Function First And Form First

The research object of this paper originated from the study and reflection on the method of interior design.Since China’s reform and opening up,interior design has accelerated its pace of transformation in China from traditional rural economy to industrialized modern economy.In the 21 st century its development has been showing a trend of diversity and also disharmonious factors in the face of challenges and opportunities.Its development process shares some similarities with the Bauhaus.The functionalism advocated by Bauhaus is rooted in the soil of Germany.It stresses the social and economic benefits brought by design on the basis of seeking practical function,but is criticized as “decorative diagram” for a neglect of spatial form in its late stage.Subject to the education background of fine arts,domestic design usually adopts function-oriented design method and focuses on the study of spatial function,style and image,is thus devoid of the concept of spatial form.By contrast,foreign interior designs are more concerned with and focused on the interior spatial form.There is little research on form-based design method in domestic interior design,but there are countless ones on spatial form in the field of architecture.Its method came from: the kit-ofparts approach,whose abstraction,prefabricated elements and parts operation characteristics have brought the research pertinence of spatial form into focus.In view of these characteristics,this paper transplanted the kit-of-parts approach to interior design,trying to solve the weakness of the function-based design method in terms of formal logic.The core of this research is to study the interrelation between spatial form and spatial function.The first chapter explains the research background and significance of this paper,describes the research status of function-based design method and form-based design method in China and overseas,states their existing problems and presents the research significance and main contents of this paper.The second chapter analyzes their respective pros and cons by analyzing the operability of the two design methods in works of architects and comparing the application of the two design methods in interior design course.The third chapter transplants the kit-of-parts approach from architectural design into interior design and,through comparative research on design steps,operability and design difficulties,confirms that the dominant function-based design method is devoid of formal logic method and tries to achieve the unity of function and form by form-based design method and comes to the conclusion of this paper.