[unclear: Architecture]

[unclear: rchitectural] Sciences Laboratory Building

[unclear: y] hidden from public view, but an important new [unclear: o] the University, is the Architectural Sciences [unclear: Laory] in a building down a drive off the west side at [unclear: irlie] Terrace, and alongside the School of Archi-[unclear: e's] main office block at 91 Kelburn Parade.

[unclear: uilding], and the School of Architecture which [unclear: es], is the culmination of many years of hopes for [unclear: ia]. As far back as 1901 the University had [unclear: con-d] the need to introduce teaching in one of the [unclear: ap-iciences] — at that stage civil engineering was moo-id reluctantly dismissed.

[unclear: many] years, and certainly as early as 1958, Vic-[unclear: ought] to establish a school of architecture and [unclear: val] in principle finally came in 1966.

[unclear: to] be eight years before the first Professor of [unclear: tecture] and Dean of the new Faculty, [unclear: Profes-erd] Block, arrived from Melbourne University [unclear: blish] the teaching of Architecture.

[unclear: 74] Professor Block and his secretary were the [unclear: of] the Faculty - today the school has a teaching of 17, including two Professors, 7 technicians, [unclear: etaries], and over a hundred students studying [unclear: e] Bachelor of Building Science and Bachelor [unclear: chitecture] degrees.

[unclear: ria's] School of Architecture has clearly established [unclear: n] identity - Wellington's geography and its [unclear: suscep-y] to earthquakes have given the school a more [unclear: scie-] and technological direction than is usual in most Anglo-Saxon universities. The impending energy has provided a focal point for major research exer-[unclear: into] energy consumption as it relates to building [unclear: ards].

[unclear: dy], one group of students has completed the four course. The School is in full operation. It accepts [unclear: dents] a year and offers 34 courses in a wide range [unclear: ilding] related subjects. The staff also participate in [unclear: lars] and continuing education courses for [unclear: professio-chitects], investigating important aspects of the [unclear: de-nd] construction of buildings.

[unclear: ew] Architectural Sciences Laboratory Building [unclear: in-s] laboratories for the study and testing of structures [unclear: ng] and design of buildings, a large wind tunnel and [unclear: sties] facilities as well as several maintenance and [unclear: con-tion] workshops.

[unclear: II] be a teaching and research centre in which the new [unclear: ol] will seek to become the applied research and [unclear: in-ation] centre for the profession and the building [unclear: in-y] - working to enrich and improve our built environ-

Cotton Building

The Cotton Building houses the Department of Geology, the Institute of Geophysics and, for balance, the Professor of International Relations, one Professor of Economics, and several geographers.

It is, however, first and foremost, a building planned for teaching and research in Geology - a discipline which, at Victoria, established itself under the inspired leadership of Sir Charles Cotton.

Sir Charles Cotton, was appropriately described, before his death in 1970, at the age of 85, as "New Zealand's greatest living scientist".

The son of a sea-captain, a graduate of Otago University, Director of the Coromandel School of Mines for a term he came to Victoria in 1921, and headed the Geology Department for 32 years until his retirement in 1953.

In the course of his career he published six major books. Their titles are known throughout the world to geologists, geomorphologists and geographers. Some of their titles certainly reflect his abiding interests - "Geomorphology - an Introduction to the study of Landforms", "Landscape as Developed by the Processes of Normal Erosion", "Climatic Accidents in Landscape-making", "Volcanoes as a Landscape Form".

He was a prolific writer - in addition to his text books he published some 250 articles in professional journals from a number of countries. He illustrated his articles with his careful, hand-drawn maps and sketches, and often with his own photographs of New Zealand land-forms.

Sir Charles won many distinctions and honorary fellow-ships around the world - yet his primary focus was New Zealand. One of his first journal articles, published in 191 2 in "The Scottish Geographical Magazine" starts with the dramatic and all-to-true sentence: "The central portion of New Zealand is shaken by an endless succession of earthquakes". And his last published book, "Bold Coasts", which was released four years alter his death, dealt with all kinds of coastal forms - and while he drew examples from Japan, Europe, Britain and North America, it was the coasts of New Zealand which provided him with most of his illustrations.

His primary research focus may have been New Zealand, but his versatility and breadth of vision gave his work relevance to scientists around the world.

In 1955 the University published a collection of his scientific papers. The then Vice-Chancellor, Dr James Williams, said in a foreword that the volume had been published by the University: "as a mark of its gratitude to, and pride in, one of the University's most distinguished members, whose researches and writings have brought it credit."

It is only fitting that the permanent home of Victoria University's Geology Department should be the Cotton Building - a lasting tribute to Sir Charles and a reminder to the staff and students of today of the man who did so much for geological study in New Zealand.

Today's Geology Department, headed by Professor Bob Clark since 1953, is a modern, well-equipped centre for studies of volcanoes, earthquakes, fossils, rocks and minerals.

