RESEARCH HOME.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 224, 22 September 1938, Page 9

RESEARCH HOME.

AUCKLAND SCHEME. STATION AT MT. ALBERT. OCCUPATION JHGXT MONTR. Mon important than any other single step taken in the interests of plant research in New Zealand is the building of the agricultural laboratory, which is now 900x109 completion on portion of the former Kerr-Taylor estate, near the Owairaka tram terminus, at Mount Albert. Begun five months ago the contract is well up to schedule, and early in October a number of laboratories will be ready for use. Befon Christinas the whole block should bo completed, and the full staff of the plant diseases division, which is now divided between Auckland and Palmerston North will be accommodated there under the most modern conditions. The cost of the building Is about £16,000. Approached from either Mount Albert Road or the rear entrance to the estate, the new laboratory block presents an exterior of tinted pink plaster, and its two storeys with trim walls and well-placed windows, convey an impression of compactness and utility. Already it baa begun to attract much attention from the public, and week-end visits became so numerous a abort while ago that the authorities found it necessary to exclude visitors except on week da 7*» Air-conditioning System. Inside, the scene at the moment is one of partly-finished walls, ceilings and fittings, but H is possible, with a little imagination, to appreciate what the finished building will be. It will eontain, on the two floors, 35 rooms, which will accommodate a staff of 27. Down in the basement will be an airconditioning plant, by which air kept at a constant temperature will be circulated through the rooms. Heated fa winter and cooled in summer, the *J r system will make for most comfortable conditions. Forced under slight pros-

son and by the operation of fans, the air will be completely changed three or four times an hour. Besides the temperature, the humidity will also be controlled.

On the top floor will be numerous small service laboratories for individual worker*, where the testing and study of innumerable diseases and pests will be carried out. A large, airy room, will serve as a library to aid the research staff and as a meeting place when conferences an necessary or when fruitgrowers, farmers or others visit the institution and meet the director and his assistants. In another large room, the museum, complete specimens of plants and insects will be stored for reference. At the north end will be the rooms of the director, Dr. O. H. Cunningham, and assistant director, each with a small laboratory attached. When the building was inspected yesterday the work of covering the interior walls with a composition wallboard to absorb all noise was in hand. Here and there, when the inside surface of the concrete walls was visible, it was noticed that this had been sprayed with a coating of bitumen, a precaution against damp. Benches of beautifuly grained kauri were being attached to strong steel brackets, and gas, water and electricity installations were being made. Darkroom and Cool Store. On the ground floor the entomological section was taking shape and carpenters were busy in the rooms to house the clerical staff and the photographic division. There wen also several mora laboratories. The photographic studio was of roomy dimensions, suggesting the importance of photography in compiling records of plant pests and diseases. Here many thousands of plates will be exposed each year, and the prints filed and indexed. A feature of the building which is probably of considerable interest to the commercially minded is the refrigeration chamber in the .basement. At present in sn incomplete stage, it will, when finished, enable experiments to be carried out in the cool storage of fruit, particularly apples and citrus varieties. From the promenade roof a fine view is obtained of the surrounding estate and an extensive panorama of the city, beginning at Mount Albert and taking in Mount Boskill, the Three Kings, One Tree HflV Mount Eden, the spires and

towers on the skyline of the city, with the whole of the closely-settled area of numerous suburbs in the middle distance, and finally ending in a glimpse of silvery water which is the upper Waitemata Harbour beyond Point Chevalier. Standing there, one has no difficulty in fixing the points of the compass, for the building is on an axis which points almost | north and south.

. Wliile mom of the architectural feature* an new in New Zealand, the general design is based on the latest developments in research laboratories overseas.