SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS COMMENTS ON PROFESSOR'S
In a city as crowded as Hong Kong
material for training in the specialised that tech-
the over crowding of a minority pro VARSITY LECTURE: fields of buildings, and of whose as-
fession is apt to go unnoticed, says the Hong Kong Society of Architects in a recent bulletin.
nology demanded, sistance the architect was in great
Such a situa❝WARNING NOTE"
'WARNING NOTE" need. Scope exists for the establish-
tion may be thought impossible," the bulletin goes on. "Yet the note that was struck by Professor W. G. Gre- gory in his inaugural lecture at the University was a timely warning that unless there is a change in the ap. proach of student and teacher to the requirements of the profession the day will soon arrive when there will be too many architects knowing a little about most things architectural, and not enough architects who know very much about any one particular facet of the gem which they are shaping.
"It may be that the greatest ad vantage of the University education which the Professor naturally believes to be the only way to attain architec- is also its greatest
tural fulfilment is also its fault.
DAILY PROBLEMS
ment of
new professions in these fields, and the opportunities were
'I believe architecture to be that enormous. which has an emotional expression
"Greater development of courses in the arrangement of space, and an of training in building technolo- efficiency in function, the whole
gy was proposed, training people being tempered by a human quality. for these
These new professions. From this one should then infer courses should be co-ordinated with that the true architect is one who and run in conjunction with courses knows and understands humanity in architecture and engineering within with compassion and who has that the same organisation. driving urge to improve man's lot
"It is now apparent in architecture, both spiritually and materially.'
as has already been realised by other "I then examined the architectural professions and advanced callings,
profession and architectural education that a higher standard of initial and attempted to show that the education is required in the student architect today has to face a different in order to take full advantage of the situation from previously in that his courses. Architecture is thus in com building problems were: character, and unprecedented in scale leaving the secondary schools. These (a) New in petition today for the best brains and complexity; (b) needing higher best brains deserve the advantage of standards of technological knowledge
and efficiency in their execution; and a University education, and indeed
would well qualify for the
for the many "A true University education is (c) requiring a greater familiarity both liberal and universal in its aim, with the complex organisation of the grants and bursaries now offered, and in the way in which it is ob- building industry in its multitudinous tained, whilst the student who, by ramifications in which there is con
LOWER STANDARDS
force of circumstance, must gather up tinuous change in and development "In many schools of architecture the crumbs of learning from the table of building methods, techniques and lower standards of initial education of his employer often gains a speci- materials; again needing in these days than those required for other Univer- alist knowledge of some of the daily a scientific approach to their under- sity courses are accepted, which leads problems faced by the architect in standing.
naturally to the acceptance of many practice that is denied to his under-
who cannot get into anything else, "So many technological problems graduate contemporaries.
which were solved by rule of thumb and excludes the scholarship class. "The approach to architectural methods in the past are now dealt who regard architecture as a second
education made in the lecture is no with as exact science problems. doubt the most logical one to keep "The new role and character of the
the profession as a whole abreast of modern architect were summed up:
modern developments in building techniques, functional requirements and administrative control. Whether the application is also the best solu- tion is open to question.'
Discussing his lecture, Prof. Gregory writes:
"It is not possible to condense into a few lines a lecture which took an hour to deliver and which in itself was a synopsis of many ideas, but the following will give an indication of the main theme.
"I endeavoured firstly to outline my own appreciation of architecture which I summarised by saying:
52
MORE COMPLEX
grade profession.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the most suitable place for the professional training of all those con- cerned with building is in the Univer- sity. "There is no avoiding the fact that the work of the architect is be-
"It is only in the universities that coming more complex and more a humanising control can be exerted concerned with science and tech- on those who would get carried away nology, and requires in him greater by the immense possibilities of scien- all-round ability and greater powers tific discovery and there only can the of leadership. He is no longer the broadness of background be gained, captain of his own small private which is so necessary for the under- team, but a leader and co-ordinator of a number of expert teams.
standing of human problems with which these leaders will be faced.
"It was then postulated that too "The student approach and the many people were being trained as staff approach to architectural educa- architects who were unsuited to the tion were also dealt with, as was also role that the modern architect has to the need for research and how it play, but who would be the right should be tackled."
THE HONG KONG & FAR EAST BUILDER VOLUME 14, NUMBER 3
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