Evening star., 1941-05-17
Greatest Advances
In Housing Promised
For Next 5 Years
Speakers Cite Progress
AT California Meeting
OF Architects Institute

The seventy-thnd convention of
the American Institute of Architects
opened today in the Yosemite VAL
ley, Calf, and some interesting
observations Of opening-day speak
ers have been passed along by the
Institutes press bureau. Here are
some of them:
The United States is on the
threshold of the biggest change in
housing that the world has ever
seen, according to Prof Emil Lorch
of the University of Michigan, presi-
dent of the Detroit chapter of A. I.
A. He said houses will be regarded
as machines for living in In pre-
dieting a great increase in new hous-
ing, the speaker added that building
progress in the next five years will
dwarf advances of the past decade.
Mr. Lorch said the trend in dwell
ings is foreshadowed by the trend
In commercial structures, theaters
and industrial buildings. House
building is largely in the hands of
women, and women are conServa-
see thing before they put it into
house they are building, so there is
a lag Of five to 10 years between
the invention of new materials
glass brick, for inStance-and their
use in construction.
Gadgets Increase Costs.
Gadgets which Danish household
drudgery are largely responsible for
higher building costs, M H. Fur
bringer of Memphis said in report
Ing study of the subject. The
speaker added that he doubts if in
creased costs are due to excess prof
ats as much as to the desire to have
all the amenities in our homes which
are obtalnable at this time.
When mass production brought
within the reach of all the modern
convenlenceS now so universally
used, little thought was given to the
added cost their use entailed. A
slow but steady rise in the cubic
foot cost of a house was the result.
due not so much to the increase in
labor or manufacturing costs, butsto
the cost of necessities as they be-
gan to be called.
Soon people discovered that in
sulation saved in heating costs. cleo
trlc dlshwashers and laundry equip
ment reduced the number of serv-
ants required or eliminated them all
together. Appliances of every sort
to save labor were on the must have
list, and gadgets by the score which
tended further to reduce household
drudgery made their appearance.
But here was the catch: These items.
desirable as they are, did increase
the cost of building"
Skilled Workers Scarce.
Labor leaders in the construction
industry are cooperating to avoid
strife which would hamper the de-
1ense program, Travis G.. Walsh. |
cleveland, chairman of the insti- |
tutes Committee on Industrial Re- |
latlons, declared A shortage of |
skilled workers exists in some vital |
areas OF the country. he said.
Mr.. Walsh foreseeS rising build
ing costs and urges the Nation to
enlist the full strength of the plan
nlng professions, composed of
architects and engineers, both in
large-scale defense projects and in
clvlIlan defense of States and cities.
Immediate action to forestall
chaotic conditions which may con-
front the country when defense
activity ceases is urged by Dean
Walter R. MacCornack of M. l. T.
and institute vice president. The
institute, Dean MacCornack said,
should take the leadership in de-
Veloplng a long-range program of
city planning and rebuilding. He
pointed out that British architects.
looking 80 years ahead. already
nave moved to meet the problems of
postwar reconstruction.
Bureaucracy Worries Architects.
The historic profession of archi-
lecture is threatened by the in
eubus OF an entrenched bureau
cracy," Roy F. Larson of Phila-
delphia, chairman of the Committee
on Federal Public Works, declared.
Government bureaus are usurping
the field of the private architect,
endangering his livelihood and in
viting deterioration in the quality
of public architecture.
Protesting against the centraliza-
ton of architectural services in
tremendous" Federal bureaus, Mr..
Larson added that while the Gov
eminent is encouraging the painter
and the sculptor. it is depriving the
architect of his most stimulating
field of practice The other plan
ming professions. including engineers
and landscape architects, are also
adversely affected by the Govern
ments policy, he said.
Speaking on Fifty Years in
Architecture" Prof. Charles w.
Killam of Harvard University
stated:
THE character and complexity of
architectural services have changed
greatly in the last so years and with
increasing rapidity in the latter part
of that period. This increased
rapidity is due in part to the great
increase in the number of new ma
terials and new types of equipment