An architectural theory you can use every day.

When the Board of Directors of a mid-sized Eastern college decided to build an extensive addition to their campus, their first step was to hire an architect. Being intelligent men and women, they chose a particularly intelligent architect.

Plans were submitted and approved, and the addition was eventually completed. It was magnificent, just what the directors had hoped for.

“Well done!” they said to the architect, patting him on the back and enthusiastically shaking his hand. “We’re very pleased!”

But everyone else reacted quite differently. “Weird,” said the students. “Big Mistake,” said the faculty members. “Most unusual,” said the visiting alumni.

It appeared that the directors and the architect had forgotten something: the sidewalks. Grass had been planted everywhere there wasn’t a building, parking lot or road! Yet, when asked about this, the director’s just smiled and said, “Don’t worry. The sidewalks will appear in due time.” And they did.

Within a year the students, faculty and visitors had made their own paths, the most convenient and heavily traveled paths were those in which the glass was completely worn away.

And that’s when the architect returned and quickly drew plans for the ideal sidewalk system. It had already been planned for him by the people who use it! Even the necessary widths for each sidewalk were self evident.

It was all part of the architect’s original concept. “Form follows function,” he had told the directors. “So lets make sure we know what functions we’re dealing with before we commit ourselves to a particular form.”

He was right. And this eminently practical theory can be adapted, with equally pleasing results, to other endeavors such as management, sales and even child rearing.