Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated

1 The origin of the concept is attributed to the 18th century Jesuit monk Carlo Lodoli. His theories on architecture likely influenced later designers like Horatio Greenough and Louis Sullivan who then articulated the concept in popular form. The seminal works on form follows function are “The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered” by Louis H. Sullivan, Lippincott’s Magazine, March 1896; and Form Follows Fiasco: Why Modern Architecture Hasn’t Worked by Peter Blake, Little, Brown, and Company, 1977.

2 The tendency of general audiences to resist the new is a function of their familiarity with the old. It often takes several generations to erode population biases sufficiently such that the merits of a new design can be objectively considered. ...