When working on a home architecture design, expect to hear your architect discussing the aesthetics and form of house structure and functional home plans. Form and function are key elements for architects, and it helps to understand what these two terms mean.

Functional Home Plans

Every building, and each room, has a specific function. For instance, functional home plans designate the bedroom as providing a relaxing environment for sleep and romance. The function of the kitchen is to prepare food, and the function of a home office is to provide a place for work or study.

Every room has a reason for being, and functional home plans reflect these reasons. No matter how beautiful a kitchen, its basic design is flawed if its layout in the house structure makes it difficult or uncomfortable to prepare food.

Architects pay close attention to a room’s function. Rooms may sometimes fulfill more than one function. A kitchen, for example, can be a place to congregate, do homework, eat and play, as well as prepare food. To get the most out of functional floor plans, architects should spend time getting to know the homeowner and how she plans on using each room once the home architecture is complete.

Form, Aesthetics and House Structure

Just because house structure has to be functional doesn’t mean it can’t have interesting, attractive aesthetics. Form, to architects, is just as important as functional home plans. When architects refer to form, they are discussing to the aesthetics or attractiveness of a house, including the physical house structure required to fulfill the building’s function.

Form Follows Function

When working with architects on a home architecture project, you may hear the phrase “form follows function”. This term was coined by American architect Louis Sullivan in 1986 (although many people believe it was uttered by sculptor Horatio Greenough).

“Form follows function” is a principle of modern home architecture that the shape and aesthetics of a building are based on the functional home plan’s aspects. In other words, a kitchen’s shape would be based on its function: to prepare food.

The relationship between aesthetics and functional floor plans, however, is rarely so straightforward in home architecture. Both form and function are dictated not only by the home’s function, but also by the individuals who live in the home. Two families, for instance, may make very different uses of their kitchens in their house structure.

By hiring architects, homeowners don’t have to sacrifice form and aesthetics for function and productivity. The best home architecture professional will be able to merge the two concepts to create living spaces that are attractive, while providing all the necessary functions people think of when they think of home.