Page:Industrial Housing.djvu/55

 principally on Avenue "E" and located at the end of the group, has an irregular plan, due to the fact that Avenue "E" cuts the two side streets at an angle.

It should be noted here that such openness of plan is not merely an artistic fancy as might be thought, but has instead a sound basis in economy. The big saving of the garden apartment in cubic volume of building, as compared with older types, has been explained above. The point of this saving in its relation to openness is, so to speak, that it serves to put the excess space outside the building where its cost, being only land cost, is comparatively little. A further illustration of the economy of open planning, leads into an extremely complicated discussion of the technique of architectural planning, dealing with the relationship of land value to the percentage of site area covered by building. It may be stated, however, that when the building covers too high a percentage of area, it inevitably becomes more complicated and more wasteful of space; and that, in attempting to crowd too many rooms into an apartment plan on a given site, a point is reached where each additional room makes the cost of the building higher than the income from that room will pay for. In other words, the theory held in real estate circles that every possible room must be crowded into a plan is subject to the law of diminishing returns. Not only has the practice caused huge waste of building volume, but it results in an even worse error, namely, that of creating a large percentage of undesirable rooms—rooms badly located, dark and poorly ventilated, which hurt the rental value of the building.

This plan arrangement brings back daylight and circulation of air into city life. Every apartment has cheerful, sunny rooms, with two or three exposures; the rooms are never more than two deep, the apartments extending through the building, giving thus to all rooms, cross-ventilation; and a large number of the bedrooms are corner rooms. Living rooms and dining rooms are separate from the bedrooms, and the kitchen is also isolated; nevertheless, the plan ensures ease of operation for the housewife. This arrangement, together with the provision of the entrance foyer, of separate stairways serving only three apartments on a floor, is conducive to privacy. The wall spaces, and the door and window openings in the rooms allow convenient placing of furniture. The excellence of the kitchen and bathroom equipment has been noted above. The