MODERN ARCHITECTURE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 659, 22 February 1952, Page 5

MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Sir-"Wren" (Listener, February 8) is justified in_ criticising New Zealand architecture, Certainly "itis, time contemporary architects realised their duty to the community’"’~But-it is most certainly not "an architect’s job to decorate and apply -his classical education to make a thing of beauty." This fanciful attitude has helped to frighten New Zealanders away from architects and so encourage our notoriously ugly building to date, It is an architect’s job to create and to apply his professional skill and knowledge forthrightly yet sensitively to make a thing of efficiency and beauty. Rey Our heritage from the past is not the art of copying but forward-think-ing use of contemporary materials and bold and unhidden use of structural ad-vances-as daring as the Gothic revolution in methods of construction-~-in all, carefully reasoned, scientifically deduced and sensitively designed solutions to building problems posed by our social and economic structure. Unfortunately the social structure is such that it allows economics to unduly dominate all building. 4 ‘ pis Because there are in.New Zealand no "beautiful churches such as Wren built," should we build them now when there is a wealth of new methods and materials to be used, such as spacespanning concrete relatively as thin as egg-shell, height-conquering light-weight metal construction, unlimited plastics, glass in many new forms, even revolutionary uses of wood? Europe, with all its wonderful tradition, is not slavishly copying the past even in towns full of fine old buildings. From Norway to Spain I should like to show "Wren" beautiful exciting churches, office buildings, factories, houses, flats, public buildings, all without "motives of decoration" added on after’ as he would have. "Wren" says, an engineer can design a structure, a builder can build a house, any person can plan a house, all without the help of an architect. How appallingly true! Does he expect us to cure the heart-breaking jumble in New Zealand by allowing this state of affairs to continue and by covering everything with classical decoration? Let us for the first time forget about copying the rest of the world and create our own answers to what can be exciting problems, full of promise. Let us use decoration by all means, as. profusely as in any glorious Baroque cathedral where appropriate, but not ‘just watered down classical’ motives or fluting. and flagpoles. we This may be difficult in this land of humdrummery, the farewell state, that was once known as the social laboratory of the world, but it is worth trying. Perhaps if we can vitalise our physical environment and remove the cause of ‘Wren’s’" lgment, we may pull ourselves out of our spiritual sloth. Much. as I disagree with "Wren’s" diagnosis and proposed’ cure, I compliment him on his awareness. of a very sad state of affairs. I hope to meet him some time wearing a zip-fastened Roman toga and morning trousers.

D. E. BARRY

MARTIN

(Wellington).