Form vs. Function

When I was in high school I was really big into architecture. I was in advanced drafting and architecture classes. In the 10th grade I took second place in the San Diego county fair for a house I designed.

I used to always argue with my teacher about Form vs. Function.

Being stubborn and committed to my vision I would sometimes design a kitchen that wasn't normal. The work triangle (the distance from fridge, to sink, to oven) was all crazy, the sink 5 feet away from the stove, the fridge 10 feet away from sink, etc. But I was an artist dammit and the design had to be this way because it fit in with my vision of the area as a whole.
I wanted function to follow form when the rule is form follows function. Eventually I learned.

The other night I watched a couple of episodes of "Ace of Cakes" on the Food Network. Lots of people have told me about the show and how great it is.

Watching it I wanted to kill myself. To me the show is a good example of function following form.
Sure the cakes are technically edible but I would bet money that they aren't great, or even very good.

Seeing a few of their designs there is now way those cakes take only a day, some of them have to take the better part of a week and who wants to eat a plain old sheet cake after 3 or 4 days? Especially when it's covered in fondant (gross!).

Maybe this is just my haterism coming out...but I don't think putting PVC in your cake to make it stand up is all that great an idea. Or using PVC and wrapping it in fondant or chocolate to make unique shapes.

I get that it's supposed to be "extreme" and different; and from a design perspective it certainly is. But as far as baking goes, I don't see how it qualifies. I don't see how you can call yourself "the bad boy of baking" (or whatever) based on some crazy designs.

If he was making, I don't know, salmon blueberry scones, then maybe I can see using that title. I mean that would be some revolutionary baking, right?