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Show Wood Makes Home Elegant. Says Architect There's nothing like wood to give an "elegant sense to life," according ac-cording to one of .the nation's leading lead-ing architects. Ralph Walker, New York architect and past president of the American Institute of Architects, called for a greater use of wood in schools, homes, and auditoriums. He said that the "inherent "in-herent beauty of wood is apparent from seeing it, feeling it, and sometimes even from smelling it." Walker uxged that the lumber industry work closely with architects archi-tects "to help us get fine finishes in 'homes." "No one," the architect observed, ob-served, "oares about the past of a piece of steel or a lamp bulb. Only wood becomes a beloved antique. Only wood can be so beautiful in its natural quality that you want to touch it." Citing the long life of medieval Japanese wooden houses and temples, tem-ples, and of wood windows in nouses dating from .pre-Shakes-pearean England, Walker squelched the idea that wood is "less permanent" that other materials. mate-rials. Wood Proves 'Durable' "Wood," he said, "is one of the most durable building materials. Four and five hundred years ago, the Japanese did nothing to the wood. They permitted it to weather, weath-er, and many buildings are still in excellent condition." Today, the architect pointed out, wood's durability and good service are increased by man-made treatments, treat-ments, such as better paints and other finishes. He singled out wood windows and exterior panel doors. These are generally made of Don- derosa pine, a strong, light wood which is treated with a water-repellent, preservative chemical solution. so-lution. This treatment helps windows win-dows open easily without sticking, and close tightly, without rattling loosely in the frame or letting in air and dust. Whita Kitchen Out Walker predicted an end "very shortly" to the design concept that "everything smooth is delightful." Even now, he said, the "cold white laboratory kind of kitchen is being rapidly replaced by warm friendly kitchens in which wood is used generously." The wood grain in such common household articles as pine kitchen cabinets "appeals to our instinctive instinc-tive feeling for pattern. . . . We get bored pretty quickly with anything any-thing that presents an unbroken area of plain white or any other color. Wood has the warmth and surface interest that make us love it all the more as it gets older," .he architect said. |