MAYOR'S COMMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1931, Page 14

MAYOR'S COMMENT

DUTY OF ARCHITECTS

MATERIAL AND WORKMANSHIP

In his address at the opening proccdings of the annual meeting of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, tho Mayor (Mr. G. A. Troup) referred to the earthquake disaster and the suitability of buildings, so that they would stand earthquake shocks. He said he knew they had had that matter under consideration for some time; but apart from that, there was to his mind a more serious matter involved, and that was the question of the workmanship in the buildings. Ho knew, of course, that architects to some extent wero not. responsible for the actual workmanship in a building, and they .could always hide behind the clerk of works and say they could not be on tho job all the time. That might be quite correct, strictly speaking, but in the final issue he did not think the architect could thrust his responsibility upon any other man. He was certain from what he had hearil, and from what he had seen from photographs that had been shown'him, that a great many of those buildings that had come down in the stricken area had not been constructed as they should have been. Those who had visited the area told him that they picked up bricks, hundreds of them, and in some of the buildings that had toppled down there was not a semblance even of lime mortar, let alone hydraulic lime, or cement mortar. The architects for those buildings to his mind had a very serious responsibility, resting on them. '' MUST BE . HEART-SEAKCHING.' ■' An architect who would allow a building to be erected, the walls of which were simply balanced, not buiifc to resist anything, had a very grave responsibility; and when they saw a building collapse, not in blocks,, but in separate bricks, as some of the photographs showed, then there was something radically wrong, and there must be a heart-searching amongst the architects who allowed such work as that, to go on. These were serious words that he was speaking, but he was sure the members of the profession would realise the importance of it with regard to future buildings and future earthquakes that would undoubtedly occur in New Zealand. When one thought of such a calamity occurring in a city like our own, one almost feared as to the outcome. The main essential thing was not only to design a building, but to see that it was built in such a manner that they could say that at least it had been faithfully built according^ to the specifications. It was in his opinion the duty of the architect to sco that this was done, even if a clerk of works was in charge of the building operations. Of course, many owners would not go to the expense,of having a clerk of works. Many would not even employ an architect, and that was a still further problem.