OPEN-AIR SCHOOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20482, 6 February 1930, Page 14

OPEN-AIR SCHOOL.

AVONDALE SOUTH PLANS.

AUTHORITY FROM DEPARTMENT

LINWOOD TYPE CRITICISED.

Permission to proceed with'the erection of an open-air classroom at Avondale South in accordance wit.h plans previously submitted has been granted to the Auckland Education Board by the Education Department. At a meeting of the board yesterday advice was received that the plans had been approved, and approval was also given to the payment from the board's rebuilding fund of £2OO, the additional sum required to enable the lowest tender to be accepted. The board was previously advised by the department that it did not approve an open-air classroom on the plan prepared by its architect, Mr. A. B. Miller, and it suggested that a school of the type of that at Linwood Avenue, Christchurch, should be built. The board objected to the department's action and the architect was instructed to go to Christchurch to inspect open-air schools there. " My visit has confirmed my opinion already placed before the board," the architect stated in a report on his inspection of the schools. He had been given to understand that it was not intended to erect any further schools of tho Fendalton type, tho original type of open-air school. In the Linwood Avenue type, the lights above tho blackboard had been omitted and a verandah had been placed at the back of the room to offset to some extent the glare facing the teacher and to stop the sun from playing directly oil the backs and heads of the children.

Pointing out defects in the Linwood Avenue type, the architect staled " The glare facing the teacher is still apparent. It cannot be adapted to suit any site. The children's coats are still hung immediately above seats provided for their use. In large schools, the headmaster has not the same opportunity for control. The maintenance such as painting, attention to fittings, and general upkeep is heavier. It is necessary for a large school to have a site perfectly level and at least eight acres in area." The architect quoted the following communication to the Canterbury Education Board in connection with an open-air school: —"With easterly winds accompanied by rain, the water is at times sent half-way across the main room, and with south-west weather conditions are uncomfortable in the extreme and certainly compare most unfavourably with those in other schools."

Mr. Miller added:—"After visiting Fendalton and seeing a series of isolated buildings, and then viewing the beautiful shrine at the High School and the serene beauty of Christ's College, it struck me forcibly what influence there was in environment and what a different spirit must be engendered in buildings of such beauty as against that in a series of isolated units without form in the mass oxbeauty in detail." Members congratulated the architect on his report and it was decided to proceed as soon as possible with the .building of an open-air school at Avondalo South.