Arts and Crafts thinkers embrace the beauty and dedication inherent in producing art.

Now, this idealism flies in the face of aestheticians, such as John Ruskin and William Morris, two prominent Arts and Crafts era designers. In this school of thinking, an architect should consider the function of a building before assessing its aesthetic. One might say that a designed object must be utilitarian before it is beautiful. He notes that this law is as true in nature as it ought to be in design: “Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling work-horse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law.” Now, Sullivan’s quote might imply that an architect ought to place more weight in the “usefulness” and “solidity” of an object, over its beauty. Sullivan’s expansion on this concept states that form follows function as a law. Sullivan derived this concept from Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect who noted that an edifice should embody three qualities: Firmitas, utilitas, and venustas – which is to say, a building should be solid, beautiful, and useful. After all, a building serves a utilitarian purpose: Its roof keeps you out of the rain. As Louis Sullivan – the late American architect – put it, “Form follows function.” And though aesthetic is an integral part of good design, it’s difficult to argue that it’s the most important part of architecture.

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