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A College in the City:
An Alternative

A report from
Educational Facilities
Laboratories



A College in the City:
An Alternative

This report was prepared by

the Education Affiliate of the
Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration
Corporation, of which

Dr. William M. Birenbaum

was president.

Staff Associates:
Mordicai Abramowitz
Edwin A. Goodman
Abraham I. Habenstreit
Albert Vann

Preston R. Wilcox
Patricia Parsons

Evans Clinchy,
Special Consultant

Urban Design:

Toombs, Amisano and Wells,
Architects

Joseph Amisano, F.A.1.A.
Stephen Withers

Johan Verhoeven

John Gilliard

Alexander Carter

The primary author of this re-
port was Evans Clinchy who
drew liberally from the ideas of
all concerned but particularly
from those set forth in Dr. Wm.
M. Birenbaum’s book Overlive.

Funds for the project were pro-
vided by EFL.

Library of Congress
Catalogue No. 73-79383
Second Printing, March 1969

Additional copies available from Edu-
cational Facilities Laboratories, 477
Madison Avenue, N.Y., N.Y. 10022

Shortly after I took over as
president of the Education Affi-
liate in Bedford-Stuyvesant, I
received a visit from the late
Senator Robert F. Kennedy,
who had played a major role in
the creation of both the Affiliate
and the Bedford-Stuyvesant
Restoration Corporation. I hap-
pened to have my jacket off, my
tie loosened, and my feet up on
the desk.

“What are you doing?” the
Senator asked.

“Y’m thinking,” I replied.

“Fine,” said the Senator, “but
what are you going to do when
you put your feet down?”

This report is one answer to
that question.

William M. Birenbaum

This report is dedicated to the
memory of Robert F. Kennedy



With this report, Educational
Facilities Laboratories presents
a promising new way of looking
at the university in the city and,
at the same time, makes a plea
for leadership by the university.
The importance of the report lies
in both of these aspects, and,
while the report is based on a
particular piece of ghetto land in
a particular city (my own), its
implications clearly are national
in scope.

The report suggests that the
fact that urban universities have
walls and that those on the other
side are considered “outsiders”
are major contributing factors in
the creation of our present
plight. The report suggests that
urban universities don’t have to
be that way. A good deal of what
is developed here is aimed simply
at the creation of a university in
which there are no walls and no
outsiders. Some scholars would
say that this is a contradiction in
terms, but perhaps the debate
should be reopened. This report
will serve that purpose. I hope so.

Albert H. Bowker
Chancellor

The City University of
New York





The colleges and the cities of
this country are in trouble.

The colleges and universities
are faced with restless, dissatis-
fied, angry, and occasionally vio-
lent students who feel that the
higher education which they are
receiving is often irrelevant to
their needs and to the needs of
the world they see around them.

Our American cities are beset
with problems so vast and cruel
that survival is a real question.
Among the most immediate and
destructive of the city’s prob-
lems is the problem of the angry
and restless poor community, es-
pecially if the poor community
is also a black ghetto, a place
where the people feel powerless
and excluded.

These two kinds of trouble—
dissatisfaction and dissent on
the campus and anger and de-
spair in the poor communities—
are most apparent when they ap-
pear together, when the urban
college or university finds itself
faced with revolt from within its
own academic community and at
the same time faced with the
hostility of the community out-
side its walls.

Conflict and Restoration

In poverty-stricken areas, the
people are frequently commu-
nity-bound. Although knowl-
edgeable within their environs,
they can be timid about ventur-
ing into unfamiliar areas or
doing unfamiliar things. Being
forced to go out of their commu-
nity to seek what they need
causes resentment. In addition,
when students must move out of
the home environment to seek
further education, conflict is set
up between home and university
which is not necessary but can
be extremely troublesome, work-
ing to the detriment of everyone
concerned.

The poor communities, what-
ever their racial composition, are
in desperate need of exactly
what the colleges are in business
to provide—the liberal and lib-
erating experience of expanded
learning; the various kinds of so-
cial and cultural experience and
expertise that come with higher
education; the specific skills and
professional knowledge that can
enable a young man or woman to
overcome the effects of poverty
and in turn help his community
to combat them. The poor com-

munities must have doctors,
teachers, lawyers, skilled busi-
nessmen, capable public officials,
and social scientists who have
emerged from the community
and know its problems firsthand.
It is this direct link between
knowledge and action, between
the study of a problem and its
practical solution, that both col-
lege and community desperately
need.

