Technical College Buildings

Abstract

IT is little less than astonishing that a country like Great Britain, which has been the pioneer in scientific work and retained so high a standard of scientific achievement, should have such a paucity of literature dealing with material needs in the matter of buildings and equipment necessary for its field of activity. Books dealing with laboratories can be counted on the fingers, while for any wide general account of technical institutions dealing with the application of science to the trades, it is necessary to go back nearly half a century. The report, published at the expense of the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, by a Joint Committee of the Association of Technical Institutions, the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions with representatives of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Institute of Builders and a member of tho staff of the Board of Education is therefore to be specially welcomed, particularly at the present time when the demands for buildings for technical education are so marked (London: Association of Technical Institutions and the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions, 1935. 3a.) The volume, consisting of some 150 quarto pages including plans and illustrations, is the work of a representative committee the personnel of which is sufficient evidence of authority. The opening two chapters deal with general requirements including service supplies and accommodation, and these are followed by concise articles on the special needs of specific subjects, some twenty in all, embracing such fields as leather industries, printing and textiles in addition to the more generally taught trade principles. These chapters, which occupy the bulk of the volume, have been compiled by panels of experts intimately associated with the required tuition. The brochure concludes with two chapters illustrated with plans and photographs of recent British and Continental examples of buildings, and should be of great value to all concerned with the development and execution of schemes for technical education.