Architectural Record 1942-1967 Record Architectural Architectural | Phoebus Ilias Panigyrakis Record 1942-1967 Chapters from the history of an architectural magazine Phoebus Ilias Panigyrakis Architectural Record 1942-1967 Chapters from the history of an architectural magazine Phoebus Ilias Panigyrakis TOC A+BE | Architecture and the Built Environment | TU Delft BK 20#11 Design | Sirene Ontwerpers, Rotterdam Layout editing | Phoebus Panigyrakis Cover photo | Detail of original photo of the John Knox Shear Collection, Carnegie Mellon University Architecture Archives, Pittsburgh, PA. Keywords | Architetural Record; F. W. Dodge Co.; midcentury modernism; history of architectural journalism ISBN 978-94-6366-301-4 ISSN 2212-3202 © 2020 Phoebus Panigyrakis Digital version freely available at abe.tudelft.nl All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author. Unless otherwise specified, all the photographs in this thesis were taken by the author. For the use of illustrations effort has been made to ask permission for the legal owners as far as possible. We apologize for those cases in which we did not succeed. These legal owners are kindly requested to contact the publisher. TOC Architectural Record 1942-1967 Chapters from the history of an architectural magazine Dissertation for the purpose of obtaining the degree of doctor at Delft University of Technology by the authority of the Rector Magnificus, prof.dr.ir. T.H.J.J. van der Hagen chair of the Board for Doctorates to be defended publicly on Monday, 24 August 2020 at 15:00 o’clock by Phoebus Ilias PANIGYRAKIS, Architect Dipl.-Ing, University of Patras, Greece born in Poissy, France TOC This dissertation has been approved by the promotors. Composition of the doctoral committee: Rector Magnificus, chairperson Prof. Dr.-Ing. C.M.Hein Delft University of Technology, promotor Dr. H.D. van Bergeijk Delft University of Technology, copromotor Independent members: Dr. M. Lathouri A.A. School of Architecture, UK Prof. dr. C. Ruhl Goethe-U. Frankfurt, Germany Prof. ir. N.A. de Vries Delft University of Technology Prof. dr. M. Jarzombek MIT, USA Prof. dr. C. Wagenaar Delft University of Technology, [reserve] TOC Sic transit gloria architecti Doug Haskell, 1959 TOC TOC Propositions These propositions are regarded as opposable and defendable, and have been approved as such by the promotors Herman van Bergeijk and Carola Hein. 1 Architectural practice, its accompanying fields of theory, criticism and curation are all products of their respective professional, financial and historical context and are therefore limited by them. This applies to this thesis as well. 2 The midcentury magazine is the first mass medium to have an effect on architectural production and set the terms of its systematic emergence to the public eye. 3 Contemporary architects are dependent on architectural editors to access their market, who are in turn dependent on publishers and advertisers. 4 Capitalism’s economic lifecycles and crises produce recurrent waves of avant-garde art and architecture rendered operational as useful mechanisms of confusion. 5 By the 1970s when the architectural profession engaged with the fields of private marketing and advertising consultation services, the media apparatus had completed its systematization to offer the same exact services. 6 In-between 1942 and 1967 modernism entered contemporaneity, propaganda turned into public relations, and ideology turned into lifestyle. And reporting became operational and opinionated, as it is today. This however does not criminalize the editor/author. No more than the reader. 7 The contemporary figure of the genius architect is a made-up image, sustained by magazines and other media of architecture to sell more kitchenware. 8 Architectural magazines’ main services (beyond that of reporting and continuing education) consist of: a) consoling architects of their societal relevance, b) pampering them against the stresses conformed to them by engineers and clients, and c) sustaining their anxieties and/or suppressing ideological impulses to fit their professional milieu and market profile. 9 The midcentury architectural media turned the revolutionary ethics of modernism into a revolutionary outfit. Particularly the american ones. 10 Consolation, comfort and architectural anxieties that are systematically produced and sustained through architectural magazines, are later on reproduced between architects-clients and internally, between members of architectural practices. TOC TOC Stellingen Deze stellingen worden als tegenstelbaar en verdedigbaar beschouwd en zijn als zodanig goedgekeurd door de promotors Herman van Bergeijk en Carola Hein. 1 De architectuurpraktijk en de industrie van theorie, kritiek en conservatie die daarbij behoren, zijn allemaal producten de hun respectievelijke professionele, marktgerichte en historische context en zijn daarom door hun beperkt. Dit geld ook voor de architectuurgeschiedenis. 