The colleges are rapidly be-
coming aware of the physical and
intellectual gaps that exist be-
tween themselves, the students
they are attempting to educate,
and the aroused and indignant
communities that surround
them. It is often the very exist-
ence of the poor communities
that leads students to charge
their institutions with failure
in dealing effectively with the
major social problems of the day.

This whole set of urban prob-
lems becomes most painfully
clear in the planning and con-
struction of new colleges in cit-
ies. New higher education facili-
ties are needed by everyone, rich
and poor, black or white. And
because the demand is so high,



there is a natural urge to adopt
deceptively expedient methods
to get new facilities constructed.

This usually turns out to be
the most conventional process.
Once the decision to build a
four-year or a two-year “com-
munity” college has been made,
the most expedient procedure is
to duplicate existing urban cam-
puses and in the process to du-
plicate all of the old problems. A
site is chosen for reasons of avail-
ability, accessibility, and low
cost of acquisition. Once the site
is acquired, anywhere from 5 to
10 city blocks may be demol-

ished, and in their stead may rise
a gleaming new “superblock”
campus. No matter how well de-
signed the superblock may be,
no matter how pleasing the vis-
ual result, it still constitutes a
visual and physical barrier be-
tween itself and the old com-
munity. There is no honest inter-
action between the college and
the surrounding community
which provided the land and
hoped for higher education for
its children. The people from the
community—and the students
attending the college—have no
voice in the operation of the in-

stitution which sits there serv-
ing its conventional purpose, an
alien intruder in the local scene.
It might be possible to pro-
duce both a better institution of
higher education and an institu-
tion that would be a force in the
regeneration and revival of the
local community. This could
happen not only through the ed-
ucation of young people, but also
through a new approach to the
planning and operation of college
facilities. The college’s facilities
might thus become an integral
part of, and contribution to, the
renewal of the community.



These problems must be ap-
proached simultaneously if the
resulting institution is to have
the large regenerative impact
that the poor communities need.

This report is an attempt to
describe just such a planning
effort as it has been taking place
in one specific poor community,
the Bedford-Stuyvesant section
of Brooklyn, New York. The re-
port sets forth both an educa-
tional concept of what a college
in Bedford-Stuyvesant should be
and a physical interpretation of
that concept. The two cannot be
separated.

The college described here
does not as yet exist in Bedford-
Stuyvesant. Indeed, it may not
be created there in the exact
form envisioned in the planning
process described here. The
planning process itself and the
plans that have emerged from it,
however, may well be applicable
not just to Bedford-Stuyvesant
but to any new college being
planned for any urban commu-
nity in America.

The Urban Setting

Bedford-Stuyvesant is a large
section of the borough of Brook-
lyn in New York City. It is typi-
cal of the many poor and largely
black communities in the cities
of this country, not only in its
composition but in its potential
for restoration.

It is a community of about
500,000 people, 95 percent of
them Negro or Puerto Rican.
These half a million people are
crowded into an area of approxi-
mately 5.2 square miles, and al-




ey

Deo bees

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us
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Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
Bedford-Stuyvesant D and $ Corporation

a eee


Abandoned buildings and vacant lots are not lim-
ited to one area, but are spread irregularly
throughout the site. There is no single, large area
of deterioration which could contain a college
campus.

HH Abandoned building or vacant lot

most half of them fall into the
economic category of being “pov-
erty stricken,” earning less than
$4,000 per year.

Much of Bedford-Stuyvesant
is deteriorated. There are
burned-out houses left in ruins.
There are empty lots scattered
throughout the area—many of
them filled with junk or broken-
down automobiles.

The people of Bedford-Stuy-
vesant are not provided with
adequate educational opportuni-
ties. The public school system
has not provided the kinds and
amounts of education needed by
the people. About half of the
people in this community have
never gone beyond the ninth
grade. As of 1964, almost 30 per-
cent of the high-school-age pop-
ulation was not even in school,
and 30 percent of those who had
dropped out were unemployed.
Of the 252 Bedford-Stuyvesant
students who graduated from
academic high schools in 1964,
only 5 had grade averages of 85
or better and could thus qualify
for admission to the free four-
year colleges of the New York
City university system.

