MODERN HOME-BUILDING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

MODERN HOME-BUILDING

SOME ADVICE FROM EXPERTS

By A.F.G.

HOUSE-BUILDING is not exactly a current topic in Britain at present, but it is an activity which must go on even in war time and which js of permanent importance. Evervone who contemplates erecting a home will bo interested in a very fine volume which has just been published under the editorship of Professor Patrick Abercrombic, who occupies the chair of town-planning in- the University of London. It is described as "a panoramic survey of contemporary domestic design," and is plentifully illustrated with plans and photographs. Fourteen authorities contribute chapters to the book, which discusses nearly every aspect of house-planning. Each writer expresses his own views, and no attempt lias been made to emphasise particular schools of design, whether traditional or revolutionary. The result may leave tho reader a little bewildered, but it shows that domestic architecture in nearly every country is passing through a period of transition and that there are many ways of doing a thing well. Most of tho work shown is British, but two chapters are devoted to Sweden and America in order to set standards for comparison. Among the chapter-subjects are country, suburban, town and seaside houses, workers' dwellings, rural cottages, ready-built ■ houses, living rooms and bedrooms, kitchons and bathrooms, and finally furniture. From a New Zealand view point tho book has practical value mainly to the minority who can afford to build in permanent materials and prefer two storeys to one. However, some of the American fiatroofed timber cottages and Swedish working men's dwellings embody stimulating uloas that might very well be tried out in this country. The book as a whole sets standards of taste and good sense which are applicable everywhere. It shows that if Britain is rather slow to experiment with new building materials, her best domestic architecture to-day has more than recovered the true spirit that prevailed before the confusion of tho Victorian era. "The Book of the Modern House," edited by Professor Patrick Abercrombie. (Hodder and Stoughion.)