The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

PART FIVE | USING THIS LIFE TO BE CREATIVE AND WISE
“Form follows function” has probably become the world’s bestknown
modern design strategy. Broadly interpreted, it suggests that
a thing, whether it is at the scale of a building or a kitchen appliance,
is in some essential way like skin draped over action; it is
designed from its function outward. This complex and elegant
thought has been a central idea of modernism since it was first
uttered by Louis Sullivan more than 100 years ago. Around the
same time, Carl Jung presented a way of understanding personalities
called the Four Functions. His proposal went on to form the
basis of the Myers Briggs Test. Jung’s approach offers a psychological
approach to function that explores how we innately approach
life’s challenges. One proposition sees form residing in the function
of the building; the other would see design residing in the way the
personality functions. No two individuals will approach a problem
the same way. Everyone has their own way to be creative and to
understand things. The purpose of the Four Functions is to help
you get to know your own best way to approach things.
About a third of the way into a design project, two students were
stuck. Jason had no difficulty in organizing all the elements of the
project in a reasonable way. He had thought about the parts of the
building and had arranged everything logically. The building functioned
well enough, but he really couldn’t say very much about the
life of the building. The plan of the building had become a diagram.
He knew the best place to locate most things, but not how the daily
rituals of living would breathe life into the place and give it its
special character. The human side of the design was a mystery to him.
Jean had developed a much less obvious plan, but she was
overflowing with feelings about the project and enthusiastically
imagined all kinds of wonderful settings for social intercourse
throughout the building. It became obvious, however, that none
of these were going to be realized because she couldn’t bring any
thinking to help her structure all the wonderful ideas she had.
Both Jason and Jean were stuck: they knew their projects
lacked something, but they didn’t know how to incorporate or
activate the missing component. Jean’s project embodied what
was missing from Jason’s project. Jason had all the clarity that
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