ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FROM HERITAGE NEW ZEALAND: AESTHETIC SIGNIFICANCE OR VALUE.
The Dorset Street Flats strongly express the sense of weight and enclosure provided by masonry construction as well as the pleasing and contrasting textures and appearance of precisely laid and exposed blockwork, both painted white and unpainted, concrete, clear- varnished timber and brick. The use of a limited range of materials and total design approach make the Dorset Street Flats an aesthetically consistent living environment. The carefui composition of the elevations creates a pleasing balance of solid and void created by the shadows cast in the deep recessions contrasting with the crisp planar white-painted wall surfaces. A sense of expanding space is created by the openness of the planning, especially on the ground floor where the sliding doors into the bedroom and the courtyard create a continuous living space. This is further enhanced by the abstract sense of the division of space, with floor, wall and ceiling surfaces continuing beyond the edge of the building plane. There is also a successfully strong aesthetic contrast between the starkness of the flats and the lush, green foliage of their verdant gardens. The uncompromising use and treatment of what were then regarded as industrial materials in the domestic setting of the Dorset Street Flats were radical in New Zealand and illustrated Le Corbusier's influential treatment of materials.
http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/7804
The Dorset Street Flats strongly express the sense of weight and enclosure provided by masonry construction as well as the pleasing and contrasting textures and appearance of precisely laid and exposed blockwork, both painted white and unpainted, concrete, clear- varnished timber and brick. The use of a limited range of materials and total design approach make the Dorset Street Flats an aesthetically consistent living environment. The carefui composition of the elevations creates a pleasing balance of solid and void created by the shadows cast in the deep recessions contrasting with the crisp planar white-painted wall surfaces. A sense of expanding space is created by the openness of the planning, especially on the ground floor where the sliding doors into the bedroom and the courtyard create a continuous living space. This is further enhanced by the abstract sense of the division of space, with floor, wall and ceiling surfaces continuing beyond the edge of the building plane. There is also a successfully strong aesthetic contrast between the starkness of the flats and the lush, green foliage of their verdant gardens. The uncompromising use and treatment of what were then regarded as industrial materials in the domestic setting of the Dorset Street Flats were radical in New Zealand and illustrated Le Corbusier's influential treatment of materials.
http://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/7804
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