Sand Castles are Immaculate Childhood; Or, Form Ever Follows Function

This poem’s sub-title establishes the site of its investigations. ‘Form ever follows function’ is a hugely influential principle of Modernist architecture and my poem seeks to unpack its influence within personal, linguistic and para-mythological contexts, deploying a practice-led research methodology through a creative writing approach, with cross-disciplinary research intentions. The relevant Fields of Research are 190402 Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting) and 120103 Architectural History and Theory. Theorists and architectural practitioners including Louis Sullivan, Adolf Loos and Theodor W. Adorno are among those to have engaged with the thinking behind the phrase ‘form ever follows function.’ Sullivan introduces the phrase in 1896, denoting it a fundamental law of nature. Loos subsequently adopts Sullivan’s theory to argue that any excesses of form beyond the strict requirements of function constitute a mortal impediment to the orderly development of society. Much more recently, in 1965, Adorno takes Loos to task, arguing, in a well-known move, that ‘the absolute rejection of style becomes style.’ Remarkably, engagement with the idea of ‘form ever follows function’ post Sullivan has largely failed to build upon the poetic, rhetorical and densely phenomenological nature of the language within which his argument is couched. My poem is a first step towards filling this gap in the research around concepts of form and function. In this way, it addresses the research question: what does a creative writing methodology allow us to discern in architectural theory and practice that remains obscure in other methodologies? My artistic prompt was the idea that form and function may be transposed onto the approximately cognate terms, signifier and signified. References Adorno, TW (1965) ‘Functionalism Today’. Loos, A (1908) ‘Ornament and Crime’. Sullivan, L (1896) ‘The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered.’