In most respects, Bedford-
Stuyvesant is restorable, in no
way a candidate for the whole-
sale destruction of the conven-
tional urban-renewal program. It
is not rigidly cut off from sur-
rounding Brooklyn or the rest of
New York City. It is almost im-
possible to tell where Bedford-
Stuyvesant begins or ends. It is
supplied with excellent public
transportation, so that the peo-
ple can work in other parts of
the city (if work is available) or
enjoy the rich variety of cultural
activities that New York City
provides.


Bedford-Stuyvesant, like most
poor urban communities, is a
lively place with a rich urban life
and plenty of action. The main
thoroughfares are crowded with
shops, storefront churches, small
manufacturing firms, bars, eat-
ing places, smoke shops, and

busy people.

The side streets off the main
thoroughfares are largely resi-
dential. Some of the houses are
run-down, others are in good re-
pair, and some have been hand-
somely restored. There are many
movements to form block associ-

ations in Bedford-Stuyvesant for
the purpose of cleaning up and
fixing up particular neighbor-
hoods.

In a purely physical sense,
this section of Brooklyn not too
long ago was one of the most
handsome residential sections of



New York City. Along with its
transportation system, Bedford-
Stuyvesant’s architecture is its
most impressive physical asset.
In the 1870’s what is now Bed-
ford-Stuyvesant was largely
farm land. As the population of
the city grew, it spread into this

section of Brooklyn in several
waves. Beginning with the sec-
tion nearest Brooklyn Heights
and Borough Hall, the first wave
of housing consisted mainly of
two-and three-story brick facade
homes. The second wave further
out was mostly the famed

our

AUADEMS

brownstone row houses. Then
came the limestone town houses
and the canopied highrises of the
1920’s and ’30’s.

Many of the residential streets
are considerably wider than
most city streets, and many were
and still are lined with trees.



There are often small stores on
the ground-floor level of the
houses. Backyard areas between
the blocks are ample. The wide
streets, along with the empty
lots, are basically the open
spaces of Bedford-Stuyvesant. It
is here that the children play,
people sit on stoops, and the life
of the area takes place.

In short, Bedford-Stuyvesant

is a poor urban community that
has great physical potential for
restoration. In fact, Bedford-
Stuyvesant has been compared
to the more attractive sections of
Paris. It might well be re-created
at that level of urban style, if the
necessary energy and resources
can be mustered.

This does not mean that the
needs of Bedford-Stuyvesant, or

any other similar urban commu-
nity can be met by a fresh coat
of paint. There are insufficient
park and recreation spaces and
few cultural facilities. There are
not enough small businesses or
light industries to provide suffi-
cient jobs for the people. Many
assets are not currently used to
the best advantage. Backyards
are one example of this, but the



streets themselves are perhaps
the most obvious. Only the front
stoop has developed a place for
people to congregate and gossip.
In Bedford-Stuyvesant the
streets are broad and attractive
enough to permit wider usage.
It is clear that the restoration
of Bedford-Stuyvesant is not
only desirable but possible. It is
also clear that this kind of res-

toration is not going to happen
without considerable amounts of
money, without organization
and involvement on the part of
the people themselves, or with-
out great assistance from society
at large. Fortunately, self-organ-
ization, involvement, and outside
assistance are already well under
way.

The local movement is cen-

tered in the Bedford-Stuyvesant
Restoration Corporation, a com-
munity-based and almost com-
pletely community-staffed or-
ganization made up of the major
groups in the Bedford-Stuyve-
sant area. This organization has
emerged with the assistance of a
group of outside businessmen
and civic leaders organized under
the leadership of the late Sena-

way 4



10

tor Robert F. Kennedy. The
main power and responsibility
lie with the Restoration Corpo-
ration; it is this group that is
attempting to pull the various
elements of the community to-
gether, to obtain federal money,
and to do the planning necessary
for the revival of the area.

One of the most obvious prob-
lems that the people of Bedford-
Stuyvesant have been facing
over the past years is the whole
question of education. Some-
thing has to be done about the
education of its people.

This concern led to the crea-
tion of an Education Affiliate to
the Restoration Corporation,
headed by Dr. William Biren-
baum, former vice president and
provost of Long Island Univer-
sity. The architectural firm’ of
Toombs, Amisano & Wells was
engaged to assist in physical
planning. Working with a wide
variety of community people
both in and out of the Restora-
tion Corporation, the Education
Affiliate began the process of
thinking out what a new kind of
locally based college for a poor
community might be. The re-
sults of this process are still de-
liberately incomplete, since
many of the details of organiza-
tion and operation will, and
should, be worked out by the
community people as the college
is formed. The general principles
might well be applicable to the
design of higher education and
college facilities in any similar
situation.

