THE IDEAL HOME.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1920, Page 6

THE IDEAL HOME.

COULD WOMEN PROVIDE IT? SOME NEW PLYMOUTH VIEWS. Should' an architect employ a woman to collaborate with him in planning a home 'i This question* was used by. a Daily News representative ,to introduce Mi interesting conversation which he had with.a, New Plymouth lady, who takes a particular interest in the comforts of the modern home, and who believes that' the artistic element, is just as important aavthe utilitarian factor in home-build-ing. '"There are a hundred and one little things that a woman will think of that will not readily occur to a man, though an architect will know many of them from practice," said this lady.,. "I believe the woman whose .husband is going to build should bo just as much the architect as the actual architect who is designing the home, and should really, as you say, closely collaborate with him." The lady, who has closely supervised more than one home for herself, had a very emphatic message to home-build-ers. "Even though you finally accept a which you think embraces everything you want, you should watch the building grow all the time, for it is only while construction is in progress that little things will occur to you, and you will see little comers which can be made useful or artistic. A shelf here and there, a cupboard elsewhere, the situation of the hot points, and many other things are matters which can be made just how you want them when the Jjouse is building. After- it is too late you will often see how a little adjustment could have made all the differj once." ' The lady added that she thought no one had ever built a house and had been completely satisfied with it afterwards, but she pointed out that a great deal was to be learned in the modern types of houses going up to-day. She pointed out the value of seeing what other people were doing, and especially what they had not done, but what they wished they had done. "No, I wouldn't say that women architects would be altogether -a success," she* concluded, "but you can bo your own architect in collaboration withyour real architect, can't you?" ' Another lady interviewed thought a man could hardly be expected to think of the little conveniences that a i woman so appreciates. Especially did this apply to the kitchen, which is generally out of man's domain, whereas women, by long and sometimes hard experience, have learned to place the full value on labor-saving devices and conveniences that could and should be included in the appointments of a kitchen. A man is liable to confine the plans of a household to the barest necessities, but a woman, because the cares and maintenance of that household generally falls to her lot, insists on a more efficient and compact home. For this reason, she. thought that women architects could be employed to considerable advantage, and that architectural firms employing droitswomeu would receive a large measure of public patronage. The Daily News man then sought the opinions of some prominent New Plymouth architects. They declared that experience has taught architects that a woman is more imaginative thar a man when it comes to planning a home, and is liable to lose her sense of "proportion and measurement. For instance, they say that they have had plans submitted to them by women, wherein they have required conveniences in the wall of a room which could not possible be included in a wall of double the length, but that, of course, was only the result of no special training. At the same time architects admit that they have also had .plans drawn up by women that prove that men have a great deal to learn in the way of elaborating a home, and deleting the out-of-date arrangements that only make for unnecessary work and drudgery. One architect said: "Ask any woman of limited means what kind of a home she prefers, and she will almost invariably answer, .'a little one.' But she generally insists that that little, home shall be elaborately appointed, and conveniently arranged."