The influence of structuralism in the field of architecture

This essay will analyse the influence of structuralism on the field of architecture from a linguistic perspective. Structuralism as a scientific method has had an important influence in a number of fields. The essay begins with an introduction to the development of structuralism by Saussure, Chomsky, Le´vi-Strauss and Jean Piaget. The second part of the essay describes the challenges to functionalism due to the Second World War and the need for more flexible and resilient solutions to post-war needs. The Centraal Beheer building, by Herman Hertzberg, is an excellent structuralist building. It has three characteristics: flexibility, succession and inclusiveness. This flexible structuralist architecture is more human and socially oriented than the previous functionalist architecture. The article concludes by mentioning a problem with structuralism, namely the tendency to be overly concerned with the relationships between elements rather than the elements themselves, but Herman Hertzberg is aware of the problem and avoids it well.