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Building Today, Volume 1 Number 2 (January 1937)

Architectural Treatment of Factory Buildings

page 17

Architectural Treatment of Factory Buildings

Messrs. Heards' Ltd. Factory, ParnellBuilding originally planned with a view to possible future extensions. 1936–37, building extensions completed, resulting in a unified and well-proportioned facade—a striking example of foresight in planning for the future.H. L. Massey, F.N.Z.I.A., A.R.I.B.A., Architect.

Messrs. Heards' Ltd. Factory, Parnell
Building originally planned with a view to possible future extensions. 1936–37, building extensions completed, resulting in a unified and well-proportioned facade—a striking example of foresight in planning for the future.
H. L. Massey, F.N.Z.I.A., A.R.I.B.A., Architect.

Although the aesthetic treatment of the exterior of a factory building is of secondary importance in comparison with the practical planning of the interior, it doesn't necessarily follow that the factory should be devoid of all proportion and decorative treatment. In this country people have been accustomed to think that appearances are of little consequence in so prosaic a place as a factory, and it is even taken for granted that ugliness in a factory is inevitable. But there is really no necessity why factories should be ugly. If treated with architectural skill, all factories can be made extremely imposing. Factories should be designed giving a straightforward expression of their structure in mass, and in the skilful disposition of their parts, the whole being co-ordinated into a well-designed architectural scheme. To attempt to make an indifferent building look presentable by applying ornament to it with a lavish hand is bound to prove a failure. Success lies in suitably arranging the main parts, studying the proportion of solids and voids, emphasising structural lines by relief or colour—in a word, to articulate the structure.

Good architectural design in factory buildings is essential not only from the aesthetic sense but for its great advertising value. Every building produces an impression on one's mind, good or bad, and therefore it is essential from the owner's standpoint that this impression should be a good one rather than bad.

Again, a well-designed building creates a satisfactory impression on employees, and the more agreeable the environment the higher the efficiency.

page 18