“ABUNDANT LIGHT.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17570, 22 June 1925, Page 10

“ABUNDANT LIGHT.”

OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS. REPLY TO CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD. At the meeting oi' the Canterbury Education Board on Friday, the chairman, Mr IT. J. Bigncll, made a statement of the board’s viewpoint on openair schools. To this Dr Phillipps makes the following reply: Mr Bigncll stated that the Fcndalton open-air school was designed by enthusiasts who probably had not. had the .wide experience in school construction possessed by the officers of tlic Department and the board. The Fendalton open-air school was not designed by enthusiasts, but by me. When I say that it was designed by me, T mean that F am perfectly willing to accept all responsibility for any defects in the design. but am anxious to i point out that practically all the points in the design have been derived from others, and any credit that may be due is really due to these persons and not to me. As regards experience: after ,all, experience is only valuable in so far as a person is capable of profiting by such experience. Mr Bigncll then stated that the three main points in modern school construction arc the lighting, ventilation and heating. 1. Lighting. At the request -of the Director. Division of School Hygiene, two of the leading ophthalmic surgeons of Christchurch furnished reports to the Department on the lighting of the Fcndalton open-air schoolroom. Here arc their reports, published, I may say, with their full sanction: "I beg to state that 1 am quite familiar with the lighting conditions of the open-air school at Fendalton, and that I am of the opinion that it is not in any way detrimental for the teachers' eyes tv* face the north-east windows while giving lessons.” (Signed) A. B. O’BRIEX, F.R.C.S., Eng. "I have visited the open-air classroom of the Fendalton School. T found the lighting arrangements admirable the light was abundant and well diffused and not trying in any position to either pupils or teachers.” (Signed) 11. WALES. Ophthalmic Surgeon, Christchurch Hospital. 2. Ventilation.--In an open-air school ventilation is hardly the term to use. The thing to be aimed at is to make the air in the room approximate as far as possible to the outside air. This idea is conveyed in the term ‘“open-air school.” While it is impossible to make the air in any structure equal to the outside air, a very good approximation has been made in the Fendalton classroom. “That there is no protection from the wind when the sliding doors are open, and that there is no cross-ventila-tion when the doors arc closed” are staeements showing such obvious misconception.'* that I do not propose to deal with them. 3. Heating.— Professor Leonard Hill says: “Children need an atmosphere with not less, but a greater, cooling power. Above all, the growing child requires his metabolism (body processes) to be adequately stimulated by the cooling power of the open air. not reduced by too close confinement in schools and too long hours of sedentary occupation.” Further, he says: “The ideal method of warming and ventilating rooms would give radiant heat, a warm floor, and an agreeable movement of cool air. Open fires and properly.fitted modern gas fires give us radiant heat, and a warm floor within range of this heat. So-called radiators, gas or steam-heated, together with the heat and moisture from the bodies of people, make warm and humid the upper strata of rooms"—the very conditions which we do not want. Steam radiators have been installed in the Board's most recent schools. A point is made of the rejection of Mr Winsor's plan for the proposed Lyttelton Street School by the Education Department. The fact remains that it was rejected, whereas the Department, on the other hand, approved of the Fendalton plan. Mr Bigncll complained also that comparisons had been made between the open-air school and schools built fifty years ago. In my report to the Health Department for the year 1922, I criticised the construction of school buildings. and mentioned a number of specific instances, every one of which was a modern school erected within, roughly. the last ten years. Research on the science of ventilation and open-air treatment has been carried out by the Medical Research Committee’ (National Health Assurance) in Great Britain, under the direction of Professor Leonard I fill, M. 8.. F.R.S., Director of the Department of Applied Physiology, Medical Research Committee. Professor Leonard Hill gives five questions to bo applied to school rooms: I. J >ucs the air of the schoolroom feel cool rather than hot? , 2. Ts it dry rather than damp? 3. Is full advantage taken of the sunlight? 1. Is the cooling effect of the atmosphere continually varying? a. Is the Air moving or stagnant? On Friday I was in a number of rooms at one of the board's newest schools, and mentally applied these questions, with the following result:— L The air felt hot rather than cool. 2. The air was dry rather than damp. 3. Full advantage was not taken of lHe sunshine. The school does not get the sunlight throughout the day. Owing to the arrangement of the windows, any sunlight entering the room must pass through glass, even when the windows arc open. Glass filters off the ultra-violet rays, which arc the most beneficial rays of the sunlight. 1. There was no cooling effect of the atmosphere. 5. The air was stagnant. Apply these questions now to the Fendalton class-room : L The air of the classroom feels cool rather than hot. Even on a hot day, as there are windows in all four walls which open to the. outside air, if there is any movement of air outside, the breeze can be passed through the room, and tlic room thus kept cool. 2. The air is dry rather than damp. 3. Full advantage is nut taken of the sunlight as the morning sun comes through gLass. In the afternoon, however, full advantage is taken of the sunlight as it comes through the open side without any intervening glass. The need for the windows on the northcast side through which the morning sun comes is caused by our prevalent cold north-east winds. 4. As the heat of the sun when shining is relied on for warming the room, and as a current of air can always be kept through the room, the atmosphere is continually varying. 5. The windows on all four walls open to the outside air make it nearly always possible to have the air mov- I in ?< r Bignell stated that the Board admitted that many of the old schools wore unsatisfactory, but were being rebuilt as quickly as circumstances per-

mitted. The open air schools of the Fendalton type can be built for about half the average cost per room of schools now being erected, taking an average figure of the combined cost of wooden and brick schools. If the Board adopted the Fendalton type of open air school they could btfild twice as many schools for the same money, • which would mean, of course, that those- districts now waiting for new schools would have to wait only half as long.