2 Het 20ste eeuwse tijdschrift is het eerste massa medium dat een effect had op de architectuur en de en de voorwaarden voor de systematische opkomst ervan voor het publiek vastlegt 3 Hedendaagse architecten zijn afhankelijk van architectonische redacteurs. Deze op hun beurt zijn afhankelijk van adverteerders en uitgevers. 4 De economische levenscycli en crises van het kapitalisme zorgen voor terugkerende golven van avant-garde kunst en architectuur die operationeel worden gemaakt als nuttige mechanismen van verwarring. 5 Op het moment dat het architectenvak zich bezig ging houden met marketing en reclame, was het media-apparaat al georganiseerd voor hetzelfde doel, dit ter vervanging van hun dienstverlening. 6 Tussen 1942 en 1967 werd het modernisme contemporain. Tussen 1942 en 1967 veranderde de propaganda in de relatie met het publiek en ideologie in lifestyle. Tussen 1942 en 1967 veranderde de berichtgeving in opinievorming. Dit is niets ten nadele van redacteur/auteur. Evenmin van de lezer zelf. 7 De hedendaagse figuur van de geniale architect is een verzonnen beeld, dat wordt ondersteund door tijdschriften en het media-apparaat van de architectuur om aan hun meer keukengerei te verkopen. 8 De belangrijkste diensten van architectuurtijdschriften (naast de verslaggeving en voortdurende educatie) bestaan uit: a) het troosten van architecten met hun maatschappelijke relevantie, b) het verwennen van architecten tegen de stress die ingenieurs en opdrachtgevers op hen uitoefenen, en c) het in stand houden van hun angsten en het onderdrukken van hun ideologische impulsen wanneer deze in contrast komen te staan met hun professionele omgeving en marktprofiel. 9 De Amerikaanse architectuurmedia maakten van de radicalisme van het modernisme een uniform. 10 Troost, comfort en architecturale angsten worden systematisch geproduceerd en in stand gehouden door architecturale tijdschriften. TOC TOC Preface The hidden persuaders of architecture In a 1959 letter to Walter Gropius discussing the reporting of architecture from the American press industry, editor Doug Haskell ended his letter with a Latin proverb: Sic transit gloria architecti – Thus passes the glory of the architect.1 And while he meant this as a light complement to the weary architect, Haskell pointed to a deeper truth: that the media apparatus for the promotion and placement of architects had by then been concretely systematized. Awards, exhibitions, magazines and professional networks gradually turned from ancillary services of the profession to its leading driving force. An unofficial body of "hidden persuaders" had been structured: editors, reporters, publishers, critics, curators, academics and directors of museums, cultural institutions and industrial organizations. Through this scope, the architectural editors of the mid 20th century became central nodes in the network of architectural practice. It is no accident that in discussing the position of editor-in-chief in 1954, the publishers of the Architectural Record called it the "top of the field" (see p.184), which by the way nowadays has been proven to be a literary truth.2 Despite that, the history of architecture is still fixated on studying singular figures of heroic men and women architects; instead of the environment that produces them. And not without reason.3 With this gap in mind, this study addresses the life and work of the people behind the scenes of architectural practice. The self-declared "tastemakers" that quietly shed the limelight to the architect's pedestal. To be more specific, it is the midcentury history of the Architectural Record, the most circulated American magazine that targeted closely than any competitor the core audience of practicing architect. 1 Haskell to Gropius, 2 July 1959, folder: "The Architects Collaborative," Haskell papers, Columbia University. 2 One example is Robert Ivy, once editor-in-chief of the Architectural Record (1996-) who transitioned to CEO of the American Institute of Architects (2011- ). 3 In short, the display of exemplary "avant-garde" figures serves both the administrative management of architectural firms as well as advertisers, manufacturers and salespeople that use the image of individual "signature" architects to sell and add value to their products. TOC If anyone is wondering of the shortcomings, challenges and formalisms of contemporary