The Architects' Collaborative

The Architects' Collaborative (TAC) was an American architectural firm formed by Walter Gropius and seven younger architects in 1945 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The other partners were Norman C. Fletcher (December 8, 1917-May 31, 2007), Jean B. Fletcher (1915–September 13, 1965), John C. Harkness (b. November 30, 1916), Sarah P. Harkness (b. July 8, 1914), Robert S. McMillan (April 3, 1916–March 14, 2001), Louis A. McMillen (October 21, 1916–May 8, 1998) and Benjamin C. Thompson (July 3, 1918–August 21, 2002). TAC has created many successful projects, and has been well-respected for its broad range of designs. One of TAC's specialties was designing public school buildings.

Way of working

This philosophy reflected Gropius' central preoccupation with the social responsibilities of architecture. The idea of "collaboration", which was the basis of TAC. It was carried out in that an entire group of architects have their input on a project, rather than putting an emphasis on individualism. There would be a "partner-in-charge", who would meet with clients and have the final decision of what goes into the design. Originally, each of the eight partners would hold weekly meetings on a Thursday to discuss their projects and be open to design input and ideas. However, as the firm grew larger there were many more peolple on a team and it was more difficult to consolidate into one group. Therefore, many other "groups" of architects within the firm were formed and carried out the same original objective.

Demise

Financial problems in the 1980's resulted in TAC being unable to pay expenses which they owed to BayBank and Harvard University, to which TAC's headquarters was sold in 1988. TAC closed officially in April of 1995 In response, many archives and architectural libraries worked fast to retrieve TAC's drawings and records. The majority of these are now stored in the Rotch Library at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Legacy

TAC has been a notable landmark in the history of postwar modernism. For the most part the firm functioned as a team rather than on an individual basis, which was considered a unique method of architectural practice, which reflected Gropius' philosophy of working collaboratively with others when he was a Bauhaus instructor in Germany prior to TAC. In later years, TAC was known as one of the first architects to design environmentally "green" buildings starting in the early 1980s. Two of the original eight founders, Norman Fletcher and John "Chip" Harkness stayed with TAC for its entire 50 year existence. Some architects sayFact|date=February 2007 that some of the aspects of TAC have influenced them in their architectural practice.

Important works

*Six Moon Hill; Lexington, Massachusetts; 1947-1950
*Five Fields; Lexington, Massachusetts; 1951-1955
*Harvard Graduate Center; Cambridge, Massachusetts; 1949
*University of Baghdad; Baghdad, Iraq; 1957-1960
*Pan-American World Airways Building; New York, New York; 1958-1963 (with Emery Roth & Sons)
*Wayland High School; Wayland, Massachusetts; 1960, 1966 & 1972
*John Fitzgerald Kennedy Office Building; Boston, Massachusetts; 1961-1966
*Parkside Elementary School; Columbus, Indiana; 1962
*Rosenthal Porcelien Factory; Selb, Bavaria; 1965
*Tower East; Shaker Heights, Ohio; 1969
*AIA Headquarters Building; Washington, D.C.; 1973
*Health Sciences Expansion; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; 1974
*Bauhaus Archive; Berlin, Germany; 1976-1979
*Corporate Headquarters for CIGNA; Bloomfield, Connecticut; 1979-1984
*Embassy of the United States; Athens, Greece; 1959-1961 (with consulting architect Pericles A. Sakellarios)
*Shirley S. Okerstrom Fine Arts Building;Traverse City,MI:United States; 1972

ee also

*The Architects Collaborative, 1945-1965

References

*"The Architects Collaborative 1945-1965"
*"The Architects Collaborative Suspends Operations", Progressive Architecture, v76, June 1995.

External links

* [http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/TAC.html Great Buildings Online: The Architects' Collaborative]