"Form Ever Follows Function; Form Ever Enhances Function"

In my experience as an architecture student and through the many design projects I have completed over the past three years, I have developed a certain design method of my own.  It serves as a sort of design formula per se for most projects I approach.  The well-known phrase embraced by many architects of the modern movement “form ever follows function” is a good starting point to begin to describe my design method, but for a more accurate description I would alter it slightly—“form ever follows function; form ever enhances function.”

            The basis for all of my designs is the function that will be supported by the building.  As this is the most basic goal that must be reached by a design, I believe it is the obvious place to begin designing.  The program of the building is analyzed, and various studies are produced to offer diverse solutions.  The actual human use of the building is taken into high consideration.  Ease of use, efficiency of space, and high functionality are all priorities in the programmatic planning stage of design.  Simultaneous to the programmatic planning of the building, the context and location of the project are also analyzed and contribute to the initial design.  As suggested by the Indian architect and planner Charles Correa regarding his low-cost residential designs, simply providing an enclosed box in which to perform a specific set of functions and placing that box into a specific environment is not a viable design solution.  The climate and the desired relationship between indoors and outdoors, the location and the desired hierarchy of privacy, and the context and the desired relationship with neighboring architecture and landscape features are all factors which influence and go hand-in-hand with the spatial planning of the building.  It is through the guidance of all of these criteria that an overall building form is reached, serving as a blank canvas for the next phase of design: aesthetics.

            Designing for aesthetic quality has long been a topic of controversy among architects.  I believe aesthetic quality is as integral to the success of a design as is a roof or a floor.  Any building could have a wonderfully planned and constructed set of spaces that support function fantastically; it is my belief, however, that to be truly successful, architecture must evoke feelings in its occupants that correspond to the nature of the space and the function that happens within it.  This is not to say that the aesthetics of a building should govern or trump its function begotten form.  No, I believe that style is suggested by function as well, and that the preliminary building form is like a clean block of clay, ready to be sculpted into something spectacular.  The programmatic housing of functions is turned into architecture through sculpting and improving the building form to achieve a desired feeling, which in turn enhances the human experience and the way in which the space is used.