Evening star., 1935-11-16
RESEARCH STARTS
IN CITY PLANNING
Shcool of Architecture at
Columbia Institutes
Major Division.

housing and community building is
reflected in the establishment of a
major division of town planning in
the Columbia University School of
Architecture. The new school, under
the direction of Henry Wright, fellow
of the American Institute of Archi-
tects, will undertake a four-year pro-
gram of wide experimentation in the
field of town planning and housing
studies.
Architecture, with its resultant
product in buildings, Is nothing more
than applied" city planning, accord
ing to Mr.. Wright. There can be, he
says, no distinct line drawn in either
time or space at which one part leaves
off and the other begins.
Architectural design itself, Mr..
Wright holds, can be taught through
the study and appreciation of the eX-
ternal relationships of building masses
and community organizations quite as
well as by the more detailed study of
the planning of the individual build
ings themselves.
Touch With Life Urged.
Architectural and technical schools
must carry on their work in much
closer touch with the current problems
which confront the modern city than
has been generally the case in the past,
1t Is declared by Prof. Leopold Arnaud,
chairman of the Committee on Ad-
ministration at the Columbia School of
Architecture, who disclosed that the
Carnegie Corp. of New York had made
a grant of $4,000 for the new town
planning studios.
THE architectural student must not
only be taught to build well but to
build appropriately in relation to the
surroundings of his building and to
the needs of his community" Prof.
Arnaud continues. City planning,
however, is still considered as some
thing apart, of which the architect
and engineer must take careful ac-
count, but for which his responsibility
is only an indirect one, devoted to
carrying out construction in situa-
tions created previously and by others.
THE present momentary swing, again
toward new suburban spread, carries
with it the possibility of repeating
previous foolish practices in this field
or on the other hand, of beginning to
make use of the technical facilities
available and of developing them in
our university courses, as well as in
the experiences of governmentally pro-
NOTED communities, so that the
temporary attractiveneSS of new
suburban developments will not in
evltably supplanted by the shambles
of unimaginative and hastily built
speculative areas"
First Research Project.
A study of the present advancement
of the technique of site planning in
the United States will be the first
research project in the town planning
school. Important aspects of the sub
Ject and experience in actual COM
munities already built will be
recorded.
THE results of this work" Prof.
Arnaud explains, should be similar
in form and purpose to the study of
the existing technique of apartment
planning and housing as interpreted
in Mr.. Wright's recent work on Re
housing Urban America published by
the Columbia University Press.
In fact, this study devotes one
third of its space to the projection of
certain new and undeveloped ideas
and methods in the field of housing
which. in their turn, will provide
basis for interesting and important
studies of an explorational nature.
The first publication was advisedly
titled urban housing. 1t was to a
certain degree placing the cart be-
fore the horse, because urban housing
had been momentarily projected into
the American scheme, by reason of
the depression and because of the
popular realization of the sordidness
and waStefulness Of much of our ur-
ban living conditions"
Wright of Wide Experience.
Mr.. Wright assumes direction of the
four-year experiment after varied ex-
perience in both the practical and
experimental elements of town PLAN
ming. He has executed a wide range
of work in architecture, site planning,
landscape architecture, and city PLAN
ming, both by himself and in associa-
ton with many prominent architects.
He spent a number of years study
ing suburban development, with an
opportunity in some cases not only tc
make the original plot or group plans,
but also to carry through, as an aSso-
ciate, the houses and other individual
factors of the project. He has lee
tured extensively on city and site
planning
Mr.. Wright was town planning con-
sultant for the Shipping Board during
the World War, and personally di-
rected the development of the town
planning aspect of some of the i'm
portant communities built in that
connection. He was associate archi-
tect and site planner for the COM
munities of Sunnyside, Long Island;
Radburn, N. j., and Chatham Village,
Pittsburgh.