Suggested Specifications of Eighth House May Reveal Size, Design of New Building

Indications of the size and design of the new house may have been revealed in specifications given to graduate architecture students by Arthur J. Trottenberg '48, Manager of Operating Services. Several plans for the new house, drawn up by students as an exercise, show a definite trend toward modern rather than the traditional Georgian design.

The students' plans were studied last month by Dean Bundy, Edward Reynolds '15, Administrative Vice-President, Trottenberg, and a committee from the Architecture faculty. The judges were "sympathetic with the modern trend," according to Walter F. Bogner, professor of Architecture, in charge of the project. He doubted that any of the plans would be adopted directly, but Trottenberg said they would be carefully reviewed for worthwhile ideas.

In his specifications for a House, Trottenberg included elimination of fireplaces and the entry system, fewer bathrooms, and rooms which could be "readily converted into singles, doubles, or triples."

Alternate Groupings

The final plans submitted ranged from a single eleven-story building for dormitories with an adjacent building containing dining and commons facilities, to a group of eight or nine small three-story buildings, each housing about 36 students. In between were such ideas as duplex apartments and a larger building containing many small entries, a plan similar to that of the present Houses.

Trottenberg suggested two sites for the House: the area between DeWolfe and Plympton Streets which includes Mather Hall of Leverett House and an empty lot, and the area next to Dunster House which is now occupied by the maintenance shops. The second site was finally used by the students.

Trottenberg and Bogner both said, however, that there sites are not at all definite and were only used to give the students a wide range of possibilities for design.

In drawing the plans, the students, all in their third year of graduate school, were allowed freedom in determining many features of the House, regardless of cost, the prime factor limiting the feasibility of the plans.