University of Virginia Library

'Joy'

Benjamin Thompson's "Joy,"
too, contains a message for
architects: "In practice we must
stop designing for ourselves and the
critics and instead begin to identify
with the joys and terrors of the
man who will spend his life in what
we build." Hence, the emphasis on
the study of man.

Evidently no University
publication is complete anymore
without a short story by David
Greer, and Modulus conforms to
the rule. My question is why. I
quibble not with the quality of the
story (though I have read better
pieces by this author) but the
reason for putting it there, with no
apparent connection with the rest
of the magazine.

But a major trouble I feel, is
that the magazine, being so disjoint,
cannot do more than raise a few
questions, and forward possibilities,
without truly discussing either the
questions or the solutions. Ideas are
conceived, but not delivered into
the world (with the Smithson
bibliography a definite abortion.)
Perhaps their birth must wait until
the student architects are on the
other side of the serpentine wall,
and they answer the questions
through their practice.