Observatory Asks for Bids On New Wing

Architectural drawings have been completed and bids opened for a million-dollar computation center to be built on Observatory Hill and leased by the University to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Fred L. Whipple, director of the Observatory, confirmed yesterday.

The project will be financed largely by rental from Smithsonian, a private company held in trust by the United States Congress. The remainder of the funds will be obtained from sources other than the Program for Harvard College, according to Arthur D. Trottenberg '48, assistant to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Drawings call for a 40,000 square foot "F"-shaped structure with a glass and concrete facade. The building will be connected to the rotunda of the present College Observatory, and will provide complete office and laboratory space, as well as room for a new high-speed IBM 709 digital computer--a faster model than the one now used by Smithsonian to track earth satellites.

While no time schedule has been announced, instructions to bidders state that they must submit estimates by Dec. 23, and aim for completion within a year. The four-story building was designed by the firm of Griswold, Boyden, Wylde & Ames with speed and inexpensiveness of construction uppermost in mind, according in Henry J. Muller, Deputy Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds.