Architecture Dept. Gains Temporary Design Center

Creation of a temporary Design Center has enabled the Department of Architectural Sciences to expand enrollment in its undergraduate courses, Norman T. Newton, professor of Landscape Architecture, stated yesterday.

Located at 917 Memorial Drive, the Design Center occupies a former maintenance building, which has been remodeled. The second floor has been converted to workshops. Plans now call for the addition of a third-floor lounge, exhibition room, and a large studio.

Last year undergraduate Architectural Science courses had no centralized location. Given in the basement of Robinson Hall, and also in Hunt Hall, they lacked both individual desks and storage space. These deficiencies have been taken care of in the new set-up.

Working Room Doubled

The move, according to Vincent J. Solomita, instructor in Design, has doubled working room. Additional space has enabled undergraduate Arch Sci courses, for the first time, to accept all applicants.

The end of a quota system is especially important in Arch Sci 30, Design Fundamentals, in which the number of students has increased from 45 to 60. This course is primarily for non-concentrators, to give them "a vocabulary in form and color." Formerly, asserted Solomita, some concentrators wishing to take the course had to be rejected.

Extra Sections Added

Both Arch Sci 30 and the other undergraduate course, Freehand Drawing, have been able to add an extra section. A new instructor, William Boyen, has been appointed.

Solomita considered the present Design Center to be the "embryo" of the Visual Arts Center sketched in the Program for Harvard College. In other colleges, he said, "there exist central headquarters for all courses dealing with design, such as theatre arts, industrial design, painting, and sculpture."