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STANFORD O. ANDERSON CASE and MIT Engagement The 1960s are widely recognized as the time when the practice and pedagogy stemming from the Modern Movement declined, some might say came to be exhausted within a quiescence stemming from their own success. Positions that recognized this phenomenon and posed alternatives appeared. Two of the most prominent of these emerged in the thought, and then widely read books, of Aldo Rossi and Robert Venturi.1 In the early 1960s there appeared in the major East Coast schools of architecture a number of young architects who were schooled just ahead of the Rossi and Venturi successes, but who also reflected this discomfort with a diminished modernism in practice and pedagogy. In 1964 they created an organization, seeking to gain collective strength in criticism of the existing situation and, still more, to construct new positions in architectural practice and teaching. The organization took the name Conference of Architects for the Study of the Environment/CASE. Prominent among those architects involved in this questioning, listed with their academic appointment dates, were: Henry (Hank) Millon, MIT 1960;2 Michael McKinnell, Columbia, 1960, Harvard 1966; Thomas R. (Tim) Vreeland, UPenn 1955; Jaquelin (Jaque) T. Robertson, Yale 1962, Columbia 1963; Richard Weinstein, Columbia; Michael Graves, Princeton 1962; Peter Eisenman, Princeton 1963; Stanford (Stan) Anderson, MIT 1963; John Hejduk, Cooper Union 1964;3 Kenneth (Ken) Frampton, Princeton, 1964. Colin Rowe was ten to fifteen years older than other members, the mentor of Peter Eisenman at Cambridge, but now returned to the U.S. with a 1962 appointment at Cornell. Three architects who came to be founding members of CASE were dominantly in practice, but also with academic ties: Robert (Bob) Kliment, Philadelphia and Penn; Richard (Dick [!]) Meier, New York and Cooper Union 1963; Giovanni (Gio) Pasanella, New York and Yale 1964, Columbia 1965. Abbreviations in the notes: paper; 3M Thermofax process 1 Aldo Rossi, L’architettura 2 See facing page. cc: typed carbon copy Xc: photocopy, initially (and della città (Padua: Marsilio, 3 Surprisingly, never a Ditto: multiple copies by here) by Xerox process 1966), in English as The member of CASE, though he typed “spirit master” in Ditto All referenced documents Architecture of the City was a participant in CASE 4 process are on typewriter, unless (Oppositions Books, (May 1966). Mimeo: multiple copies by otherwise noted. Cambridge, MA: The MIT typed stencil in Mimeograph Press, 1982); Robert Venturi, process Complexity and Contradiction SA files: files of Stanford (New York: Museum of Anderson, MIT Modern Art, 1966). Tfx: heat sensitive copy A2M-0325.indb 578 3/25/13 6:21 PM ANDERSON 579 ALSO SEE: HARWOOD, JARZOMBEK Brief notes on the educational American Academy in Rome Richard Weinstein (b. 1932), Stanford Anderson (b. backgrounds and later careers 1958-60. Millon was Director, BA, psychology, Brown; MA 1934, Redwood Falls, MN); of each of these architects/ American Academy in Rome, clinical psychology, Columbia; BA University of Minnesota professors are: 1974-77, and first Dean of the MA Arch Penn; Rome Prize; 1957; assistant clerk of the Center for Advanced Study Director, Office of Lower works, Concordia Senior Colin Rowe (1920 in the Visual Arts, National Manhattan Planning and College and Eero Saarinen, Rotherham, England—1999 Gallery, Washington, 1980- Development under Mayor 1956; MA(arch) University Arlington, VA); BArch 2000. (Millon vita, Feb. 1965, Lindsay, 1968-74; Dean of California, Berkeley 1958; University of Liverpool, 2pp, cc, SAfiles) UCLA-Graduate School of Columbia University, 1959- 1938-42 and 1944-45; R.E. Architecture and Urban 61 (PhD 1968); Fulbright Paratroops, 1942-44; MA John Hejduk (b. 1929, New Planning, 1985-94. Fellow, Munich 1961-62; Warburg Institute, London, York —2000, New York); design teacher Architectural 1946-48, with Professor BArch Cooper Union, 1950; Robert Kliment (b. 1933, Association London, 1962- Rudolf Wittkower; Yale 1951- Cooper, 1964; continuous Czechoslovakia); before end 63. MIT professor from 1963 52, no degree. Teaching, practice, New York from 1965; of war registered with British (Anderson vita, 2pp, original, Liverpool, 1948-51; University Dean, Cooper Union, 1972- Commission for Refugees SAfiles). of Texas Austin, asst.prof., 2000. (as was his brother Stefan 1953-56; Cooper Union, [b. 1930]; Ruston Academy, Michael Graves (b. 1934, 1956-57; Cornell, 1957-58; Giovanni Pasanella (b. 1931, Havana, class of 1950; BA and Indianapolis, IN), BArch., Cambridge 1958-62. Cornell New York), BArch, Cooper MArch, Yale; Fulbright to Italy; University of Cincinnati, University, 1962 till his Union; March, Yale; office taught Penn and Columbia; 1958; M.Arch, Harvard, 1959; retirement in 1990. (Rowe of Edward Larrabee Barnes, Kliment/Halsband from 1972. American Academy in Rome vita, undated, 2pp, cc, SAfiles) 1959-64; architectural critic, Jaquelin T. Robertson (b. 1960-62; continuous practice, Kentucky 