Form Follows Function

M. Bogen, Back of building, Kyoto, October 2025

It was the famed Chicago architect Louis Sullivan, celebrated for his design of what might be called proto-skyscrapers in the late-19th and early 20th century, who coined the timeless dictum that serves as the title of this piece. Ornamentation in the cause of beauty was shunned. Allowing the function to be seen was considered honest. This idea reached an absurd apotheosis with the Pompidou Center in Paris, designed by Renzo Piano and team, with all mechanics placed on the exterior of the building. But it’s important to remember that function-based architecture can be quite attractive. The many tubes for air are cylindrical, which is an elegant form. And, as in the photo above, the ducts have an attractive surface and can move from parallelism to dynamic imbalance. The a.c.’s on the right created an integrated rhythm with stairs beside them. Is all this aesthetic charm accidental? Not entirely I think. I’m sure the workmen like things to present and work together in a fully harmonious manner. It’s inherent in the human to want things to be done well and the true professional wants their final product to contain no slop, be it in construction or in a sales report. The painter Charles Sheeler was among the first to open our eyes to industrial beauty, which is not the whole story by any means, but which can still hold its own with industrial noise and waste. And as my photo here shows, sometimes it’s wise to not only look at the front of things, but the back as well.