Louis Sullivan said that form follows function, when it came to designing things. But I often lean towards function following form. Over time, I have learned that depending on the setting, I function differently. This is not to say that I am 100% at the whims of my environment, and thus have not control over my actions and performance - but more to say that my environment can play a very important role in my inspiration. As an example, the type of people that I surround myself with really matters. They should always be people who inspire me, and encourage me to be good. The same is true of my work, and my home.
So, Jessica and I are thinking a lot about our home and environment lately. We are thinking about our purpose, our design, our location, and mostly the roles that setting and environment play in our life. We have spent most of life together attempting to create, belong, and build a good community. And over the past five years, we have worked hard to bring our children into it. So now we are thinking about our home. We are in the middle of the process of trying to figure out just how important (or unimportant) the structure of our home is. What does this mean on a practical level? It means that when we bought our present house, it was not in the area of town that we wanted to be in. We really liked the house and the neighborhood, but have always yearned (and seen ourselves) in the northern part of town - where our community of Church, school, and friends exist. Some months ago, we decided to send our children to the city school system, in the northern part of town (as opposed to their respective district school)- so as not to separate the boys (and us) from their community of preschool, family, and church friends - with whom they are most connected. Amongst other things, this decision has made us rethink our home and community.
We know this: We will invest in a home - emotionally and financially, but mostly emotionally. We are quickly getting to a point where we will feel like we need to make some more significant investment in our home. So, where do we want that home to be? Do we stick with our present home and neighborhood, with a nice house - but miles away from our chosen community? Or do we try to use this opportunity to get to the place/neighborhood that we initially envisioned, and have invested in over the years, for us? If function follows form - then the opportunity to choose the form is a crucial decision for one's future function, right? Big thoughts for a Tuesday, I think.
What would you do? We are open to suggestions, thoughts, observations, and feedback.
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