DESTINY OF ARCHITECTS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 140, 10 December 1935, Page 13

DESTINY OF ARCHITECTS

A CANDID COMMENTATOR

"What is the destiny of. the architect?" is the arresting■- heading of an article by. Mr. "WV Gray Young, president of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, in the institute's "Journal." .-■■.-.

"This title," he remarks, "is not in- 1 scribed with any degree of pessimism, of personal disappointment or with, any ill-feeling towards anyone or anything. It was adopted after considerable thought on the part the architect may play in the life of the community as compared with the1 part 1 he does play. Something is surely wrong. On one hand we notice business men adopting unbusinesslike methods in the erection of buildings; Government Departments and local authorities who know not how to take the' first step in. their much-desired housing proposals, and cultured men who would shudder at a mixed metaphor in literature or a false note played in a .piece, of classical music, but who, without even a thought, pass buildings every day and possibly live in one of them, which are just as great an offence to the canons of architectural design. On the other hand, there are architects', in the main, not earning a proper living—a living, that is, i which includes some reward for early labours, provision for old age and illness, and the means to rear their children alongside the children of other professional men. "Increasingly the services of the architect become one of the most pressing needs of the modern world. By virtue of his training and experience, the function of imparting to buildings of the qualities of efficiency for purpose, character, and the element of attractiveness so often expressed by that much-abused word 'beauty,' and finally and not least important, of the economical co-ordina-tion of these qualities, should be the sole prerogative of the registered architect.

"The general recognition of this is, however, most conspicuous by its absence. It is easy to blame the public and to sigh with regret that the architect is not appreciated. The truth is that the public is very little to blame and that we ourselves are at fault. Many members of the public are unaware of our functions and the reasonable inference is that the profession as a whole is not pulling its weight. "As individuals we are not sufficiently communicative to one another in matters of building experience, and as a profession we are not giving that lead and guidance to the public ■in matters connected with the greatest industry in the world; the industry in which we have the greatest right and privilege to lead and guide. As a body we do not speak with authority on the latest uses of materials, developments in construction, or tendencies of design. Ours is a field as great as townplanning can make it on the one hand* or as small as the smallest house on the other, but great or small, a field of equal importance in all its parts/

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