Perhaps the first and most im-
portant result of this kind of
planning process is the recogni-
tion that a college for a commu-
nity such as Bedford-Stuyvesant
has to be an institution that
adds a great deal to the commu-
nity and subtracts nothing. Thus
the college has to answer a great
many unusual educational, so-

cial, and physical needs, but at
the same time it must not de-
stroy homes, misuse valuable
space, or become merely an aca-
demic ghetto in the middle of an
urban ghetto. ~

Far beyond that, the urban
college and its physical expres-
sion can be one of the most pow-
erful and important forces in the
human and physical revival of
its community, both in terms of
providing educated community
people and in terms of rebuilding
and redesigning the physical en-
vironment. This would have to
be done by starting with the cus-

| HELP KEEP YoU
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toms of the community and
building upon them. There
would be no point in creating a
college that would be alien to the
physical and social environment
in which the people live. But
there would be significance in
creating a college that would
build upon the realities of a com-
munity such as Bedford-Stuy-
vesant and would begin to pro-
vide many of the things that the
community lacks. Bedford-Stuy-
vesant, for instance, needs park
and recreation space, cultural fa-
cilities such as theater, music,
art, films, and new housing that

is not high rise and high income.

Since these are needs of the
community and since the college
would be there to help fill com-
munity needs, all of these things
must be taken into account by
the community and its planners.

Another of the obvious, basic
needs for an urban community
such as Bedford-Stuyvesant is a
clear sense of local responsibility
and control. The people in these
communities understand what
can happen when a conventional
institution of higher education is
located in a poor community, es-
pecially a predominantly black
one. All too easily and quickly
such a college could become sep-
arate, largely white, and unsym-
pathetic to the needs and desires
of the local people. If this is not
to happen, then the community
must have a say about the aims
and policies of the college, both
the academic aims and proce-
dures and the physical planning
processes—where the college is
to be located, who gets in and
how, what is destroyed or not
destroyed to make room for the
college, what is taught there and
whether or not it relates to the
restoration of the community.
This is not possible unless a large
portion of the people responsible
for setting policy are from the
local community.

Another assumption that
flows from the idea of tying the
college and the local community
together is that in such a college
there should be no separation
between knowledge and action.
Both the restless students in the
urban colleges and the angry
local communities have sensed
that in the conventional college
there often tends to be a great
deal of studying about matters
of great importance but not al-
ways a sense of urgency about
doing something about them and
using the knowledge effectively.



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13

Community facilities are scattered throughout Most colleges are not organized
the site. To have maximum contact with these in a way that makes action pos-
facilities and not disrupt the community activi- sible. If a college in an urban
ties, the college should be threaded through the poor community could be organ-
community as necessity and the availability of ized in such a way as to make
space dictate. action possible, if what is stud-
ied and how it is studied is to

A— Armory HS—High School have some direct, effective, and
C—Churches I—Intermediate School meaningful relationship to what
E—Elementary School L—Library goes on in the community, then
F—Fire Station M—Miscellaneous the college itself must have a set
H—Hospital, Clinics, Public Facility of aims and a structure quite dif-
and Nursing Homes O—Post Office ferent from the conventional col-
R—Parks—Recreation lege. The curriculum, while re-

S—Special Schools taining some relationship to the
T—Project Housing kinds of subjects studied in con-
ventional colleges, would have to
be built around the wants and
needs of people in the commu-
nity.

A further assumption is that
the people in a community such
as Bedford-Stuyvesant must
have access to this college. This
might begin with the young peo-
ple themselves—not just the few
who have academic diplomas and
high grade averages, but those
having only certificates of gradu-
ation and especially those who
have dropped out of school,
those who have learned or been
taught to feel that the conven-
tional ways of schooling have
little to offer them. Further,
there are adults in the commu-
nity, potentially talented peo-
ple, who, because of poverty and
related causes, never had a
chance to receive an education in
their youth. These people need
the skills and training that
higher education offers, just as
the community needs these peo-
ple trained and educated so that
they can become more effective
in the restoration of the commu-
nity. This principle of accessibil-
ity applies not only to the admis-
sions policies of the college but
to the physical planning of the
college; if the college is to be a
part of the community and serve
it, then community people must



14

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PNLQYAAAA: Possible Site

DETERIORATION MAP: This composite map of
deterioration, vacant lots, community facilities,
and transportation was composed from several
planning maps developed by The Bedford-Stuyve-
sant Restoration Corporation and from New York
City zoning and transportation maps. It shows

the relationships of restorable and non-restorable
buildings to community facilities and transporta-
tion. This particular site was chosen because it
had the desired mix, though other areas would
be suitable.



