Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 21 May 1953, page 3


TWO WOMEN REVOLUTIONLSE DECOR IN THE DORMITORY

/CONTEMPORARY interior decorating, which lias

^ been face-lining homes and revolutionising

offices and factories all over the world, now has in-vaded a formerly purely masculine field-that of university dormitories-in both America and

Australia.

Two women are responsible for the revolution

Florence Knoll, of 1 Knoll Associates, New York, aimed for what she calls "a right and logical interior" when she decoi .tied dormitory rooms for the University of Michigan

Sidney decoiator, Marion Best used her well developed formula of strong exciting colour contrasts for the 5^ dormiloiy looms which she Ins decorated in the new doimitory block, designed b> aichitcct Emil Sodcislcn, a St Andrew's College, Sydney Untvcisily

' Each year students coming to college face the same abashed moment when the*, step into the room where (hey will spend a good pail of the futtne >car," claim both Mrs knoll and Mis Best

Furniture "From The Scrap Heap"

'Before them in one dismal heap is the standaid iron col

a four di aw cr chest tint his seen better days, a woefully small desk and a chnu 01 two icscucd from the scrap heap

Mrs Knoll tried to design a "leal home away fiom home for the students at the Uni \cisity of Michigan

She feels that students ha\c often been unjustly cuticiscd for sloppy study habits Any one would ha\e tiouhlc wotk ing on a forty-inch desk, she

says

To get the maximum use out of the long rectangular rooms, with wide windows at one end containing the stud> aica, Mis Knoll created a visual hairier between the study and the sitting dressing sleeping areas with a bamboo blind hung from the ceiling This gives the illusion of two rooms, but can easily be drawn up to open out the space foi "doim' parties

Since most college students in Ameuca make their own beds these days, florence Knoll chose standard box spnngs and mattiesscs on rub-ber casteis Such beds, she says, aie easy to make up and can take years of students lounging on the edges An eight inch clcaiancc between

bed and floor makes undcrbed mopping easy

The walls of these rooms aie untreated brick, set ort by the bright light surfaces of the

desks and bedside cabinets dividing the twin beds, which

hive t.iiloicd co\cis of wo\cn tu ceils and diffcicnt colouicd pillow cases to idcntif. them

Variety In The

Colour Schemes

Si\ diffcicnt coloui schemes wcie chosen by Mrs Best foi the 55 single bed doi mitones at St Andrew's College

Naturally smaller in si7c than the double dormitories in Amcnca, they also have large windows in each room, which aie hung with white Venetian blinds, and the wide window sills can be used as extra seat-ing room.

Box-type divan beds, with neat tailoicd, tuck-in covers giving a day-bed apearancc, are pushed against the walls, and have bedheads which act as bookcases Natural coach-wood, haid-wcanng and mod-em in line, furnishes the rooms, which all have widelopped desks, a desk enan with a leathei scat cover, and a comfoi table armchair

ONE of the looms at St Andi ews' College has one wall tan, two walls tmquoise gi ey, a thud wall entvely of built-in cupboai d fitment oj natuial coachwood to match the fuinituic, mustai d and white duck foi the divan covei, the cushions at e dai k gi een and lolute tai tan, bui nt oi ange bia checks, and the ai vichan is in dai k

gi een leathei.

Ample storage space foi clothes and possessions is provided for each student with an cntne wall built in fit-ment of cupboai ds These arc made of natural coachwood and, like the icst of the furni

tuie make a ncutial base against which the other

colours vibiatc

The desk can be ai ranged as the student chooseseither against one of the walls 01 at light angles to the wall to gwe a diffcicnt appear

ance

BeloiD

Reproductions of some of the ancestral tapeshies to he exhibited in

Sydney

THE GREAT COLLECTION of Elizabethan embroidery at Hardwick Hall includes a number of pieces that are probably the handiwork of Mary Queen of Scots. One of these has inspired this remarkable design with Latin mottoes beautifully worked into the octagonal motif. Translations are "Fortune is blind and makes her folloioers blind" and "All false things fade early." At right: Seventeenth century curtains of linen with wool embroid-ery-in the Sunflower room of Maâresfield Court, the home of the eighth Earl of Beauchamp, were used for this reproduction in cotton and spun rayon.

FROM the linen bed-hangings, embroidered loith wools in the Laion bedroom at Hardwick Hall, comes the design of this fabric, woven in cotton and spun rayon. At right: The keep, now used as an armoury and museum with old Scottish and ancient relics, at Drummond Castle, contains an embroidered workbox said to have belonged to Mary Queen of Scots. This fabric, from I the appliqued design on the 16th century workbox, shows ancient Scottish

soldiers and loeapons.