Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-07-10
ARCHITECTS ART
I REGA|NS PRESTIGE
Harvard Professor Says
Profession Will Again Play
Leading Role.

Architecture is regalnlng the leader
ship which 1t lost during the transition
from hand to machine work, Prof.
Walter Gropius of Harvard University
declares in paper prepared for the
American Institute of Architects.
Reuniting the art Of building and
the art of space is the task Of the
architect of the next generation, &C
cording to Prof. Gropius, information
ally known for his revolutionary and
logical approach to architectural de-
sign
There are many symptoms indi-
eating that architecture is setting out
again to play leading and compre-
hensive part in the generation to
come" he says. Architecture has to
come to terms with the machine and
is to take the lead in forming the
whole entity of our towns.
1T is not question OF giving one
profession intellectual precedence over
others, but natural arrangement in
keeping with their different natures.
A painter, sculptor or craftsman
builds up his work personally with
his own hands, whereas the work of
the architect is dependent upon the
collaboration of numerous assistants.
Heresy With Us.
Painting, sculpture, hand work and
machine work are all to be developed
again in an organic relationship with
the art Of building. Thus We should
help the coming generation of archi-
tects to become again the backbone
OF the whole building profession, to
develop abilities Of leadership by vir-
tue Of which there can be unity in
the work as whole in spite Of a null
tiplicity of coIaborators
I'VE have still to face the wide
spread heresy that art and architec-
ture are just luxury, that fatal legacy
from generation which arbitrarily
elevated some of its branches above
the rest as the fine arts and, in so
doing, robbed all arts Of basic identity
and common life. BY depriving hand
icrafts and industry of the informa-
tive services Of the artist. particularly
of the architect. the academic educa-
ton drained them of their vitality.
But art is not one of those things
that may be impaired. Whether
design be the outcome Of skill or
creative impulse depends upon indi-
vidual propensity. But If art cannot
be taught or learned, thorough
knowledge of its principles and sure
ness Of hand can be. Both are as
necessary to the architect of genius
as to the ordinary artisan.
Too Traditional Training
THE fact that the architect of to-
day is from the outset left too much
to traditional specialized training.
which merely imparts to him an eclec-
tic knowledge and does not make clear
to him the meaning and purport of
his work, nor the relationship in which
he stands to the world at large, can
be counteracted first Of all by putting
at the beginning of the training not
the trade but the human being
in his natural readiness to grasp life
as a whole.
The old idea Of school has to be
overcome and replaced by a work.
Ing community The powers and tall
entS which are inherent in every
body should be united In free group
labor, and such community will
not learn for the school, but for life
and by itself will develop into a ma
ture, organic life.
Training in design must run paral-
el with the training in the science
OF building. The designer must learn
a special language of shape in order
to be able to give visible expression
to his ideas.
IF We want to False the standard
OF the architects profession, we must
make it again socially and economi-
cally indispensable to the whole COM
munity; that is to say, we must def
nltely overcome that unpleasant state
OF being regarded by ignorant people
as a costly esthetic luxury within
the building profession"