It has a range of highly sophisticated equipment; it houses the Antarctic Research Centre, which has coordinated annual research expeditions to Antarctica since 1957.

page 12

The Department has an enviable record in its research work and a strong committment to its teaching responsibilities. It's new home will make both these tasks easier to accomplish.

The Institute of Geophysics has both departmental and interdepartmental functions. It was established in 1971 to provide a focus for the geophysical teaching and research being carried out in a number of Departments, to assist in the further development of these activities, and to undertake, as a separate Department, such additional teaching and research as was needed for a well-rounded treatment of the subject.

The members of the Institue comprise all the academic staff in the University who are involved in geophysical teaching and research. Thus members are drawn from the Departments of Chemistry, Geology. Mathematics and Physics, and also from the Joint Mineral Sciences Laboratory and the Computing Services Centre. These affiliations are valuable to students and staff alike.

The Institute's work gams much from a close collaboration with the relevant governmental organisations, especially Geophysics Division DSIR. Kelburn. Wellington.

Von Zedlitz Building Recreation Centre

The first of the buildings planned for the western side of Kelburn Parade, the Von Zedlitz Building, was occupied in late 1978. It houses the Faculty of Languages and Literature and the Department of Sociology and Social Work.

The foundation of the Faculty of Languages and Literature was laid back in 1899 when the University's first lour Professors were appointed. Two of these. Classics Professor John Rankine Brown, and English Language and Literature Professor Hugh Mackenzie, served for 46 and 37 years respectively, and started the University's teaching in Languages and Literature.

Three years later, in 1902, the University's fifth professor arrived - Professor George William Von Zedlitz - to lecture in modern languages. His stay at Victoria was much shorter, but the controversies surrounding his dismissal from the University by an Act of Parliament in 1915, gave him a prominent place in the annals of the University.

George William von Zedlitz - an Oxford University graduate, born in Eastern Germany as the only child of a titled German father and an English mother. His father, he never knew - for his parents parted company before he was even born. In spite of his mothers financial difficulties, the young von Zedlitz won a scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford, and read classics.

He came to Victoria in 1902 from a teaching position at a leading Scottish public school - a fluent speaker of German with a command of French and Italian. He quickly won the affection and respect of his students and colleagues.

The battle of the then college council against growing antagonism towards von Zedlitz after the start of World War I, has been well documented in Professor Beaglchole's history of Victoria University College. Von Zedlitz, whether a German national or not, was removed from his post by an Act of Parliament.

After the war he became a well-known adult education lecturer, broadcaster and literary authority but he was not restored to his teaching post at Victoria. He was, in 1936, made a Professor Emeritus of the University and now, some thirl) years after his death, the University pays its final tribute to him - a lasting memorial to a man who represented, in his love of learning and his contributions to New Zealand intellectual life, all the best qualities expected in a University.

The Department of Sociology and Social Work is a relative newcomer to the University in comparison with the Language and Literature Departments. The first Chair of Social Science was filled 31 years ago and Social work celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. For many years the Department has been located on the fringe of the University in old houses beyond Weir House. It is now firmly established closer to the heart of the campus.

Departments within the Faculty of Languages and Literature teach ten different languages - Chinese, English, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Spanish.

Serving all Departments are the Language Laboratories in the basement of the Von Zedlitz Building - set up with the latest tape recorders and monitoring equipment and providing facilities also for individual study in a wide range of other languages.

Recreation Center

The extensions which have just been made to the Gymnasium have given the University what is, in effect, a new Recreation Centre.

Designed by Athfield Architects Ltd, the extensions have doubled the capacity of the fifteen year-old Gymnasium by adding a further 12,000 square feet of building at a cost of around $500,000.

Erected without the help of any subsidy from the Government, the extensions will be paid for from the Building Fund subscribed to by all students as part of their annual Students' Association fees.

The original Gymnasium, built in 1961 when the University had about 3,500 students, contained a large gymnasium of basketball-court size with room for indoor ski-training, table tennis and a trampoline, as well as a smaller dance room, a weight training gymnasium and changing rooms.

The extensions, planned since 1969, include a cot fee-bar and lounge area, a sauna, a gymnasium for activities such as modern dance, gymnastics and some of the martial arts and a long, narrow room suitable for indoor cricket, golf archery and rifle-shooting.

The Wellington Cricket Association and the Wellington Women's Cricket Association have provided financial assistance to the University Union to enable the long room in the Recreation Centre to be equipped with indoor cricket nets. The Wellington Cricket Association has paid for the special flooring installed in the long room and the Wellington Women's Cricket Association has provided funds to enable nets to be purchased. In return, these two Associations have been granted use of the facilities for cricket practice and coaching.

Since the Recreation Centre was first built, student numbers have doubled and pressures on the facilities have [unclear: mourted] rapidly. Used both by staff and students, classes are by three full-time physical welfare officers and the Recreation Centre provides opportunities for casual recreation and a home base for a number of university sports clubs and the Master of Arts (Applied) degree in Recreation [unclear: Administration] as well as providing another social centre on the campus.

In its transormed state, the Recreation Centre will be a valuable part of the University's student services.