Funkcionalismus, design, škola, trh - Čtrnáct textů o problémech teorie a praxe moderního designu – Michl Jan (2019)

The publication aims to encourage thinking about the problems of both theory and practice in designing utility objects and buildings, to which we also impose artistic demands. The individual chapters critically engage with ideas inherited from modernist functionalist philosophy, which has shaped thinking about design and architecture, as well as their practice, for several generations. The themes of the chapters include, among others, the nature of the designer's creativity, the meaning of the phrase 'form follows function', the origins of abstract aesthetics in design, the idea of functional perfection, questions of stylistic unity and stylistic pluralism, the problem of so-called intelligent design in nature, the relationship between design and the market, and many other issues. The book represents a significantly expanded edition of the author's previous publication 'So they say form follows function', published in 2003 by the Academy of Art, Architecture and Design in Prague. Additionally, the book is supplemented by a commented color image appendix 'Objects and Stimuli' with more than eighty illustrations. Jan MICHL is an emeritus professor of the history and theory of design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) in Norway.