Form or Function?

Architects all know that function is more important than form. It is the use of an object that defines the shape.

This isn't a functional link to the book on Amazon, but it is what pops into my head every time someone says that form is more important than function. Go ahead, pour yourself a hot cup of tea. I dare you.

I saw a potentially beautiful house that a married couple just designed and had built. The kitchen has top of the line appliances, from a Wolf range to a Sub Zero fridge. The wife really wanted them. The husband is meh. There were several things throughout the house that were meh to one of them, but important to the other. As we were talking about this disparate set of house building needs and wants, I summed it up. "She's about the form and he is about the function."

I know I'm more about function than form, but I believe in a different definition of function. I'd get a Sub Zero only if energy efficiency and life expectancy factored in and made the purchase less expensive in the long run. Two cheap ones or one expensive one that lasts more than twice as long? And am I going to be here to use it? When I sell it, will the buyer care? Taking all things under consideration, nope, no Sub Zero for me! I ain't that young, I ain't that settled, and I ain't that rich.

I have taken that personality type exam multiple times. Four capital letters mean nothing to me. I define myself in terms of process over product when I'm making things and function over form for a lot of other things in my life. Useful and quality is more valuable to me than pretty and flimsy.