LINER AWATEA

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 80, 28 December 1935, Page 11

LINER AWATEA

Modern Decorative Styles RARE WOODS AND RICH EFFECTS The 15,000-ton liner Awatea, which is being built by Vickers-Armstrong, Limited, at Barrow-in-Furness for the express service of the Union Steam Ship Company of N.Z., Ltd., between New Zealand and Sydney, will be a remarkable ship in many respects.. Of sufficient size and power to maintain a 60-hour steaming schedule between Wellington and Sydney,, the Awatea will be one of the fastest ships of her size in the world; certainly she will be the speediest liner operating in the Southern Hemisphere. Immense pains have been taken in the planning of the Awatea to ensure that she will embody the very best obtainable in comfort and convenience for her large complement of passengers. The plans of the new ship indicate that the Awatea will rank as the finest and most luxuriouslyappointed liner in the New Zealand trade.

The public rooms of the Awatea will be outstanding in every respect. Their internal decorative and furnishing schemes have been designed by A. Mclnnes Gardener and Partners, of Glasgow. This firm has been employed in the decoration of ships for many years, and a very good example of their work is to be seen in the design of the public rooms of the Aorangi. It is doubtful if there are apartments in any vessel of her size which compare with the Aorangi’s in giving one such a sense of British comfort, beauty and proportion, each being distinctive in treatment and suitable to the room in which it is used.

Among A. Mclnness, Gardner and Partners’ latest contracts has been the decoration of the P. & O. Company’s Strathmore, completed by VickersArmstrong in September of this year. In this vessel the style of decoration is vastly different from that used in the Aorangi. The ideas of the artistic world have undergone, some radical changes, new ways being evolved of using the many and varied materials which are now at the disposal of the decorative architect. For the present, the period reproduction era has given place to the skilful use of large surfaces covered with beautiful veneers polished in natural colours and relieved by rich bandings of contrasting woods. Glass, non-fer-rous metals and other materials of this fertile age are also used in happy relationship. This modern style of decoration w’-li be used as a basis of design for the public rooms in the Awatea, and coloured drawings of the various rooms have been prepared and have mow reached New Zealand. Handsome Apartments. The walls of the first-class diningroom are shown panelled with bleached Nigerian cherrywood and Sapeli mahogany bandings, the general effect of which gives the room an extremely comfortable appearance. The light reddish brown tone is further enhanced with moulded headings in Vermillion enamel which divide the walls into long, horizontal panels. Ornamental grilles to the windows and the metal front to the orchestral balcony are in a special aluminium alloy. In the first-class lounge, straightgrained ash is used with black bean and contrasted with Macassar ebony in narrow strips as a relief. The metal work and the balustrading to the gallery above will be in staybrite steel. This room, it might be added, will oe used as the cinema and a permanent screen is skilfully concealed at the aft Queensland walnut of stripy figure and of cool brown colour is used for the panelling of the smoke room and a deep band of darker timber at the top gives the necessary emphasis. Light sycamore will surround the windows which are of special interest in having panels of sandblasted glass showing decorative subjects in the modern manner. The music room being a comparatively small place, the treatment has been kept very simple, the walls being panelled in vertical grained silky oak from Tasmania. Relief is obtained by the decorative French windows in staybrite steel opening on to the observation deck. Gilt enrichments on natural coloured satinwood and fittings of refined and feminine character are obviously suitable as a scheme for the women’s club room. The men’s club room, on the other hand, is carried out in that comfortable and perhaps slightly sombre manner dear to the masculine mmd. English brown oak is used in contrasting squares, relieved with long pane.s of rich red leather, studded with staybrite bosses. The doors are also carried out in this manner, and at each window shutter-like panels are arranged in white oak relieved with plaques of staybrite metal. At the forward entrance, a library is arranged. Carried out in a modern manner in white and weathered sycamore with walnut as a contrast, this room has convenient writing desks and will carry a large supply of literature. The entrances and staircases adjacent are all decorated in Australian walnut with metal finishes of staybrite steel. A deck veranda at the aft end or the first-class promenade deck provides space for dancing, and as such is decorated in a bright colour scheme, the chief feature being the lighting effects. These will be generally concealed, changes being arranged through three different colours, the combinations of which should add to the gaiety of functions held in this space.