Evening star., 1932-07-30
RAISING Of HOUSE
| STANDARD URGED
We'll Known Building Authori-
| ties Discuss Conditions
in Conference Report.

| Declaring the American public pays
TOO much for housing that Is poor In
design, construction and equipment. q
group Of nationally known building
authorities, In the fifth volume Of the
final reports of the Presidents Confer
ence on Home Building and Home
Ownership, offer detailed plans for the
correction of this situation.
Tile recommendations of this group,
which includes architects, builders,
dealers in building materials and equip
ment, engineers and home economists,
form part of the complete program to
raise the standard of American hous-
ing that was formulated by the Presi-
dents conference at its meeting here
last December. -Four parts Of the pro-
gram have appeared In book form,
showing what improvements In hous-
ing and reduction in costs can be MADE
through city planning and zoning, SUB.
division layout, home financing and
taxation, large scale operations and
household management.
Better Organization.
The essence Of the proposed plan to
lower costs Is to better the organlZa-
ton of the building industry. The
building group in its report just Is
sued finds the failure Of architects TO
work with builders, the failure Of both
these groups to work with subdividers
or any of the other bodies whose acti-
vities combine to produce modern hous-
ing. is at the bottom of the poor quail
ity and high cost Of home building. j..
AS one illustration of the evils OF
unco-ordinated activity, the architects
committee reports that good design is
net possible so long as subd1viders con.
tinue to cut up land in narrow rec
tangular lots without thought OF the
houses that are to be built upon them,
and so long as builders in their turn
continue to put repetitions Of the same
house plan on these monotonous lots.
The solution which the architects
propose to this and other defects is
group design. They insist that design
extends beyond the walls of the dwell
ing. that it includes the relation OF the
house to the lot and its planting, TO
the adjacent houses. to the street, to
the block, and TO the neighborhood. In
consequence they urge that the prac-
tice of planning and building communi-
ties as whole be substituted for the
prevailing habit of single unit construc-
ton.
Ignorance of Materials.
In the section on construction 1t Is
stated that etlCient cost accounting,
estimating, and scheduling Of work are
practiced by but few builders and
labor saving devices and materials are
used comparatively little. Ignorance OF
cost.saying materials now on the mar
ket is widespread the reports say. The
authors urge all-year-round construc-
ton; less manufacture on the site and
more in the factory; more effcient stor-
age and handling Of materials stand
ardization and Sin1pliflcation Of ma.
terials, such as lengths of lumber and
sizes of brick; and constant research to
improve materials and methods. At
the same time they recommend the
improvement Of building codes to per-
nit and encourage the use Of desirable
new materials and methods as they
come upon the market.
Finally, the professional builders who
prepared this section demand that the
ne-buying public be protected from
the Jerry builder" TO this end they
urge the establishment in every COIN
munity Of central inspection bureaus
which shall certify homes that meet
certain standards.