Form follows function ?  

SDR
Unfortunately, I have nothing to add at this juncture, but that's hilarious. I love it.

Starburst
chandelier. . .I like the image.

The
caveat at the bottom of the page linked above is particularly useful, all by itself, I think.

Form cannot possibly follow function, because...
without form there could be no function.
Its always been a misleading oversimplification of design.

I agree with the statement of...
oversimplifications and how badly they serve the inherent complexity of design. But you have to explain the statement that there is no function without form...
The function of washing clothes, or the function of grinding coffee has had many differnts forms over the years and some will probably be added. But the function itself, without the form exists...or would that be called a need rather than a function?

The
whole thing is fraught with semantic difficulties. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg, the form or the function ?

That's why...
Woody Allen's parody on Vincent's letters to his brother Theo is a welcomed relief?
Thanks SDR for bringing back Jan Michl's text. He is a very good teacher, not only to his students in Oslo, but to all of us. The whole discussion on the variety of functions that a product embodies, how they shift over time is the most important one we can have on design.

'Other fora have fun with this old saw; why shouldn't we ?'
now that is funny.
And all of it exhausting...
Puts me in an 'art for art's sake' mood. 🙂

It does beg the question....
It does beg the question. And push come to shove, I'd say most believe the chicken before the egg, but that doesn't mean they should not believe in the egg.

Koen et al...
To clarify my thought, I will take the coffee grinder example.
Coffee does not grind itself. Coffee is just coffee without a grinder. A grinder is a form that carries out a function. Take away the form of the coffee grinder and there can be no function of grinding. There can only be a need to grind.
We need the shelter that a house provides. The house is a form that provides the function of shelter. If there is no house ( i.e., no form), then there is no function of shelter.
To elaborate, we have a need to go places. We can choose smong serveral forms of transportation that give us corresponding functions of going places. Without these forms of transportation, there are no functions of going places--only needs to go places.
We have a need. We create a form that can carry out the function of fulfilling that need.
So: form follows need. function follows form.

Sounds
good.