Block Island---Improved

Above is what a team of student architects at the Graduate School of Design would like to do with Block Island, the rather sleepy fisher Island that lies south of Rhode Island.

The plan, one of five developed by several teams, calls for a lush setup with high priced hotels, a plethora of swimming pools, a casino, golf course, and dog and horse tracks which would make the rugged isle a sort of frigid Palm Beach.

The projects were executed with the cooperation and money of the New England Council, which is apparently interested in making Block Island real estate more valuable.

Walter Gropius, professor of Architecture, and a "jury" which judged the competing models, was particularly impressed for and against a setup in which a mile long building was constructed in an are and mounted on small islands that line the shore. The building was divided into hotel units and serviced by water taxis.

At present, Block, reached by boat from Connecticut, has fishermen's dwellings, an infrequently used hotel, an antique movie theatre, antique cars, and an incredible number of gas stations.