THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM April 1940
Small House Parade: 50 examples
Will Burtin [Art Director], George Nelson [Associate Editor]
Will Burtin [Art Director], George Nelson [Associate Editor]: THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM. Philadelphia: Time, Inc., Volume 72, No. 4, April 1940. Slim Quarto. Thick printed wrappers. Wire spiral binding. 93 [cxv] pp. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Wrappers lightly worn and rubbed. The spiral binding is in good condition and does not bind any pages when opened. A very good copy.
8.75 x 11.75 spiral-bound magazine with 225 pages of editorial content showcasing the Architectural and Industrial Design of the American Streamline Moderne Machine Age aesthetic. There are also an excellent assortment of vintage trade advertisements that espouse the depression moderne streamline aesthetic quite nicely. You have been warned.
CONTENTS:
- HOUSE PORTFOLIO - Fifty studies of new houses under $10,000 with plans, interior and exterior photographs, construction data and unit costs. Low Cost House For LIFE, Gardner Dailey, Architect; Experimental House No.2, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Architects; Houses in Buffalo, NY., Herbert C. Swain, Architect; House in Kentfield, CA., Frederick L. R. Confer, Architect; House in Farmington, Conn., Maxwell Moore and Charles Salsbury, Architects; House in Palm Springs, CA., John Porter Clark, Architect; House in Norwood, Mass., David J. Abrahams, Architect; House in Somerton, PA., Louis E. McAllister, Architect; House on de Silva Island, CA., Mario Corbett, Architect; House in Islip, Long Island, NY., Moore & Hutchins, Architects; House in Atlanta, GA., Will W. Griffin, Architect; House in Madison, WI., William Kaeser, Architect; House in Hollywood, CA., Paul Laszlo, Designer; House in Cincinnati, Ohio, Robert Isphording, Architect; House in Pasadena, CA., Harwell Hamilton Harris, Designer; House in Los Angeles, CA., Gregory Ain, Designer; House in Los Angeles, CA., Adams & Prentice, Architects; House in Ogden Dunes, IN., George Fred Keck, Architect; House in Tucson, AZ., Arthur T. Brown, Architect; House in Harmon-On-Hudson, NY., Evans, Moore & Woodbridge, Architect; House in Stockton, CA., William Wilson Wurster, Architect; House in Hanover, NH., Hugh S. Morrison, Designer, Marjorie Pierce, Architect; House in Twin Buttes, AZ., Richard A. Morse, Architect; House in Madison, WI., William Kaeser, Architect; House in Putney, Vermont, Ides Van Der Gracht and Walter H.Kilham, Jr., Architect; House in Tucson, AZ., Arthur T. Brown, Architect; House in Irvington, NY., Edwin M. Loye, Architect; House in Los Angeles, CA., Raphael S. Soriano, Designer; House in Puget Sound, Seattle, WA., Edwin J. Ivey, Elizabeth Ayer, Architects; House on Puget Sound, Seattle, WA., J. Lister Holmes, Architect; House on Puget Sound, Seattle, WA., William J. Bain, Architect; House in Seattle, WA., George Wellington Stoddard, Architect; House on Puget Sound, Seattle, WA., Arther Loveless and Lester Fey, Architects; House in Miami Beach, FL., Polevitzky & Russell, Architect; House in Bellingham, WA., F.C. Stanton, Architect; House in Knoxville, TN., Alfred Clauss and Jane West Clauss, Designers; House in Brentwood, CA., Winchton Leamon Risley, Architect; House in Chatham Manor, NJ., Randolph Evans, Architect; House in Salt Lake City, UT., Lowell E. Parrish, Architect; House in Washington, D.C., John J. Whelan, Architect; House in Madison, NJ., Jan Ruhtenberg, Designer, Elmer Tuthill, Architect; House in Glendale, CA., Richard J. Neutra, Architect; House in Lynnfield, Mass., David J. Abrahams, Architect; House in San Francisco, CA., John Ekin Dinwiddie, Architect; House in Chatham Manor, NJ., Randolph Evans and Albrt E. Olson, Architect; House in Auburn, AL., Sidney Wahl Little, Architect; House in Houston, Texas, M. P. de Nippell, Architect; House in Houston, Texas, Talbott Wilson, Irwin Morris, Architects; House in Houston, Texas, Frank Dill, Architect.
- THE HOUSE DIVIDED - A room-by-room comparison of two new houses, modern and traditional. Thorp House, Sudbury, Mass., Derby, Barnes & Champney, Architect; and Hagerty House, Cohasset Beach, Mass., Gropius and Breuer, Architects; Room-by-Room interior photographs of comparisons.
- THE LOW COST HOUSE (cont'd) - A score of low cost houses as they are and as they might be ... the architect's part in America's Number One problem.
- MONTH IN BUILDING
- VERSUS - A dinner, speeches and floodlights open two shows of architecture at New York's Architectural League. Exhibition Design by George Nelson!
- BOOKS - Renaissance engineering ... House construction ... Technical publications ... A biography of Vanbrugh.
- LETTERS - Housing cont'd ... Roger Allen reports a convention.
Will Burtin (1909 -1972) studied typography and design at the Cologne Werkschule, then practiced design in Germany before emigrating to the US in 1938. He worked for the US Army Air Force designing graphics and exhibitions before becoming Art Director of Fortune magazine in 1945. His work for Fortune was marked by innovative solutions to presenting complex information in graphically understandable ways. In 1949 he established his own firm. Among his clients were the Upjohn Company, Union Carbide, Eastman Kodak and The Smithsonian Institution. Burtin's great genius was in his ability to visualize complex scientific and technological information. He created several award winning exhibitions including the 1958 model of a human blood cell. Burtin believed that through his work he could become the "communicator, link, interpreter and inspirer" who is able to make scientific knowledge comprehensible.
Burtin developed a design philosphy called Integration, in which the designer conveyed information with visual communication that is based on four principal realities:
- the reality of man as measure and measurer
- the reality of light, color, texture
- the reality of space, motion, time
- the reality of science
Using this approach to design problems was essentially the birth of what later became known as multimedia. By integrating all four realities into a design solution, Burtin could solve seemingly insoluble puzzles.
The mid to late 40s saw Burtin expand his role in professional organizations, serving as Director of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). In 1948, Burtin's Integration: The New Discipline in Design exhibit opened at the Composing Room in New York City. In the introduction to the exhibition, designer Serge Chermayeff stated: "This new art of 'visualization,' of giving visual form in two or three dimensions to a message, is the product of a new kind of artist functionary evolved by our complex society. This artist possesses the inclusive equipment of liberal knowledge, scientific and technical experience, and artisticability . . . Among the small band of pioneers who have developed this new language by bringing patient research and brilliant inventiveness to their task is Will Burtin."
Most noteworthy, Burtin served for 22 years as both Upjohn's design consultant and art director of its in-house publication, Scope. His work on Scope continued his use of graphics and imagery in communicating complicated journal text. He worked to create a unique corporate identity for Upjohn, a new concept at the time. For Upjohn, Burtin produced some of the most celebrated exhibits of his career: the Cell, the Brain, and Inflammation: Defense of Life. These immensely popular walk-in exhibits provided a clear, visual interpretation of abstract scientific processes.