Our 66th Competition.

Progress, Volume XVI, Issue 3, 1 November 1920, Page 58

Our 66th Competition.

We received nine designs in response to our 66th Competition for a Workman’s Cottage, viz.:— “ Simplex,” by Ernest H. Hutton (Mr. Basil Hooper, A.R.1.8.A., of Dunedin); “ Akonga,” by Alex. F. M. Paterson (Mr. A. E. Lewis, of Timaru); “ Kope,” by Stuart Hedley (L. S. Piper, of Auckland); “ Roma,” by Roland C. Hall (Government Architect’s Offices, Wellington); “ Ginger,” by L. E. Brookes (L. S. Piper, of Auckland); “ Le Premier” and “ Economy,” by George Drummond (Mr. D. G. Mowatt, of Dunedin); “Bricky,” by Edgar L. Miller (Mr. Helm, of Wanganui); “ Hurried,” by K. Hassall (Mr. W. Fielding, of Wellington).

ticular praise is given for the grouping of the bedrooms with the bathroom and w.c. “ Ginger’s ” fault is that he has overdone his design. The bay window should have been omitted, and the many angles and corners of the outline of the house mean expense—more than the ordinary workman (old style!) could afford. The elliptical arch of the north elevation thrusts on to a pier of 9-inch brickwork. “ Simplex'.' —This design is good on plan, the only objections being that the living room is rather too far from the kitchen, and that two of the bedrooms do not get the morning sun. The gablet on the N.E. elevation has no excuse for its existence. The roof as shown by the N.E. and S.W. elevations is incorrect, the main gable evidently being in-

The Judge, Mr. Leslie D. Coombs, A.R.1.8.A., of Dunedin, reports as follows:—■ " The nine designs received are not quite up to the standard of the work of the students of a few years ago, but nevertheless are very promising, and I anticipate that with the experience of but two or three of your competitions the present day students will produce work quite equal to, if not better than, their predecessors. " I place the design of ' Ginger,' first, and mention those of ' Simplex' and ' Bricky ' as being good. ' Kope' and ' Roma' are disqualified for colouring their designs."

“ Ginger.” —This is the most clever of the plans. The aspect of the rooms is very good, and their placing in relation to one another is excellent. Par-

tended to extend over the whole of bedroom No. 2 and the hall. " Bricky." —" Bricky " has a very fair plan, but the rooms are not situated so well as " Ginger's " and " Kope's." The elevations are smarter and more fashionable than most of the others submitted. The draughting is scratchy. " Kope" —A splendid plan, which, being contained within a plain rectangle,, indicates economy. The plain hipped roof is ideal for the purpose. Unfortunately " Kope " breaks the conditions of Progress competitions by colouring his drawings, and is therefore disqualified, for otherwise he would have been placed first. His colouring, by the way, is not good. I pride myself that I am able to see the blue in some shadows, but I have never yet seen a violet to ap-

proach “ Kope’s.” Likewise I have heard of “ green” concrete, but this is the Erst time I have seen it shown on a plan—and such a vivid green. Why such unnatural and inharmonious colouring? The buttresses at the angles of the cottage would have been better omitted from the elevations as they were from" the plan.

“ Roma." —ln plan “ Roma ” has got nearer to a workman’s cottage than any of the other designers. He, however, also disqualifies himself by colouring his drawings. It would be impossible to reproduce

sign. He is a good mechanical draughtsman, and has gone to much trouble with his drawings. The plan of “ Economy ” has not the extreme inconvenience of “Le Premier,” but bedrooms No. 2 and 3 are rather far from the bathroom.

“Le Premier .”—As an example of an inconvenient house, this plan would be hard to beat. For instance, if it were necessary to go from bedroom No. 2 to the bathroom one would have to pass through the kitchen, the living room, and sixteen feet of passage to get there. Another interesting

Tracing of "Hope's" Design. Stuart Hedley, with Mr. L. D. Piper, of Auckland. (See note at end of Assessor's Report).

such elevations in monotone with effect—a fact that is of great importance to the publishers of Progress, who did not make the following condition, “ Unless otherwise stated , drawings are to he in black and white only ,” without a good reason. “ AkongaT —This design is inartistic, and the draughtsmanship is hard, although otherwise good. The living room, which faces S.E., would get no sun. The rooms are not placed badly in relation to one another.

“ Economy." —Judging by the draughtsmanship and other likenesses the author of “ Economy ” and “ Le Premier ” is one and the same person. I would advise him in the future to concentrate on one de-

tour would be a midnight journey from bedroom No. 3 to the w.c., which would entail a distance of nineeten feet of passage, across the living room, through the kitchen and through the scullery, and a final distance of about ten feet in the cold open air from the back door to the w.c. The only alternate route would be via the passage, living room, verandah, and seventy feet around the house. “Le Premier ” marks his w.c. “ lavt.,” which is, according to the dictionary, “ a place to wash in.”

“ Hurried .”—“ Hurried ” has not submitted a much more elaborate house. The planning is not good, it being necessary to go through the hall from the kitchen to the 10 feet x 10 feet scullery, and the

first floor landing is much too large and complicated in shape. With absorbent New Zealand bricks it is not good construction to make the footings of the wall of brickwork." LESLIE D. COOMBS. NOTE.— view of the assessor's remarks regarding " Kope's " design we have had it traced so that it might be reproduced. As will be noticed, we have omitted the angle buttresses to which the assessor takes exception, and we have also dispensed with the batter on the lower portion of living room bay. The printing on the drawing submitted in this competition generally strikes us for the most part as being very bad, and with a view to correcting this we hope shortly to announce a competition in which the lettering will form an important feature.Editor. ; ■♦