects, is extended to its semiotic function. The concept of systemic structure has suffered a conceptual deformation as it has been reduced to the supporting physical structure of objects. It is proposed to correct these conceptual deviations, and enrich with sub-categories.