INDIVIDUAL DESIGN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1031, 23 July 1930, Page 6

INDIVIDUAL DESIGN

PERSONALITY OF BUILDER GOOD HOME EXTERIORS * There are exterior designs that are both the delight and despair of architects. Their proportions, on paper, are such as do not meet with his entire approval when these are judged by those canons of proportion upon which his training in design has been founded. But the modern architect has learned through many experiences that the only way in which he can achieve success in domestic design, or indeed rin any other sort, is by reflecting in external appearance the ascertained needs of the owners of the property. The designer has to do his best with the exterior, naturally resulting from the grouping of the various apartments of the house, and he usually finds that success is primarily dependent upon an honest expression of those needs, whether the resultant building be symmetric or picturesque, or representative of a combination of those qualities. The architect of today has learned that only by the frank declaration of the disposition of the house can he achieve that success and that purposeful declaration of individuality which are essential to an agreeable presentation of the human needs for which the house stands. It is a notable and outstanding fact within the experience of all architects and clients that the addition of forced features and unwarranted detail do much to detract from those qualities which are at once the essence and the glory of present-day design. Neither architect nor owner cares much today whether a building is in the style of architecture significant of ancient Greek or South Sea Island conditions, but both care very much, and rightly, whether it is the highest possible expression of the m ans. financial and otherwise, and the needs and wants of those who desire the structure to be suitable to their requirements and of a nature to minister to their comfort and pardonable pride of possession.