1963, Yale 1964; 1933, Richmond, VA), BA Princeton, from 1964. Thomas R. (Tim) Vreeland adjunct prof., Columbia, 1965- Yale 1955; Rhodes Scholar (b. 1925, Albany, NY), BA 87; own practice, 1964-76; Oxford; MArch Yale 1961. Richard Meier (b. 1934, Yale, 1950; BArch Yale 1954; Pasanella and Klein from 1976. Robertson was co-founder Newark, NJ); BArch Cornell, apprentice, Louis Kahn of the New York City Urban 1957; European travel; New 1954-55 and 1956-60; taught Peter Eisenman (b. 1932, Design Group, the first York offices, including Marcel at Penn, 1955-65; chair of East Orange, NJ), BArch Director of the Mayor’s Office Breuer 1960-63 [painted, Architecture, University of Cornell 1955; office of Percy of Midtown Planning and shared studio w/ Frank New Mexico, 1965; first chair Goodman 1957-58 and The Development, and a City Stella]; own practice, 1963ff; of March I Program UCLA, Architects Collaborative 1959; Planning Commissioner. In instructor Cooper Union 1962- 1968; research architect, MArch, Columbia 1960; MA 1975, he spent three years 73. (Meier vita, cover letter American Academy Rome, and PhD (with Colin Rowe), in Iran, directing the planning April 1965, 2pp, Xc, SAfiles) 1974-75. (Vreeland vita, Cambridge University 1963, and design of the country’s undated, 2pp, annotated Ditto founding of the Institute new capitol center Shahestan Michael McKinnell (b. 1935), and original, SAfiles) of Architecture and Urban Pahlavi. Dean, University of Manchester BA 1958; MS, Studies, New York, 1967, Virginia, 1980-88; partner Columbia 1960. Continuous Henry A. Millon (b. 1927, continuous practice in New in Eisenman/Robertson, architectural practice in Altoona, PA), BA, BS, BArch York; teaching appointments 1980-87; partner in Cooper/ Boston; professor at Harvard Tulane 1947, 1949, 1953, at Cooper Union, Harvard, Robertson from 1988. 1966ff; MIT, 1996-2000 Navy 1946; MA, MArch, Princeton and Yale. PhD Harvard, 1954, 1955, 1964; Fulbright Rome, 1957; A2M-0325.indb 579 3/25/13 6:21 PM 580 CASE AND MIT: ENGAGEMENT I was the Executive Secretary of CASE and thus have the CASE files, modest as they are. Peter Eisenman often urges that I write an account of CASE; I would welcome that task, but it could only be done fully with extensive research and interviews. What follows will be the first considered account of the history of CASE, but one must recognize both that it is only a draft of what would be possible and that, in keeping with the objectives of this volume, it gives emphasis to MIT. MIT Architecture—Early 1960s To understand how MIT came into CASE and what reciprocal effects they had, it is necessary to consider the ground that was laid at MIT. Hank Millon and I were trained in architecture, then in history, and now had appointments primarily as architectural historians at MIT. Nonetheless, we also taught in the studios and our students were in the professional programs of the Department of Architecture. We found it natural to be engaged participants in the activities of the young architect/educators who were to form CASE, yet the intellectual and design positions at MIT and in the wider association were not always complementary. Hank and I enjoyed the full support of the respected and indeed beloved Head of the Department of Architecture, Lawrence B. Anderson, from 1965 Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning.4 Hank, already in his first years at MIT, earned the respect of the Department and Institute administrations. He was a forceful voice in the development of new energies in history and the arts.5 We had cordial relations with the rest of the faculty, and truly warm relations with a subtle design professor, Imre Halasz. However, genuine embrace of our role as historians was as tepid with the design faculty as is characteristic in schools of architecture. Maurice Smith dominated the architectural design faculty.6 Several factors contributed to his effective role in the school. Smith held strong positions about architecture and design that he strenuously sought to impart to his students. MIT was still a five-year undergraduate professional program, with a first year devoted to the MIT core program, particularly in mathematics and the sciences. One design professor directed the studio 4 http://tech.mit.edu/ White in 1966 and Ricky Dizionario dell’Architettura MA: MIT Press, 1966). V114/N20/anderson.20n. Leacock in 1969 and thus the del XX Secolo (6 vols; Turin: Published lectures were html, accessed June 17, creation of dynamic programs Umberto Allemandi, 2000- those of Peter Collins (McGill), 2010. Stanford Anderson, in photography and film, all 2001). Bruno Zevi (University of “Lawrence B. Anderson,” within MIT Architecture. 7 Stanford Anderson, Rome), Serge Chermayeff Dizionario dell’Architettura 6 Maurice Smith (b. New “William Wilson Wurster,” (Yale), Sibyl Moholy-Nagy del XX Secolo (6 vols; Turin: Zealand, 1926), MIT lecturer Dictionary of Art, rev. ed. (Pratt), Stephen W. Jacobs Umberto Allemandi, 2000- 1958-1961; professorial (London: Grove, 2008).
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