The premise that the form of a building should suit its function or purpose was a basic principle utilised by Harold Krantz’s modernist design ethic. He advocated always thinking about architectural design in three dimensions focusing on structure, appearance and economy. He sought to eliminate ornamentation, keeping simple, clean lines of symmetry. Maximising use of space and ordering materials in bulk to effect economies of scale were all part of Krantz’s approach to design and minimising waste. A modern concept for the time, people either loved or hated the minimalist style. Its cost-effectiveness however was particularly desirable in the 1930s post-Depression years in Perth.
Harold’s description of his design ethic and cost-saving measures:
“And so when I got back into architecture I started off with the design. It had to be as functional as possible with no frills, no decoration, the use of colour and materials, good planning, no waste of space, no passages and no breaks and funny shapes… What I used to do was to study the project from the point of view of what waste is there in the normal ways of building. Look at the foundations and go right up to the roof and think of every element in the building one by one and say to myself ‘Is there any way that this can be built as good for less money or better for the same money by changing the material, by changing the construction, by changing the planning, by introducing methods of standardisation or mass production?’ All of those different sides of architecture presented themselves to me and I was able to take advantage of that.”
“We built buildings of quite novel shapes in order to reduce cost. We’ve used quite novel construction in order to save cost. We’ve introduced many ideas which completely revolutionise cost. We claim, in certain fields, that we can reduce the cost, not just by five or ten percent but sometimes 40 to 50% compared with conventional means. This made it possible for jobs to go on. They would not have done so had I used the conventional means.”
Harold Krantz, Jane Flemming interview, c 1980, Radio 6NR, Curtin University
