Lived In And Picture Perfect 6

Form And Function

‘Form follows Function’ - a phrase coined by the architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), which became a touchstone for many architects, is a principle of design from the late 19th and 20th century architecture and industrial design in general. This principle states that the shape of a building primarily relates to it’s intended function or purpose.

Until the 20th century, the interior of a building was designed alongside the exterior to maintain a cohesive design. Decorating and designing have always been influenced by different architectural periods and art. Therefore, understanding the time frame represented by objects in a design, the shapes and motifs chosen for use and the structure of the space work together in providing bespoke designs.

Personality centric design seeks to interpret and represent the interest of all occupants by providing an environment that tells a bit of everyone’s story and allows them to own their private spaces within the whole. It considers that a design is not only for function, comfort and aesthetic reasons. Every space design suggests a lifestyle and tells a story of its occupant.

It has been argued whether form follows function or if function follows form? According to Louis Sullivan, “where function does not change, form does not change.” He further stated that “It is the pervading law of all things….”

In designing the interior of spaces, we find that function is constantly changing without the form necessarily being impacted. It isn’t uncommon to find perfectly well maintained gothic style building with very modern interiors and in other cases, very modern builds with victorian themed interior designs complete with floral wall paper, etc.

Sometimes, we don’t get to choose the form of our space, but we sure can do something about ensuring that the space we live in is actually ‘Lived In And Picture Perfect’ for us. We always suggest a periodic audit on our client’s space. As the story is constantly evolving, so should our space, in pursuit of wholeness.

Enjoy organizing.

USI

References:

The Interior Design Institute, The History of Style, Decoration & Architecture.

Louis H. Sullivan, The Tall Office Building - Lippincott’s Magazine. 1896: 402-409