OPINION
Professor W.G. Gregory B Arch,
stimulated by experience; to the engineer, it is a matter of the application of experience of known performance of materials. With the architect the ends justify the means, with the engineer the means justify the ends!
Therefore it is with a certain degree of apprehension that one anticipates the results of the proposed wide scale road improvement plans for the central area of Hong Kong, with its complex of fly-overs and road structures. These will have a considerable impact not only one the functions of the city but also on its appearance.
It is hoped that Government has called in the services of an architect to assist in their design. What their form should be can only be determined after study,
B Arch, but grace, elegance and lightness would appear to be
ARIBA, discusses the architect's role in municipal engineering
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WELL educated intelligent person was heard to say in a recent address to a mixed group of university students that "architecture was part of engineering." About the same time another educated intelligent and in this case a worldly experienced person made this statement: “I can honestly say that I designed this house myself."
The thought strikes one: Why do we educate people to be architects, when engineering apparently comprises architecture and some people at least are able to design a building, without the aid of either?
It is alarming to say the least that in this modern age, it is not generally understood what contribution the architect can make to the welfare of the community in his own right and as a consultant in many aspects of construction involving or affecting man's environment.
The essence of architectural practice is collaboration and the co-ordination of the work of experts who operate on the borderlines between architecture and engineering or science.
Recognition
It is strange the other professions do not recognize their own limitations when they themselves approach the borderlines between their work and that of the architect, or fail to recognize the contribution that the architect can make in their work, as the architect recognizes his own limitations and the contribution that others can make to the success of his work. The reasons for this are many, not the least being that the education of other professions tends to be specialized and confining, where- as that of the architect by its very nature is liberal and wide, requiring as it does an understanding both psycho- logical and physiological of human beings and of the physical nature of man's environment. Furthermore, the architect's training is based on a continual process of criticism and self-criticism, analysis and evaluation.
Thus the architect is able to recognize instantly when aspects of his work would benefit from the atten- tion of one continually working in a particular field the specialist. Seldom does one hear of the engineer seeking the aid of an architect when designing a bridge, a dam, a complex road system, an industrial layout or an engineering structure, although there are notable exceptions in the field of bridge and power house design where collaboration between the professions of architec- ture and engineering has improved not only the ap- pearance but also the efficiency of the construction.
Approach
Another reason is that it is generally thought that the architect's function is merely to add pretty trimmings to buildings, but a more fundamental one is in the approach to what is termed design. Design to the architect is a matter of intuition and imagination
Far East Architect & Builder February, 1965
called for rather that functional engineering statements in massive reinforced concrete. The elevated carriage- ways will tie together the architecture and become part of the whole architectural composition of the city. In addition detail design is required for the steps, stairs, balustrades, shelters and street lighting for example, and a careful selection of materials for finishes is all important.
Acceptable
New streets in Hong Kong have been laid down in the past purely on a functional basis, conforming no doubt to all the accepted recommendations as to width, gradient, super-elevation, lines of sight, safe illumination and so on, but before we are irrevocably strangled with cables of concrete, consideration must be given as to how the new streets and highways may be made visually acceptable.
The new curved bridge carrying Caine Road over Gleneally, has certain claims to design but its appearance is marred by one support where an expansion joint occurs which differs in design from the rest no doubt logical from an engineering point of view, but there is more than a plain statement of logic required in some- thing which confronts our visual perception so forcibly.
The new bridge over Chatham Road is a heavy crudely designed structure devoid of style and elegance, appearing to block the road; the form work erected for its construction appeared mere elegant and visually interesting than the final structure!
The railings down the centre of double carriage ways, the street lighting standards and fittings and every piece of civic furniture play their part in creating a visually pleasant civic environment.
In every aspect of civic development the architect and in some cases the industrial designer has a part to play, either as a primary force in the creation of the buildings that give the form, the background and character of the urban scene or as an auxiliary force in integrating the functional elements of the city into the general visual environment.
Expertise
Every structure from a pavement, a railing or a public lavatory, to a flyover, a railway siding, or a ferry terminal has a design element which must not be over- looked.
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The areas of influence and operation of the architect and the engineer must not be so rigidly defined as present. Both professions must recognize the contribution that the other is able to make to its work, particularly in the sphere of civic design.
This article started as a lament over the lack of recognition of the contribution that the architect can make to the welfare of the community.
One further thought is worth provoking and that is that an intensive five year university course followed by two years practical experience as a minimum qualifying requirement, cannot help but produce in an architect a width and depth of knowledge and expertise, aesthetic and technical, in the provision of one of man's two basic needs of food and shelter, but shelter to-day means man's whole environment. Why not let him use his knowledge and expertise to the fullest extent?
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