Abstract
A NATIONAL crisis must naturally affect immediately those fields of activity most removed from the provision of essential necessities, and at the close of 1931 architects felt very severely the curtailment of their work due to restrictions required by economy. The Royal Institute of British Architects, in this emergency, set up a relief scheme in the form of payment for useful work of a public character made possible by subscriptions to a relief fund started by this and other kindred institutions. A sum of nearly £12,000 was collected, the whole of which has been expended in salaries and incidental costs in making surveys which should be of considerable value. The results are displayed on maps and models now on exhibition at 7, Bedford Square, London. Here on the 25-in. ordnance map may be seen indicated by colours the disposition of public, commercial and industrial buildings, business premises, and private and municipal housing over the whole of the London district and much of Kent. A 6-in. map shows London factories, shops, clubs, banks, and public buildings. A survey of the heights of London buildings has also been made and recorded. An interesting model of the London area is displayed showing the growth of London by centuries from Roman times to the present day. The information which can be grasped from the exhibition at a glance is most striking, and the maps should be of great value to Government and municipal departments. The display suffers from inadequate space, and though ingeniously arranged on curved surfaces, a comparison of the Hampton Court area on the walls with Grocnford on the ceiling at some distance is not easy. The exhibition was opened by Lord Snell on June 22.
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Architects' Unemployment Committee's Exhibition. Nature 133, 977 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133977b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133977b0