SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18578, 10 December 1923, Page 10

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

EFFORT TO ECONOMISE. CRITICISM BY ARCHITECTS. The Education Department's proposal that private architects be no longer employed by education boards has received prompt consideration by the branches of the New Zealand Institute of Architects. The Auckland district branch dealt with the matter on Friday evening, and the views of the committee were embodied in a letter to the press by the district honorary secretary, -Mr. A. J. Palmer. This letter states that the proposed change "is part of the department's policy of short-sighted economy which has caused the Education Department to encourage b'~e erection of buildings in wood, buildngs which while being, perhaps, ten per ' cent, cheaper in first cost, will be 100 per cent dearer in ultimate ,cost on account of depreciation, upkeep, and fire loss." *

The circular issued by, the department on the subject gives, it is stated, a onesided and incorrect view; it compares an amount paid to private architects for certain school work with an amount paid to salaried architects for other work. It is pointed out that from the fee paid to the private architect all his expenses have to be met, these including rent, salaries, office stationery and travelling and other expenses. Simlar expenses have to be met by salaried architects, but they do not usually appear in the accounts as directly incurred by the architect's department. This, ,it is contended, is especially true when figures are being quoted by interested parties to 'indicate the saving effected by the employment of salaried men in lieu of private practitioners. The letter concludes:

"Is cheapness the only aim? It may be said without fear of serious contradiction that such service would result in a stereotyped architecture. Surely there is no class of public buildings which calls so much for the highest architectural service as -those designed to house the children -of the nation during the greater part of their working hours and at their most impressionable age."