Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 24, No. 12. 1961.
Economic Efficiency
Economic Efficiency
Economic efficiency saw to it that we got much that is uninspiring and comfortless in the building. Economy broke up the panorama windows into small panes. Economy put the plastic badge on the outside and the plastic furniture inside. Economy cut down on the lighting in the entrances and exits, making them dark and gloomy. Efficency wipes the building clean with a damp cloth; efficiency laid down mile on mile of dowdy linoleum, and gave us Formica-topped conference tables, efficiency put up Venetian blinds, and saw to it that wherever carpet was laid down, it would humble the visitor rather than welcome him.
Let us accept for the moment the use of cheap materials, linoleum, the little window-panes, Formica, and the poor lighting as in accordance with economic necessity. Why then be ashamed of these materials? Why is the linoleum in the common-rooms and cafe, in an imitation-wood pattern when it could be bold stripes or checks? Why does the Formica conference table-top have to be an oak veneer? If the windowpanes must be small, then arrange them in a restful order, don't make a lattice-work which obtrudes between the viewer and the view. If economy dictates that lights must be few and far between, then the investment should be in fluorescent tubes, not in light shades.