Spacious New Block

Eleven months ago the current editor's predecessor featured a most outspoken criticism of the new Science Block, then only part constructed. Described as "another horror" and a "concrete bunker", the building came under attack for its "unimaginative use" of glass, its outrageous solidity, and its "incredible heaviness and utter dreariness".

Essentially, the failure to realise the delights of the landscape, we were told, was a question of glass. One of the most impressive views in the city, we were told, was boxed up in tiny windowfuls. Tiny panes of glass, appearing with domino-like repetition, made the building appear "unrelievedly square".

Now that the new building is at last nearing completion the time has come for a proper assessment of it. One can not expect to evaluate accurately a building of this nature when it is only half-constructed—when it consists of a little more than a ferro-concrete shell surrounded by metal tubing, tin shacks and cranes. It is only now that a satisfactory assessment can be made.

From the point of view of sheer utility the new building is an outstanding success. It is solid and spacious. Every aspect of it gives an impression of hugeness. Its six floors and basement will satisfy the demands of the Science Faculty, apart from the Botany and Zoology Departments, for a considerable number of years to come. Already the Geography and Geology Departments are fully in occupation of two floors. A number of other floors are partly in use. When the entire building is available at the commencement of the 1959 academic year, a grave problem of overcrowding will have been temporarily eased.

From the esthetic and architectural point of view the building is not quite so bad after all. It falls far short of the new Dairy Board Building in architectural grandeur and sheer originality but, nonetheless, it can not be condemned for a lack of glass. From inside the building the glass appears perfectly adequate. Apart from the basement the building receives a more than sufficient supply of sunlight, and from the laboratories one obtains among the finest views in the city.