Design School Has Exhibit Showing, Explaining all Modern Architecture

A newly developed program for teaching modern architecture is revealed in the present exhibit of student work at the Graduate School of Design.

The exhibit has the double purpose of explaining through models, drawings and photographs modern architecture to the lay public, and presenting to the profession a "basic suggestion" for training architects in this new field, according to Walter F. Bogner, associate professor of architecture, who supervised the display. As yet there is no generally accepted plan for the teaching of architectural design from the modern point of view, he said.

"It can be seen from the exhibits that the new architecture is not merely a new garb for an old framework," Bogner said. "The public is hard to convince that modern architecture is not a stylistic venture, like a new model of an automobile or a fashion show, but is the outgrowth of new demands set on buildings as a result of social changes and the technological developments.

"Though it is too soon to show modern designs that would have all the fine qualities of the flowing period of an artistic development, this is the most important phase in the growth of an architectural period as the seed from which the ultimate flower is to spring is being sown.

"In the exhibition it is brought out how many phases there are to architecture, and good many of which were completely overlooked during the epoch of 'art for art's sake.' The lay person has good opportunity to see how the social influences on building reflect themselves in architectural design, and how architectural forms are in part governed by the underlying structure.

"The exhibition has been prepared because, due to changes in architectural education throughout the country, no generally accepted system for the teaching of architectural design from the modern point of view has established itself as yet. The system displayed is offered as a basic suggestion to the architectural profession and the architectural schools of the country and as a report of one experience in teaching modern architecture. It can be seen that this is not a way to destroy the past for the sake of building something new in its place but a method that aims to utilize all experience gathered for a way out of the past and out of some of its difficulties."

Among the practical problems worked on by advance students, and shown in the display, are designs for a large bus terminal in Park Square, Boston; for the development of a shopping center, parking garage, and bus and subway terminals in Brattle Square, Cambridge; for a beachside community development at Cohasset, Mass.; for a new school in Lincoln, Mass.; and for a large scale housing project for workers in the $2,000 income bracket.