He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Princeton in 1939. He took further studies in architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. While at Harvard, Landis became close with fellow student Philip Johnson and professor Marcel Breuer, who would all later become members of the Harvard Five. This is a group known as the proponents of modern architecture.He servied in World War 2. Returning from the war in 1945, he worked with Philip Johnson. They were a good team: Johnson would design and Gores would draft the ideas to a polished result.