No_2_February_1969 — Page 35

A MEASUREMENT of the scale of criticism which has fallen on today's curtain-walled commercial buildings would weigh heavily on the debit side.

The usual lines of argument against curtain wall buildings, or 'glass boxes' or 'egg boxes'

the terms seem uni- versally derogatory - are that:

1. No respect for climate is evi- denced in their building form;

2. They contain no local indigenous quality, and therefore make no call on local labour, skills and material;

3. They are individually featureless; 4. Their total impact overall is one

of monotony.

There are truths in all these state- ments, but all are open to contention and in a rational consideration of the subject - the purpose of this feature — it is worth making two points: that curtain wall buildings are a reflection of the needs of our time, and that they can and do possess worthy aesthetic qualities.

Climate control

A respect for climate, a quality for which we revere our early buildings, is often wrongly assumed to have been first among the concerns of our early builders. The handling of climate today probably receives more attention than ever before, in response to ever increas- ing demands for optimum commercial office environments. The fact that our new climate controls, principally air conditioning, may demand unopenable windows and smooth lines is as much as expression of climate control as any wide verandah ever was.

Given world standards of communi- cation and the dispersion of commer- cial technology, it is not surprising that office buildings of different coun- tries tend towards similar types of solutions.

Purists may charge that buildings in hot climates should look different from those buildings of cool climates. However, climate is not enough reason for the contemporary office buildings of Hong Kong to look substantially different from those of New York, say - both cities have high humidity and seasonal extremes. The point is that climate is not unique in itself, and hardly the basis for distinction in na- tional building styles; particularly when we consider how much these buildings have in common due to international standards of procedure in all business offices.

While buildings of pre-air-condition- ing times do reflect a concern for climate control, their indigenous quali- ties reflect most strongly in their use

The glass box

- a rationale

of local materials and skills. The avail- ability of local materials and local labour introduced variations to be sure

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but only in as much as they represented an economy. The choice of Sydney sandstone in many of the remaining Georgian examples through- out New South Wales, Australia, was a choice dictated largely by the fact that it was most readily available and therefore economical. In like manner the resultant character produced by the local bricks, as opposed to the imported, is the happy result of an economic dictate.

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The choice of metals, glass, and pre-fabricated techniques are a similar response to the same demands for

by T. P. Byrnes

economising, the motives of today's builders being no more or less laudable than their forefathers who were with- out the advantages of international markets.

Arguments for localised expression therefore become largely irrelevant. We accept the bases for universal at- titudes towards dress, art, methods of transportation, and even food, but when it comes to buildings we (archi- tects mostly) seem to voice unrealistic demands for geographic diversity.

Since our contemporary commer- cial centres are obviously no less con- cerned with the economics of building, the question becomes: Is the emphasis given to the economics of commerical

Far East BUILDER, February 1969

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