15

have access to all college facili-
ties, and conversely the college
must have access to the commu-
nity. Ideally, it should be diffi-
cult to distinguish between the
college and the community.

This implies another principle
—the idea of the urban mix. This
is what a city is, a mixture within
a limited amount of space of a
wide cross section of life. There
are businesses, housing, play
space, schools, transportation,
churches, manufacturing firms
both large and small, restau-
rants, entertainment places—all
operating together to form a
complex way of life. People
should be able to move easily
from one of these activities to
another, from home to work to
play to church to school and
back home. A college, therefore,
should be a part of this mix, just

as easily available and welcom-
ing as the corner grocery store or
the storefront church. And this
means something more than sim-
ply not building a superblock
campus. There should be no ar-
bitrary separation from the other
aspects of the local life, no sin-
gling out of a structure, which is
seen as separate and forbidding,
because it is obviously stamped
by its architecture as “college.”

This leads directly to another
necessary principle—that of
mixed occupancy. Most of the
buildings along the main thor-
oughfares of residential streets
of a community such as Bedford-
Stuyvesant have stores on the
first floor with several floors of
walk-up apartments above.
Often a building will have multi-
ple uses. These may be a small
store, some office space, and

housing units all inhabiting the
same structure. In such a com-
munity, there is little separation
between the various aspects of
living, even within the same
building. Everything co-exists
quite naturally and normally,
and many different kinds of ac-
tivities are readily accessible.
Indeed, it is often quite difficult
not to learn about what is going
on in all of these different areas.

The ideas of urban mix and
joint occupancy offer a further
possibility, and a most impor-
tant one. If a college is to add to
the community and not sub-
tract, and if it can be threaded
through the community and mix
with other kinds of buildings,
then it is necessary for the plan-
ning of facilities to make use of
a large range of options at any
given moment. In communities





such as Bedford-Stuyvesant,
burned-out buildings, empty
lots, and badly deteriorated
housing are scattered between
and around homes in good con-
dition, commercial buildings,
schools, churches, and _ stores.
Thus the community is dotted
with many small parcels of avail-
able space. In their present
state, these spaces are eyesores
that are useless to the commu-
nity. Since large tracts of open
land are not available,these odd
lots make natural places for the
college to begin where new con-
struction seems desirable. Be-
yond that, any building put up
by the college or taken over for
rehabilitation should have a
built-in flexibility through mixed
occupancy. The uses of most
urban buildings change with
great frequency. Stores come
and go, expand and contract.
Housing is altered regularly to
make it larger or smaller or to
change it into office or store
space. New loft-type construc-
tion can be designed so that it
could be used for many different
purposes and changed easily to
fit new needs. The college could
expand or contract with consid-
erable ease as time and necessity

demand. The college could also
obtain revenue from the com-
mercial parts of the college
buildings.

Perhaps most importantly,
since this is a community-oper-
ated college, the community will
have a controlling voice in what
the various uses and mixes would
be. There would be no wanton
destruction of segments of the
community. The local people
would have a say in both the ini-
tial planning of what goes where
and the later decisions about
what alterations and subsequent
uses make the most sense.

Along with the necessity not
to disrupt or destroy the com-
munity, there is an equal neces-
sity to maintain the existing
scale of buildings and to preserve
the life patterns created by ex-
isting density. Bedford-Stuyves-
ant, for instance, is essentially a
low-rise area (four to five stories
being the maximum) that is
quite heavily populated. The
basic building element in Bed-
ford-Stuyvesant is the width of
the standard house—20 to 25
feet. Most of the buildings use
this module or multiples of it.
This, therefore, should be the
college’s basic building module.

The college—as it helps re-
build its community—will com-
plicate the density situation and
will increase the need for new
functions such as recreation and
culture.

