Studio: international art (6.1896)

The Building of a House

It is therefore the more necessary that any design Referring to Fig. 3, the ground plan of this

should not only recognise the limitations of the design, a certain symmetry is obtained, without

different materials that are used in its erection, but sacrificing the convenience of the household ar-

should be within the probable capacity of the aver- rangements, by placing the living room at one end

age modern workman to execute wisely and well. of the hall to balance the dining room at the other

The rapid multiplication of labour-saving ma- end. This arrangement practically fixes the position

chinery has had its demoralising effect on crafts- of the other rooms, the library and staircase filling

man and designer; and until we have thoroughly out the space behind the hall and between the

realised the position machinery should occupy in living room and dining room, the serving lobby

production, practical design must be within com- and pantry being placed between the dining room

paratively narrow limits. To fill one's imagination and kitchen. The convenience of this is obvious,

with the thoughts and This brief reference to

feelings of the men r—^^^^^^^^^^^^a the plans will be suf-

and women of the ficient for the general

past, with the object explanation of the

of endeavouring to different parts of the

think as the)' thought, JP-*- « Ij. house,

build as the}' limit, is, mmmML flHHB '* Before, however,

it seems to me, impos- mj entering into a more

sible ; the love of sym- detailed consideration

holism which underlies WBK^m' of the internal decora-

the art of other ages Hr ; j r' tion, I will suggest the

was a perfectly natural immmJb,. ,.JBjT materials that might

and spontaneous w- A * be used externally. It

growth of that time, \\JS'\ \ ' w will possibly occur to

the mental environ- | some of the readers of

ments, if I may so vB The Studio that the

term them, reflected ^^Sm absence of " interest-

and expressed through * flNH <k iBBBB JBL ms features," and the

the medium of the desire to introduce

materials peculiar to w& m decoration only where

the different localities. ^^S§ " itWkx if 'l seems particularly

Whether modern con- hflflf -Jmt apposite, has been

ditions are favourable strained. This, how-

to the development of ever, is not really so.

a spontaneous and |^H^^^^^fliL______4BB| " Features " claim our

symbolic art is ques- from a painting by anna sahlsten reluctant attention at

tionable, and although [See " The Artistic Movement in Finland ") the expense of the

Mr. Walter Crane, in rest, causing a note of

an interesting essay on "Art and Social Demo- discord that goes far to undo any beauty that the

cracy," suggests the use of a popular symbolism to building may otherwise have.

bring home "certain economic truths," the illus- The colour and tone of the building will have

trations given by him of the possibilities in this some weight in finally deciding what materials to

direction are hardly likely to meet at present with use, as will also the locality. In the illustrations

popular acceptance. (Figs. 1 and 2, the elevations), the materials sug-

It is with a notion of suggesting that a modern gested have not been chosen with reference to any

building may be pleasant to live in, without the particular locality, a fact that will take, to some

introduction of machine-carved panels and stock extent, from the interest they might otherwise

marble mantel-pieces, that I have designed the have.

house illustrating this article; obtaining by the The roof, which is covered with small green

use of comparatively simple methods an erection slates 16 by 8, runs from end to end, the tympa-

sufficiently interesting, without altogether ignoring num of the gables being filled with trees modelled

the conditions under which the house would be in coloured plasters, foliage green, trunks brown,

built. and fruit red. The ridge is covered with lead
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