BUILDING RESEARCH

Grey River Argus, 19 June 1941, Page 6

BUILDING RESEARCH

’‘MARRIAGE OF SCIENCE AND ART."

' “We need a marriage of science and art in regard to building,” states Dr. E. Marsden Secretary of the department of Scientific and Industry. “We have already a greater knowledge of the structure of mauer but so far we have not attempted sufficentl” the research necessary to apply that knowledge to the deisgn of matter in the form of buildings And the reason that we have not done so can again be termed ‘Tradition.’

“Our system of designing and erection of buildings has come down to us from the past century, and in that system no provision was maue for the research scientist or the research engineer. Often a building is designed by one person who has little occasion to consider how it is gomg to be built. Our system enables the builder to obtain a living by means of his profit on his work. Our system of accepting the lowest tender puts a premium on skimped work. The architect earns his living oy a percentage on cost, but nothing is set aside for research, and there is insufficent incentive for low cost efficent work, and those capable oi doing the research and discovering

the improvements cannot live and are found to undertake some other interest in life. And if an architect finds that there is need im technical advice, he finds difficult in locating anyone who can give it to him and if he does then there is no means of remunerating the person, even though considerable savings or improvements may result. It would appear, therefore, that we cannot expect improvement in buudinest comparable with that which takes place in motor cars until we set aside some portion of the cost of building to finance the necessary research. And as the only way of removing the earthquake menace lies in improved forms of construction. the sooner we face the issue the better.”