Bedford-Stuyvesant is already
packed with people. Even with-
out subtracting burned-out
houses, empty lots, or commer-
cial buildings, the average den-
sity is about 700 people per
block. This kind of density does
not necessarily mean that such
an area is or has to be a slum.
More important are the actual
living conditions, the environ-
ment created by people in the
community. Any planning for an
area such as Bedford-Stuyvesant
will have to work within the ex-
isting densities and at the same
time attempt to provide the
amenities that may be lacking
in the area now.

The following planning section
attempts to show what a college
designed according to these prin-
ciples might be like. It is a flex-
ible proposal conceived with a
specific area in mind but applic-
able to urban communities
throughout America. It is the
blueprint for a college in the city
—an alternative.

17



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FACILITIES MAP: The facilities for the college
are placed according to need and in relation to
transportation and present zoning. The library
is the center of the plan, located near a subway
stop on the major retail and commercial street.
Spreading around it are the classrooms and labo-
ratories. The government cluster is located at the
intersection of two subways (and the existing
public library) to provide easy access to the rest
of the city. The recreation area chosen, central

to the college site, was originally a dead end street
featuring many buildings beyond repair. The
cultural center is located on a secondary retail
street having a subway line. Small lounges, meet-
ing places, and eating facilities are dispersed
throughout the area with a concentration along
the major retail street near the library and gov-
ernment. Housing will be widely scattered and
intermixed with existing construction.



The college must have as one
of its main concerns the rebuild-
ing and restoration of Bedford-
Stuyvesant itself. The commu-
nity itself is the campus and the
“site” of the college. The college
and community are a single plan-
ning restoration problem. The
millions of dollars that go into
the physical plant and the staff-
ing of a new college may well be
the largest single investment the
community is likely to see at any
one time. (This is the case in
Bedford-Stuyvesant at the mo-
ment.) Not only the local com-
munity itself but the larger so-
ciety that is putting up the
money needs to be assured of
getting the largest possible re-
turn on such a large investment.

The planning of the college,
then, must involve all of the
community’s elements and prob-
lems in the planning mix in order
to come up with solutions that
establish the desired connec-
tions.

The first step towards such a
college and such a mutual plan-
ning process is the establish-
ment of a governing board made
up of no more than 25 people

A College in the City

(the maximum according to
state law) representing the wid-
est possible range of opinion
within the community. More
than 60 groups in the community
have already been involved in
the development of the college,
including civil rights, welfare,
and youth organizations and
other civic groups. It would be
the job of this governing board,
once it is officially in power, to
adopt the final operating rules
for the college and begin working
out the exact details of the plan-
ning. This device of a local gov-
erning board should go a long
way towards making sure that
the college does not become an
academic ghetto, that there is a
solid connection between what
is studied in the college and the
life and needs of Bedford-Stuy-
vesant.

Inaddition, thestudentsthem-
selves will have a major hand in
the management of the college.
Although the college will have
professional administrative per-
sonnel, much of the policy-mak-
ing and operational functions of
the college will be handled by
students. One part of the aca-

demic program, for instance, will
be devoted to training students
how to run a college, and this
will provide some manpower for
administrative chores. In addi-
tion, each section of the college
will have its own council of co-
operating students which will
have a major voice in determin-
ing the policy of that segment of
the college. Each of these coun-
cils will then send a member to
serve on an over-all council for
the entire college. Students will
also be involved in running many
of the college facilities, such as
the cafeterias, theaters, recrea-
tion and athletic facilities, li-
braries, and stores.

As the governing board is
formed, it will be responsible for
the creation of a four-year insti-
tution—the equivalent of a four-
year liberal arts college, fully
chartered and able to grant bach-
elors degrees in arts and sci-
ences to its graduates, thus en-
abling them to go on to get ad-
vanced degrees in other institu-
tions. Although it will start out
small, as well as experimental
(around 300 students in the first
class), it is designed to grow



20

until it is large enough to have
the desired major impact on the
community (an eventual enroll-
ment of 5000-8000, both college
age and adult).

Since this college will exist in
Bedford-Stuyvesant, it will—as
it should—conform to the local
time schedules. It will be avail-
able when the people need it,
which is a full twelve months of
the year and six days a week,
daytime and evenings. Whenever
the people have the time, the col-
lege will be there to be used.

