March_1966 — Page 95

Books

Roadmaking Materials in Northern Borneo, Road Research Technical Paper No. 68. Published for the Ministry of Transport by HMSO. Price £1 2s. 6d.

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Developing countries carrying out roadmaking programmes need know what materials are available and where they are located. This Technical Paper describes a survey. made by the Road Research Labora- tory with the co-operation of the Directors of Public Works in Sara- wak and Sabah and the State Engineer in Brunei, of the location and engineering characteristics of roadmaking materials in northern Borneo.

Brief descriptions of the geology and topography are given, followed by an account of the resources of roadstone, including coal. Properties of soils are discussed, and the useful- ness of soil stabilisation for road construction is reviewed.

Appendices describe studies made at the RRL with typical soils to dis- cover their clay mineralogy, and their suitability for tabilisation with Port- land cement. A summary of the the roadmaking materials of northern Borneo is also appended.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater,

by Bruno Zevi and Edgar Kaulf- man, Jnr. Publishers: Iliffe Books, Ltd. Price 45s.

The house on the waterfall. Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, has been

described as one of the major archi- tectural monuments of all time. Experience of decades is summarised in the work, and the building merges into the landscape continuity as shapeless articulation of spaces.

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In this book, a rich pictorial record of the work is presented. The photo- graphs illustrate, both in black and white and colour, the interior and exterior, structural and decorative de- tails, furniture and sculptures.

Zevi makes the point in the book that it is an alienated and idolatric world we live in, and therefore this is a frightening building. Too few architects and art historians have made the effort to reach the building. and the brief introduction through the medium of this book may perhaps persuade them that their time would not be wasted.

Building in History, by R. A. Stevens, ARIBA. Publishers: Cassell and Co., Ltd. Price, 30s. (students' edition 21s.).

Supported with illustrations by D. Wheeldon, ARIBA, in addition to a generous number of photographs sup- plied from world-wide sources, this review of building from before the time of ancient Egypt to speculations on future developments will undoub- tedly prove beneficial reading for the non-professional architectural en- thusiast.

Mr. Stevens, a practising architect. has written an informative study of the development of building styles through the Ages in a manner which is both intelligent and understandable to the layman. His story is discursive

THE ARCHITECT AND MANAGEMENT

(Continued from page 72)

Co-ordination is not effective with- out Controlling, the sixth process which in management terms means more than "holding the reins" and steering the operation along. Rather is it the technique of setting up sys- tems whereby actual performance and production is measured against set targets, so that appropriate steps may be taken to remedy adverse situations.

Finally, there is the process of Communicating, the fluid transmis- sion, distribution and conveyance of information of all kinds and by all means, in a form comprehensible and digestible by all recipients. It oper- ates within and between all other pro-

cesses.

Range of Media

The architect has to operate many lines of communication, not only those with clients, specialists, contrac- tor, sub-contractor and public au- thorities, but within his own organi- zation for the flow of information and knowledge. He has a range of media at his disposal, much of which is tra- ditional and antiquated, and as effec- tive in use as flag signalling against the automatic telephone.

Far East Architect & Builder March, 1966

The traditional working drawing and specification convey too much of the wrong material and too little of the right to make them the most effi- cient means of communication with the contractor. The use of drawings. the "blue prints" so beloved of clients, are often meaningless to them and other presentations would be less mis- leading.

The bad lines are often within the office the dissemination of infor- mation on developments in the pro- fession generally, and their repercus- sions on the office in question, of in- formation about the office itself and of ideas between staff and staff and staff and principal and vice versa. Too little time is devoted to the estab- lishment and maintenance of a cohe- sive communication system within the architect's own office.

Part of this problem may be over- come by keeping up an office library service with full-time staff, whose duties would also include the analysis of developments and the preparation of digests; it could also include a re- search service for the office.

Communication generally within the profession is poor and consider- able waste of effort and time is caus-

in manner. straying informatively, but not irrelevantly, from its main course to provide. for example, a quick outline of Athenian religion or ex- plain the state of French peasantry immediately following the French Revolution.

In other words, Mr. Stevens relates building and construction activities to the prevailing social-economic condi- tions. This method of “explaining” architecture is very commendable.

Plastics in

Building Construction, edited by R. M. Davies. Publishers. Blackie and Son, Ltd. Price, 45s.

A barrel-vault roof over a swim- ming pool. made from hexagonal pyramids: an air-supported convention hall in Germany; panel cladding for a terrace of houses; lavatory cisterns. drainage systems. roof lighting; what have these in common? They are all products using, in

instances exclusively made from, one of the

distinct forty

groups of plastics materials available to the building industry.

some

Mr. Davies has edited the proceed- ings of a conference entitled Plastics in Building Construction which was held last year at the Battersea College of Technology. London.

The resultant book contains the Papers and discussions which follow- ed and provides a comprehensive review of recent trends and develop- ments, explains how the increasing use of plastics can speed up indus- trialised building and deals with important economic aspects of such developments.

CJ.

ed by the repetition of similar studies by architects working independently. even within the same organization.

Costs

There is one final aspect of man- agement which must be touched upon and that is cost. "Can we afford the cost of introducing full scale man- agement processes?" is a question often heard. Rather the question, "Can we afford not to?" should be asked.

In some cases, no costs are involv- ed at all. In others additional staff If and equipment may be needed. these are properly applied to the task. then they should pay for themselves and more besides. If they do not, then either they were not the answer in the first place, or they are not functioning properly.

When all is

said and done, is it not a basic prin- ciple of management, to achieve the maximum result with the minimum use of resources?

There is considerable scope for the application of the philosophy and techniques of management into ar- chitectural practice. The important things are to adopt a healthy attitude to the subject and to recognize that it is in fact an integral part of the architect's function.

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