EDUCATING THE ARCHITECT
One of the sadder aspects of this history is that, in some instances, there are cases where a much better de- sign could have been produced at much the same cost, if only the de- veloper had been a little less rapa- cious, a little less illiberal in his at- titude to professional advice.
Now that there are indications that the industry has passed the perigee of its swing towards quiescence, it is a matter for the social conscience of the developers and the professional in- tegrity of the architects, ngineers and surveyors to ensure that future de- velopments combine quality with economic validity,
The specialist who is concerned with cost planning is the quantity sur- veyor, and one may question the pos- tulation that aspirants to the profes- sion of architecture should be train- ed in the techniques of another pro- fession. The answer is that the stu- dent of architecture is encouraged to regard cost planning as a factor in his design considerations, so that he can acquire the ability to manipulate costs with the same facility as he learns to manipulate the stresses in a structural problem.
It is not the intention of the School of Architecture to produce cost- planners: the ideal is to produce archi- tects who can authoritatively discuss costs with the quantity surveyor or client, and who may have an intui- tive "feel" for cost, in much the same way as the music lover may "feel" the resolution of dominant seventh to tonic without being a specialist in the rules of harmonic progression.
One of the after effects of the Na- poleonic wars was the metamorphosis which took place in the contracting method practised in the British build- ing industry at that time. The catalyst which produced the change from the "separate trade" and "measure and value" type of contract to the "con- tract in gross" procedure was the economy minded public's awareness of the inability of architects to keep within their estimates.
New system
Nash was one of the protagonists of the new system, and in a report to the Select Committe on the Office of Works, in 1823,3, he commented, when speaking of the architect, that "before an estimate in gross can be made he must digest his plan, and every part of it must be made out, and he must put down on paper every detail that will possibly happen; and therefore you are sure that the archi tect must do his duty in the first in
stance
The attitude of complete planning was a novelty to the industry of the day; it had previously been regarded as one of the architect's skills that he should "ad-lib" his details on the site.
2 Ministry of Education Pamphlet.
No. 33, H.M.S.O.
3 "The Office of Works and Building Contracts in 19th Century England- M.H. Post. Economic History Review, April, 1967.
Far East BUILDER, June 1968.
One effect of the changed proce- dure was the evolution of the modern quantity surveyor from the old time measurer, whose task had been the valuation of artificer's work after it had been completed. En passant it may be noted that one of the objec- tions to the old system was the high cost of measuring, although young surveyors of today may regret the passing of the attitude, as stated in the 1828 report, that "as well as the mea- surer's pay, the cost of his customary dinners and tavern bills had to be met".
At the present time the building in- dustry in undergoing another cataclys- mic evolutionary process in that the problem of cost is being moved from a "postiche" position in the design se- quence to a point of initial consider- ation. As in the early 19th century, the catalyst is the awareness of cost and the necessity of accurate cost pre- diction and fulfilment,
Commentators on the building scene have noted that relatively few senior quantity surveyors in Britain today are engaged in the traditional task of preparing Bills of Quantities
they are more concerned with the problems of cost planning. His- tory is being repeated in that the cost planner is being evolved from the quantity surveyor, whose early in- volvement in the design process is strongly advocated by authoritative leaders in the construction industry. It is fitting that architectural students should be prepared to meet with this situation in their professional careers.
Administrative problems
It is also fitting that the student should learn something of the admin- istrative problems which the archit- tect in practice has to deal with. While it may be held by some that the only way to appreciate these problems and to learn to overcome them is through experience, it is surely unanswerable that it is to the advantage of the gra- duate architect that he should know something of how such "bread and butter" matters as variations, instal- ment payments, daywork claims, final accounts, and similar things should be handled.
One of the advantages of the teach- ing situation is that administrative and contractual problems can be evoked at any time and with any desired fre- quency. The architect in practice may encounter a bankrupt contractor twice in a decade; in School it can happen in simulation at any time
and no-one gets hurt!
It is not claimed that the classroom can emulate the ambience of the real life situation, but it can provide the student with sufficient pabulum for the administrative problems of his profession.
Preparing the specification can be a tedious process for the architect. The type of mentality which is required to produce the detailed and precise in- formation necessary in the specifica- tion is seldom present in the person- ality of the boldly imaginative design-
er. But while this is so, the prepara- tion of the specification is one of the duties the architect is required to per- form.
It is, perhaps, in this activity that the architect encounters most of his critics among the builders. Few build- ers would venture a criticism of an architect's design on aesthetic grounds, but they will readily (and sometimes wrathfully) expound upon the architect's shortcomings in speci- fication writing. The problem of specification writing is not an easy one: the 1812 report on the Office of Public Works,3 contained the observa- tion that "no specification has ever been found to ensure what is requisite; except in very small, plain or rough work".
Two-sided approach
Attitudes have changed since those days, but architects are sometimes still charged with taking a dilettante ap- proach to specifications. This charge should not bear investigation, because modern methods of disseminating and classifying information bring the raw materials of successful specification writing within the grasp of the hum- blest architectural practice.
The teaching of specification writing has a two-sided approach, in that the student is required to pursue the rea- sons underlying the decisions he makes in his specification and also to acquire the ability to set forth his decisions in the style which is ac- cepted by the industry.
The attitude that the art of design and the science of specification deci- sion making and recording are anti- thetical can not be regarded as valid in the encompassment of the present day building industry, and the student is encouraged to regard specification writing as part of the design process; a part that is not isolated from the other disciplines of aesthetics, plan- ning, structures, services, construction technology, and costs.
The student's enquiry into the con- tractual and administrative methods of the industry lead him to the con- sideration of matters of intimate de- tail.
He must combine this study of minutae with an approach to ac- hieving an understanding of the broad- est economic aspects of the construc- tion industry.
Building economics covers the economic aspects of design, pro- duction, the maintenances and cost in use of buildings. The economic effects of planning restrictions, of the diastole and systole of trade, of trade union activities, of an undefined num- ber of other factors within the gen- eral framework of the construction in- dustry. all lie within the archi- tect's range of interest.
This area of study is of ever in- creasing importance. The costs of building are increasing relative to the costs of other economic wants, and this, coupled with the magnitude of building within the overall framework of the economy, lends a sense of so- cial urgency to the work. The com-
31