Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-181) and index.

Chapter 1 : Introduction -- Chapter 2 : The architecture of health: the Paimio Sanatorium -- Chapter 3 : The shape of work: the Larkin office building -- Chapter 4 : Homo ludens: the Amsterdam Orphanage -- Chapter 5 : The form of commerce: the National Farmers Bank -- Chapter 6 : The structure of memory: the Trenton Bath House -- Chapter 7 : The function of wisdom: Mount Angel Abbey Library -- Chapter 8 : An architecture for liberal religion: Unity Temple -- Chapter 9 : Street-corner musicians: the Berlin Philharmonie -- Chapter 10 : Pictures at an exhibition: the Louisiana Museum -- Chapter 11 : Community and privacy: Siedlung Halen -- Chapter 12 : Conclusion.

"By analyzing ten examples of buildings that embody the human experience at an extraordinary level, this book clarifies the central importance of the role of function in architecture as a generative force in determining built form. Using familiar twentieth-century buildings as case studies, the authors present these from a new perspective, based on their functional design concepts ... Each building is described from the point of view of a major functional concept or idea of human use which then spreads out and influences the spatial organization, built form and structure. In doing so each building is presented as an exemplar that reaches beyond the pragmatic concerns of a narrow program and demonstrates how functional concepts can inspire great design, evoke archetypal human experience and help us to understand how architecture embodies the deeper purposes and meanings of everyday life"--Publisher's description.