DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21758, 24 March 1934, Page 6 (Supplement)

DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE

A WOMAN'S PROFESSION STUDYING CONDITIONS A young Melbourne woman architect, Miss Nell Edeson, who has just returned home after visiting England and studying landscape architecture at some nursery gardens on Lake Windermere, has some interesting comments to make on her impressions of modern architecture. Much of what she says with regard to the development of architectural beauty in Australia as equally applicable to New Zealand.

" Living rooms should give on to terraces and gardens," she says, " and every window should open out on to a picture in the garden. I have learned a great deal about the possibilities of grouping and planting and the importance of having always a rotation of flowers, so that all through the year there is something of interest in one's garden—flowers, coloured leaves or berries; the winter can be as picturesque as the summer if you plan your garden properly. I love the way that trees are trained to grow against the walls of houses in England; flowering trees, like magnolias, are used so much, and I wish the samo idea could be more widely adopted here, for, contrary to general belief, trees growing against a house do not hurt its foundations. Win-dow-boxes, too—even in the small mews in London you see window-boxes filled tvith flowers and trailing creepers, and they do look so gay and pretty." As regards modern architecture, Miss Edeson thinks that the very best modern conceptions come from the Continent —sho praises especially the brickwork of Holland. On the other hand, for a background of really comfortable living, English houses stand supreme, while New Zealand and Australian kitchens are more up to date than English ones, and there is a more general use of practical labour-saving devices. " I want," she says, "to build up an architecture suitable for our climatic and living conditions. Why copy Continental ideas? We should be able to work out our own architecture, even though we may admittedly learn a great deal from the problems of other countries. Our houses should be built for cleanliness, coolness and the saving of labour. And I should like to see a great deal more use made of the cream and white interiors that are so popular in England. They make a perfect background for furniture and pictures, and general colour schemes, much more effective than dark-coloured walls can ever be."