Arts Building is "Revolutionary"

"It is essentially a prefabricated building erected on site," he said.

The 700 60ft-long pre-stressed floor units, made in Bulls and transported to Wellington by rail, weigh nine tons each and are post-tensioned in place after being laid by a large crane.

The saving in time by using this prefabricated type of construction is at least 12 months.

"This means," said Culliford, "that the building will be comfortably finished to be in use for the 1965 academic year."

The under side of the floor units is of a honeycomb or waffled nature and forms the ceiling of the lower floor while the flat top forms the floor of the next storey.

The ceilings will most likely not be painted, the plain grey of the concrete finish being hidden to some extent by the fluorescent lights.

"Students won't be looking at the celling anyway," Culliford said.

The building will cost the same as the conventional reinforced concrete building (such as the Students Union building), but will be slightly cheaper than a steel frame construction (such as the Easterfield building).

Culliford also mentioned that the council was aware of the problem of acoustics, especially in the main reading room, which will be over twice as large as the present reading room.

Although the waffled ceiling will reduce a small amount of the sound, some kind of sound absorbing floor covering such as carpet was necessary.

Culliford added that carpet had the same lasting qualities as line, but cost more.