THE NEW AGE OF BUILDING

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21940, 14 November 1936, Page 12

THE NEW AGE OF BUILDING

DESIGNING FOR MOIHBDI NEEDS ’ , SCRAPPING OP THE OBSOLBTS New Zealanders, in their own camtry. see progressive firms dcmoUdrinf solid buildings which have become obsolete and replacing them with structures specially designed toe nwd-. era needs. This kind of development was impressively covered recently hy Mr Francis Lome, F.RJ.B.A., in a paper read at a meeting of Brithfe architects. “We mjust not forget that we are egr ' taring an entirely new age at ing, when our work will date ahM4|ii| as quickly as a woman’s gown; 4<| | age where suitability lor purpose wiaj become increasingly important. PHI where flexibility will be importantyl too. It will be esKntial that buildings j be assembled with a view to changngj he said, “and their lifetime wilt: Sil much shorter - than in. the past. Thflq conditions of life are changing j rapidly that it is well nigh lii||wi|||ty| for us to build beyond our own mn» | eration and more difficult for d*li| dream of what our children will y quire. The nonsense of bnildinginM hundreds of years must be exptodaMl It must be apparent to most of ygiM that buildings to-day are scrapped hjH because they are decayed,' but bu.suwiig they are out of date, and It it dteegiH to rebuild than to remodel. Once tiMfiy a time a man wore a suit of cloflwij for many years and a carnage Imfiawß him a lifetime, now he seldom wmg||| his suit more than a season or,.tm|if|B and he buys a new model car other year. This attitude is certpM tp grow and reflect itself in iitlotßlM New Piluojplf ■ “In order to grasp the nrineMfifal which underlie this new mortmiHH and be able to plan for tt, the mdmsi tect must have a knowledge ol MB social conditions in which he of the economic .laws which gpHH his living. He will lend, as yeaefSß by, to be less concerned with ahettmpii theories of aesthetics and moW'ldHi cerned with the growing deroan**|| improve the living conditions ar;<9H|p race. Conditions will demand <d L MV||l a much wider knowledge and uie et j| the scientific inventions of his dSf it will be incumbent upon him to sBO these for the creation of a new typill of building, providing ameel* : | ties of living. He wiS tend, fore,.to use less and less the maimkailM] which have been handed down Iqrwil fathers, and more and more materials of his own more adadMEii invention. He will have to appMlH his problem with the attitude dttl| scientist and be guided in his wofljaj by fact more than by romantic Betd|r|| mentalism. He win tend lem and laM-ji to be just a perspective and dmij tional monger or dealer in onsaiiMmß and more and more an intellideißß well-informed planner ol humanity. New PUlaaophy ef life Jjjf “Our schools at architecture hoAim the key to the situation wherein ml youth of the profession can be tratngE-a not in academic theories but to a of their responsibilities in and designing for the present day #j|| meet its practical, economic, aetflj aesthetic requirements, to devehPjlj homes, buildings, and cities wbarnKm can be fostered a sense of trecduui MWjH a joy in work and play. We emmffl| remember that modern architecture Ik 9 the expression of an entirely aSKm philosophy of life. It is concerned odWS simplicity, directness, the fitness ftji things, and a profound conviction Wf/m the amenities ol life which eslifilH| formerly only lor the few shall extended to all. It is not much amHsj cerned with exclusiveness. ties, shams, decorations, and sentinMHra talities. It will work out its oHHI life and make its own set of voImBH It is not for us to work about mH sphere through which they will enaMBM but come they will, if they are not Vwß large part already here. It is oar ss architects to plan for them and nMffll live in a -dream of architecture aaJfllH idealised conception surrounded fay tH Ji glamour, motives, and symbols ii||| tradition.” ... jMJJ