Another obvious and major re-
quirement for this college is that
its student body be drawn from
all sections of the Bedford-Stuy-
vesant community, from the five

students with academic diplo-
mas and grade average of 85 to
the bright and able young person
who dropped out at the end of
junior high, completely turned
off on school in any form, and also
including adults who may have
dropped out of school years ago.
The simple possession of a high
school diploma or successful per-
formance on a set of special tests
built around the college’s curric-
ulum will make a student quali-
fied to apply for admission to
this college. Beyond that, there
will be a series of intensive per-
sonal counseling sessions with
all applicants, whether they pos-
sess credentials or not, and final
admission to the college will be

made from the entire body of ap-
plicants, in part to insure that
the student body is an honest
cross section of the Bedford-
Stuyvesant community.

Once a student has been ad-
mitted to the college, he will find
himself involved in a college ex-
perience that falls into four basic
parts, all interconnected. These
are: the skills studio, the intern-
ship program, the liberal studies
core, and the professional studies
core.

Even though a student is ad-
mitted, it will not be presumed
that he or she is equipped to
handle everything the curricu-
lum contains. Bright students or
adults who have dropped out at

THE CONCEPT: This illustration shows how the
college grows by filling in vacant spaces in the
area rather than by annihilating total blocks.



the end of the ninth grade and
even students with high school
certificates are probably not
completely equipped with suffi-
cient skill in reading and mathe-
matics to handle a complicated
college curriculum, no matter
how different that curriculum
may be. One of the major com-
ponents of the college’s organi-
zation, therefore, is a skills stu-
dio, a place where students get
practice and instruction in ver-
bal and mathematical skills as
these are related to the kinds of
work involved in the regular cur-
riculum. The studio will be avail-
able full time to students during
summers before they enter the
college and also during their

years in college.

During the admissions inter-
view and counseling sessions, the
student and his advisors will
work out a rough and tentative
plan of what the student would
like to do with his college expe-
rience and to some extent with
his life, what areas of study and
work interest him most, what
career he might like to look for-
ward to. These are not final, ir-
revocable decisions and can be
altered easily if a mistake is
made by the student or the col-
lege. But, instead of simply tak-
ing a series of courses about the
field of his choice, the student
will actually begin to work in
that field, in part to find out if

his choice is a sensible one. This
is the internship part of the col-
lege, designed to be one of the
links between the abstract
knowledge of a field and the ac-
tual workings of that knowledge
in the world. Each student’s in-
ternship will take him out of the
college for 16 to 20 hours of the
week in paid employment in a
law office, a poverty agency, a
hospital, a school, a manufactur-
ing concern, or the business
headquarters in Manhattan of
an IBM or General Motors. This
work will help the college at-
mosphere and put some much-
needed money in the pockets of
students. Whatever internship
the student chooses will be a

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Ground level 1— Library 4— Government 7—Office—Seminar
2—Social 5— Laboratory 8—Recreation
38— Culture 6— Classroom 9— Housing



form of studying and learning
about the field, with the program
especially arranged so that the
people in the company or agency
are actually a part of the college
faculty—teachers as well as
employers.

A third part of the college’s
organization will be the liberal
studies core, redesigned to relate
the more formal study of con-
ventional subjects—economics,
psychology, science, etc.—to the
basic social and human problems
as these problems are seen by the
students and faculty of the col-
lege. The problems are meant to
grow out of the internship experi-
ence and the life of the Bedford-
Stuyvesant community, with
faculty members in conventional
disciplines contributing what is
relevant to the particular prob-
lem within an interdisciplinary
framework. Knowledge, hope-
fully, will not be divided up into
disciplinary compartments or
hour-long segments spread
throughout the week and year.
Problems might well be consid-
ered for full days only once a
week, with the rest of the time
spent on related professional
studies, interning, and in related
work in the skills studio.

The fourth part of the organi-
zation of the college is the pro-
fessional studies core, that part
of the student’s life devoted to
becoming skilled in a particular
profession. Obviously this is
closely tied in with the intern-
ship program, since the student
would intern in his field of pro-
fessional choice. Then, too, it re-
lates to the skills studio, since
the student would be concen-
trating on those skills needed in
his profession. In addition, the
student would be studying those
problems most relevant to his
field of professional interest in
the liberal studies core. The
areas of professional concentra-

tion selected for the early years
of the college (selected on the
basis of having the most pressing
urgency for the Bedford-Stuy-
vesant community and the best
chance of employment for the
student) are: administration
and management in commerce
and industry, in public agencies
and government, in educational,
cultural, and technically ori-
ented institutions such as
schools and hospitals; creative
arts in all manifestations; teach-
er education with emphasis on
the preparation of community
people to teach in the public
schools; and pre-law, with the
aim of providing trained lawyers
for practice in Bedford-Stuyves-

23

faculty as a whole, then, is an
unconventional one—regular ac-
ademicians, professional people
on the job, and tutors making up
a teaching talent unit.

