Show architecture IS AN ART the miserable school buildings ol of the post past when school months were few and the average years of study low lm were bad enough but how entirely 1 inadequate in their provisions provision and utterly absurd are they now when we consider the needs of the more tullous lous and less lea active race of today it ift Is in astonishing how bow many so called modern school buildings are being erected in utter disregard of all hy by requirements the main idea clems to be enclosure the vital prin this pies D and demands of optics acoustics ventilation atlon sewerage and ical cal exercise are entirely ignored por six hours a day and nine months are huddled together per W year children fe to miserable rooms where improper lighting and staga stagnant ant atmosphere make one no feel that gods free sunshine and pre pare invigorating air are expensive luxuries for these mistakes are re possible conjointly the peo people pie school boards and architects the people in the first place because they co statute the public and the public in this coun try is everything by their false ideas of economy and anheir ignorance of ait hygienic principles and their demands that architecture should be should without rather than within bur buildings didgs are erected totally unworthy of the great and honored use for which they are intended the wants of the school and the general features of the building should be determined after that it pays to employ only the best architect one who in the arrangement of his plans can bring to bear years of study extensive ob enervation eer IOD wide views and successful experience one who may have made mistakes wip takes but never the same mistake the second time such a man in the construction of a building small or large is worth more than the cost of the building itself it takes brains as well as brick and mortar to make a well constructed building but even among architects there are many quacks cracke and other dangerous leaders As in other pro fee MODS many a man is in demand and is successful who never merits success the obtaining of employment and the making of money determine the plans of the architect far more than the higher possibility of his work architecture is an art and should never be prostituted prostitutes to a baser position by this I 1 mean the architect should be a man devoted to his bis work and u un n yielding in his bis convictions and principles preferring rather to lose a con COB ewt than to erect ereck an ignoble building I 1 take it for granted that in every well ordered community the schoolhouse school house should be eminently preeminently pre the building buil diug of the locality the building should be centrally located and accessible but never so at the expense of healthiness of site proper size of grounds and freedom from noise an even but mode moderate moderato rabo slope south preferred with perfect facilities for sewerage and drainage is desired the site should furthermore be remote from railways noise of busy streets mills and factories and from rivers canals places of amusement breweries and all penal and objectionable institutions the grounds at least in the cities of the second class and smaller should not be less than one acre for a building of eight rooms with an additional acre for every other fo four u r rooms the school building should never be more than two stories and basement in height lesu less than this is frequently desirable providing the ventilating sting stack can be sufficiently high to do its work properly the coiling ceiling of ao an ordinary schoolroom should be from thirteen to fourteen feet high more is a disadvantage and the Oa basement eight or nine feet fee high thigh if the basement is to contain playroom sit should be one third under ground but it if not then nearly all in the entire arrangement of the building the aim should be to reduce as much as possible and render easy the climbing of stairs the argle of ascent should be about 30 80 degrees it would be well if possible to have a separate flight of stairs tor high school pupils in passing from one floor to another the stairs should not be continuous the rest that comes from a landing is worth many times the disadvantages not to speak of the economy of room and the check in case of fall A ax has been indicated the rooms should never be located in a or fourth story the custom of locating a hall bull or audience room in one of these higher stories is also objectionable school buildings should and must be so constructed as to reduce the climbing of stairs to a minimum the lighting of the school room should be ample the window space should never be less jess than one fourth of the floor space but of course this ratio is subject to the surroundings of the building furty forty per percent cent is little enough in some localities cali ties then the lighting must bia be from two sides these sides should be left and rear but never left and right in the reports on this subject of the schools in an adjoining state 97 per cent of the school rooms receive their light from both right and left many from the rear also and nearly ten per cent from the front it to is apparent that the many angles of light so given must cause the most deleterious effects on tho the eyes of the pupils I 1 would prefer a unilateral windows very large or so arranged in groups as to give admittance to a few