THE PEOPLE'S HOMES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 26 January 1939, Page 2

THE PEOPLE'S HOMES

“ESSENTIAL LIABILITY’ In many countries, including New Zealand, architects have been telling people that it is well worth while to take advantage of their knowledge in the planning and supervision of small 1 houses hs well as large buildings. 1 “Basically, the ;mall*house is part of the whole problem of selling architec- ; ture to the great American public, in which, so far we have made little progress.” remarks Talbot Hamlin in “Pen- ' cil Points.” “If large, successful corporations will not let us architects do our best for them, what can we expect of the individual client? He has for so long been fed on twaddle and tosh by same of the magazines, so long taught that he can expect for his money twice what it will buy. that the problem is terribly difficult, and the way out ter- * ribly long. “Every suburban dweller feels that he can be an English country gentleman on a 50 by 100 foot lot. It is our unpleasant duty first to tell him that this is an impossibility and then patiently (or as patiently as he will let us) tell him what he can have, and how skillful planning and modern materials can give him a home much better than that of his dream ‘English gentleman. “To give him a trust in the essential liability of this house of to-day you are building for him means drawings, visits, perhaps interior as well as exterior models, and quiet confident leadership. Only so can the problem be solved. And books on houses as places-to-live-in. not as style designs, not as purvevors of ‘charm. are sorely needed. What for instance, is a living room? What goes on in it? What would you like to from its windows? How can it be designed to fulfill its varied functions? Ask a client these questions j sometime. You will be surprised how little he has thought of rooms from this point of view: he has thought of his living room in purely pictorial, not in living terms, because what he reads tends to make him do so “After all. as architects we are creators That which we. as creators, design only becomes a valid creation when it goes beyond engineering and takes on the art values of universality. To achieve this, no mere absorption in the day-b.v day confusion can suffice.”