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THE LIVING ROOM
admire them. You, and those who follow your teaching, are the
worst enemies I have. I want people to have houses of the ordinary
type, that they may always be trying in vain to make something of
them, by patiently buying and buying in the hope that by adding first
this and then that some approach to a satisfactory result may be
obtained. Each of these rooms is in itself a complete and satisfactory
whole; there is no temptation to add anything.' "
                       A RECESSED WINDOW SEAT
THE LIFE OF DESIGN
T HE essence and life of design lies in finding that form for any-
     thing which will, with the maximum of convenience and beauty,
     fit it for the particular functions it has to perform. How
many of the beautiful features of the work of past ages, which
we now arbitrarily reproduce and copy, arose out of the skilful
and graceful way in which some old artist-craftsman, or chief mason,
got over a difficultyl If, instead of copying these features when and
where the cause for them does not exist, we would rather emulate the
spirit in which they were produced, there would be more hope of
again seeing life and vigour in our architecture and design."
70                                           (Raymond Unwin.)
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