SKY-SCRAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 115, 16 May 1924, Page 9

SKY-SCRAPERS.

14,000 PEOPLE IN OXE BUILDING. Desiring to save London "from copying mistakes which Xcw York, Chicago, I and 'other American cities now regret," j Mr. Raymond Unwin lias been etudyin.2 I the architectural and traffic problems of ! the United States, says the London "Daily Chronclo." He told the Royal Institute of British Architects some of the facts and *-jme- ' thing of the conclusions he had formed ; from them. i He quoted a -witness at the Height lof Buildings Commission of Xew York, i who calculated that "the average time taken to reach the thirtieth floor would equal that of taking the express train jon the subway to a spot a mile distant." j Some remarkable figures were given to show the effect of height in buildings on J pedestrians and vehicular traffic. The day population of the Woclworth ! BuildJn? in New York, eaid Mr. Unwin, is 14,000. Allowing a maximum of ten persons walking abreast, thi§ one building would pour into the streets so many people as to require more than a mile and a quarter of footways, and they would occupy half an hour in passing a given point. j It was estimated that one person in ten in America owner a motor car. On that basis, the vehicles for the population in a building such as that of Woolworth's would require 4200 ft of roadway, or would form a queue between six and seven miles long. i "In view of these figures," Mr. Unwin ■'commented, "it is hardly surprising that the utility of the private car is diminishing." 60,000 Motor Cars. Advocates of higher buildings in London view that it was the business of , public authorities to find accommodation for any amount of traffic, and suggested that owners might agree to a moderate set-back to their buildings for every additional storey. I He was of opinion that euch opera- ■ tions wpuld afford only a little local j relief in front of the building itself. i Of the 00,000 cars owned by people ' living in the Loop area of Chicago only 3500 can find places where standing is 1 permitted within this area. Car owners ! have appropriated for parking purposes i the whole open space between Michigan • Avenue and the lake, which has been ! set aside for Grant Park, and it was no ' uncommon experience to find 23,000 j motors, or more than twice the numbsr ' j that would fill the streets of the Loop ' i area, parked at one time. Comparing London with Chicago, Mr. Unwin forecasted an intolerable congestion if the land in the city could : ever be used to the same degree of inI tensity as in the American city. With buildings of an average of only !! seven stories, he estimates that the day . J population would be 1,845,000 instead ]J of the present 416,150. The streets j would have to carry four or five times : the present volume of traffic.