broad bands of light rather than to many streams of light from numerous smaller openings the color of the walls within the room deserves cons consideration idem the old time white wall is arri tating to the eye especially in cases of lymphatic and scrofulous tendencies the walls and ceilings should be delicately tinted paper is objectionable A bard surface which can be readily washed and does not absorb floating disease germs is IB to be recommended blackboards should be reduced in size to the actual necessities of use the ordinary school room should not exceed fourteen feet in height nor contain more than nine hundred feet of floor space the roona room should be thirty eight feet long and from twenty five to twenty eight feet wide ide greater dimensions are neither comfortable nor convenient forty pupils are enough for one room and never dever should the number exceed fifty the floor should beof be of hard polished wood which ab sorbs forbs little and is easily cleaned the above proportions would give each pupil at least twenty square feet of floor space and feet of airspace W whatever may be the means of heating beating a building the ventilation should be perfect if by hot air the fu furnace anace shob should id be large so as to heat by a large quantity of hot air and also keep the temperature of the rooms from fluctuating the temperature between the floor and the ceiling should never vary live five degrees nor should dit it differ greatly in different parts of the room the furnace should be centrally located so as to transmit heated air by flues in interior walls and to walls ails ot of any given floor by flues of any given length except in mild weather the windows r should not be opened for as such openings give rise rim to dangerous draughts and do not remove the carbonic acid gas which accumulates near the floor the ventilation should be near the floor which equalizes the temperature at all parts and heights of the room and removes all layers alike any system of ventilation that does not su supply each pupil with 1500 cubic feet of f fresh air per hour is bad indeed each should have 2000 cubic feet thisina this in a room of forty pupils would necessitate the pouring into the room of from to cubic feet of air per hour with fifty pupils to tda cubic aubic leet feet would be required now it is apparent that no natural flow of air over the furnace would be able to supply thle this enormous demand of each room which would necessitate a change of air every ten or twelve minutes hence mechanical means must be used to create a draught there are many contrivances for doing this but the most economical is by conducting all the waste air through the floor space or chutes to a ventilating stack in which a powerful ascending current or suction auction is created by heat either by the smokestack passing through the centre of the ventilating shaft or from gas burners or other means at elmira new york some years ago the shaft opened into a room in the garret where a stove caused a suction auction from below but this plan is not so good or econom icalas that which I 1 have mentioned and now in successful operation in the sidney schools and else where by which is utilized the otherwise wasted neat heat of the smokestack in producing the desired suction from the rooms the greatest care however must be exercised in making airtight air tight all the paa passages through which the air is to tr travel avelt even e the porous nature of brick requires a bard finish of plas ter or paint to make it impervious the impossibility of making the confining surfaces of the airspace air space under the floor even comparatively air tight renders questions questionable ble the propriety of utilizing all of this space apace for ventilation the argument that such ventilation warms the floors by the air in exit is not valid as the floors should never be allowed to get cold the better plan would be to conduct the waste air from one or more openings jn in the floor to the ventilating shaft by well constructed chutes simple in size direct in course and as short as possible for all the distance the air travels mom from regJ registers in hot air flues to the ventilating stack should be the same the value of such a system of ventilation ah cannot be overestimated over esti estimated mated under the action of powerful suction ing literally breathes because of the heated condition of the ventilating shafta shaft I 1 have known know n the burrt current nt to flow for hours after the fires in the furnaces were out the demands of sanitary science should be incessantly and loudly heard beard until such a ayi system stem or one equally good is adopted in every school and public tuil building ding in the land the closets should be within doors and should be as neat and attractive in appearance as the rest of the house bouse if the water supply to is ample and sewerage adequate closets should be placed on each floor with wash rooms room adjoining but if not then the foul ana unhealthy water vaults should he be abandoned and in their stead earth or dry closets used thoroughly deodorized deodorizer and art frt emptied in this latter case they should be placed in the basement adjacent to the ventilating shaft abaft the complete change into gases and consequent removal can be satisfactorily effected by a strong il hot current from froan the furnaces C H LABELLE LA BELLE |