Bold Perspectives
The Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius asserted that society should look to nature to create things that are firmitas, utilitas, venustas—solid, useful, beautiful. Nearly two thousand years later, in 1896, Chicago School affiliate and pioneer of the skyscraper Louis Sullivan distilled Vitruvius’s credo to its essence: “Form ever follows function.” Those four words, heard through the halls of 20th-century architecture—and later stricken of the word “ever”—became a foundational doctrine of modernism, and eventually shorthand for modernism itself. Funny how the basic concept dates back to antiquity. Good design really is timeless. In our homes, kitchens and bathrooms are the areas where function is most pronounced. These rooms need to perform—and we want them to look good doing it. This is especially true when the people who own them make their…
