The twenty-first biennial Building Exhibition which. was recently held at Olympia in London laid a remarkable emphasis on presenting the social, scientific and educational sides of building in such a way that they appeared no less interes:- ing than the commercial and technical sides, and this feature obviously increased the value of the Exhibition. The whole layout of the show, and a record number of individual exhibits, were planned by architects, resulting in an exhibition that was a pleasure to visit The British Building Exhibition has always had a [reputation for the excellence of the materials shown, whether old-established or modern, as the organizers are well aware that it must stand the scrutiny of most critical professional eyes. There is, for instance, the National House Builders' Registration Council, which itself exhibited at the show. It was formed to put an end to shoddy house construction by granting certificates to houses built to an approved standard, and an exhibit of poor quality would have little chance of escaping the notice both of the Council and of the practising builder who works to the Council's standards. Nearly 400 firms participated in the Exhibition, many of them- supplementing their exhibits by films of their activities; in fact this means of demonstration was used on a quite unprecedented scale. Among the most striking exhibits was jo beam 60 feet in length, built from reinforced brickwork, and similar in principle to the normal reinforced concrete construction; this was a product of the world's largest firm of brickmakers, which gives employment to 8000 people. Four stands were devoted to glass as a building material, where glass bricks, glass staircases, glass handrails, etc. were on view. Another interesting section was devoted to building research, and working models and films demonstrated the newest discoveries in the prev-mention of damp, noise and loss of bedot in buildings, and in the science of illumination.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.