April_1965 — Page 9

world news

Report Favours Joint Training

FAR reaching proposals which could change the pattern of future training of architects, builders, quantity surveyors and structural engineers are contained in a report just published in London. The report was prepared by a committee set up under the chairmanship of Sir Noel Hall, principal of Brazenose College, Oxford.

Members of the committee were nominated by the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Board of Building Education, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the Institution of Structural Engineers. In its report the committee comes out strongly in favour of joint training; stresses the importance of joint training and joint teaching, particularly in the early and forma- tive years; and advocates the creation by the four institu- tions of a permanent advisory body on education and professional training.

The report calls for a thorough re-appraisal of the education and training now being giving to newcomers to the industry, and for immediate and vigorously con- ducted experiments in joint education and training wherever opportunities arise.

Critical Period

Minimum common syllabuses in building technology, the theory of structures,. economics, law, management and history are set out in an appendix to the report. The committee subsequently stresses that they are minimum syllabuses and comments:

"The first year of training and the concluding and/or post graduate stages appear to be critical in securing the degree of jointness required to achieve the

main purpose. In the first year before the minds of

the students have become immersed in detailed work in their own specialism which they will be concurrently starting emphasis for all of them should be placed upon introductory instruction which they will take in

common.

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"At the next stage, each specialism should be studied separately and in depth. Nevertheless, efforts should be made during this stage to keep each specialist group informed about the character and significance of the work being done in parallel in the three others. whole course would culminate in a substantial group project, testing the demands it makes on each specialist; it should be effective in examining the capacity of each

The

individual in the group to achieve an intellectual

synthesis.

"The completion of the final project would coincide approximately with graduation. Thereafter it would be valuable if the attitude of mind which these projects germinated could be fostered in the professional training periods which normally follow."

Copies of the report may be obtained from the RIBA, 66 Portland Place, London, W.1.

Unusual Tower at Stockhlom Airport

A GIANT "teed-up" golf ball is now a feature of the Stockholm International Airport at Arlanda. It is a 105 ft. high tower, surmounted by a glass fibre "radome" containing radar equipment.

Far East Architect & Builder April, 1965

Radar Tower at Stockholm International Airport Architect for the tower was Mr. Allan Berndstsson, and the building contractors were Skanska Cementgjute- riet, of Stockholm.

The diameter of the lower part of the tower, which is circular in section, is 34 ft., and of the upper part 60 ft. The dome has a maximum diameter of 56 ft. An in situ concrete staircase is provided inside the tower.

Formwork for the vertical parts of the tower was of traditional type, but for the outward-inclined upper part the contractors designed wedge-section forms, carried on arched timber bearers cut to different radii for each section. The bearers were supported by steel rails, in turn supported by timber centring from the ground. The inside formwork was held in place by spacer blocks affixed to the outside formwork.

About 14,000 cu.ft. of concrete and 28 tons of reinforcement were used in the construction of the tower. which took about 16,000 man/hours to complete.

Jury Formed for Design Awards THREE architects and two engineers will serve as the jury for the 1965 awards programme of the American Prestressed Concrete Institute.

Chairman will be Mr. Max Abramovitz, FALA, New York, a partner in the firm which designed the Lincoln Centre Philharmonic Hall, New York, the Time- Life Building in Rockefeller Centre and the United Nations Headquarters.

Other members will be Mr. A. G. Odell, Jr., pre- sident of the American Institute of Architects; Mr. Edward D. Dart, AIA, Chicago: Mr. Wallace L. Chad- wick, Los Angeles, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers; and Mr. Mauray A. Wilson, Salina, Kansas, past president of the National Society of Profes- sional Engineers.

Judging of awards will follow the June 1 closing date for submission of entries.

Sydney's New Landmark Rises 420 ft.

AUSTRALIA'S tallest building, the 420 ft., New South Wales State Government office block in Sydney, is due for completion this summer. Crowning the skyline, the

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