Would you rather have an artist or an architect design your home?

Having grown up in a family of artists and architects and lacking the required skills, I consoled myself with becoming a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra. Thus I always thought the architect was the right choice to build a house. Now I wonder whether that is the right choice?

We see so many architectural projects which are all about the form and the function is relegated to an afterthought or forgotten altogether. In this day and age, function has to be top of mind for the design of urban areas and climate change has to be a factor.

Artists know that the form is the most important aspect for art. They also know that function is a different criteria. I sometimes wonder if architects understand function at all? Perhaps artists would make better urban designers?

I recently saw the picture (top left) on LinkedIn and thought OMG WHY? This is not architecture.  If you want to do something dramatic with buildings then do something that functions with purpose – as the Frank Lloyd Wright building does (top right).

This is why at Hanging Garden we design non-hydroponic, soil based vertical gardens that are sustainable and serve a number of purposes to mitigate climate change, improve the resilience of urban areas and at the same time, add a little beauty to the buildings. The function came first, the form follows.