University of Virginia Library

Architecture Training
Discussed By Panel
Of Education Experts

"Training the New Architect"
will be the subject of a discussion
Friday and Saturday that will bring
together distinguished experts on
architectural education at the University
School of Architecture.

Mrs. Sybil Moholy-Nagy, architectural
historian and critic at the
Pratt Institute in New York, Serge
Chermayeff, head of the environmental
design program at Yale,
Charles Burchard, dean of the
school of architecture at Virginia
Polytechnic Institute, and John
Hill, dean of the University of
Maryland's newly established architecture
school, will serve on the
panel. Jan Rowan, editor of "Progressive
Architecture" magazine,
will act as moderator.

In part the panelists were
chosen for their outspoken and
sometimes controversial views on
the methods and goals of architectural
education, according to
Alec Garbini, student co-chairman
of the symposium. "Hopefully the
basic objectives of our education
will be discussed," said co-chairman
Jon Carlsten; a fifth-year architectural
student. A major question,
he said, is whether architectural
schools should "crank out draftsmen
or produce creators of total
environment."

"During the past several years,
architecture schools have been in
ferment," commented John V.
Yanik, assistant professor of
architecture at the University and
advisor to the symposium. He
added that this "revolution"
touches on many questions,
including the recent adoption of
six-year academic programs in
many architecture schools.

Mr. Yanik continued, saying
that the symposium is an outgrowth
of the presence of Mr.
Carlsten and Mr. Garbini on the
school's faculty lecture committee.
They developed, promoted, and
brought the idea to its conclusion,
he said. Mr. Carlsten felt that the
idea arose due to feeling in the
committee and especially among
students that formal lectures are
often ineffectual. "For this reason
we are hoping for a different type
of interaction," Mr. Carlsten explained.

With this consideration in mind,
he said, the symposium will use
three separate approaches. Participants
will first meet in the formal
atmosphere of a lecture and panel
discussion, then in smaller groups
and finally in an open forum.