As an example of what might
be done, an area of Bedford-
Stuyvesant has been selected to
provide a concrete instance of
how one part of this local com-
munity might be assisted and
perhaps transformed as a result
of the presence of this kind of
college. The proposed area to be
affected by the college extends
11 blocks north and south con-
necting two major subway lines
and weaves east and west for 5
blocks. The site touches some 45
blocks. Approximately 45,000

ant but also for legal work in a
wide variety of fields. Nursing,
pharmacy, and medical technol-
ogy would be fields added to the
curriculum as soon as possible.

In addition to the conventional
type of faculty and the student’s
internship faculty on the job,
plans are also under way to re-
cruit a tutorial cadre among
black college students on various
other campuses in the New York
area, both at the graduate and
undergraduate levels. These suc-
cessful black college students in
other institutions would serve as
advisors and models to individ-
ual students at this college in the
field of the student’s choice. The

people will live in the vicinity of
the college.

This particular area was se-
lected because it represented a
cross section of the community
— good transportation, a busy
commercial and retail section
running along one of the com-
munity’s main thoroughfares,
existing good or restorable hous-
ing, some empty or burned-out
buildings and empty lots, and
existing lower school facilities.
This area also has many of the
problems likely to be encount-
ered in a poverty area, but an ac-
tive and interested citizenry
makes progress possible.





The isometric view of the major
sections of the campus shows
the interrelationships of the cen-
ters of activity and how the
facilities spread out within this
section of the community.

1—Library
2—Social

3— Culture

4— Government
5— Laboratory
6— Classroom
7—Office—Seminar
8—Recreation

9— Housing

25



26

The hub of this particular sec-
tion is a stretch of major retail
street that includes at one end
the point at which the major
subway line connects with an el-
evated shuttle line. Further over
and marking the opposite end of
the college area is another sub-
way line, thus providing the en-
tire site with quick and easy ac-
cess to the rest of Brooklyn and

New York City. Crosstown bus
lines run through the area, cut-
ting across the subway lines, so
that once again there is access to
other parts of Brooklyn. These
bus routes will also be the trans-
portation system for the college
itself.

Along this stretch of major re-
tail street, there are clothing
stores, a record shop, storefront

churches, a grocery store, an old
furniture store, and several store
spaces that are at the moment
empty and rundown. Above
these stores are offices and busi-
ness establishments and apart-
ments. Most of these buildings
are deteriorating. While the
buildings themselves should be
replaced, the shops and offices
should clearly be retained.

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28

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Community

Second level

GOVERNMENT: This sector of the plan is lo-
cated in the area with the best transportation
and community activity. Two subway lines con-
nect it with the other parts of the city. The major
retail street is a vital commercial artery, and the
college’s main entrances will be on this street,
adjacent to offices and other functions. The open
spaces in the rear will be tent areas (art, gallery
of famous American Negroes, park, etc.). The
existing branch library can be expanded to relate
with the college. The college’s galleries, auditoria,
and surrounding open spaces will be open to the
public nights and Sundays. Upper floors will
house separate student, faculty, and community
administrations sharing some central facilities to
promote interchange of ideas.

=

Third level

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LT

Roof level



This section of major retail
street could serve as the heart of
the college. The college struc-
tures would follow and retain the
basic busy, commercial flavor of
the area. The street level of the
buildings could rehouse existing
commercial establishments and
also add establishments that do
not exist there now—perhaps a
restaurant, stationery store, dry
cleaning establishment, etc.
Along this part of the street
there could be street level offices
for community services and in-
formation—housing, jobs, wel-

fare opportunities—as well as
entrances to the upper floors.
All of these commercial estab-
lishments would be closely tied
with the college. They would
provide internships for some of
the students studying business
management (and many of the
merchants might wish to enroll
in the adult business manage-
ment training programs). Stu-
dents and the college might op-
erate establishments such as res-
taurants cooperatively. Although
a restaurant might be college-
owned and student-operated, it

29

could also be open to the public.
These cooperative facilities
would furnish jobs for students
and revenue for the college,
while providing the students
with real experience.

The upper floors of these build-
ings (limited to the three- to four-
story height dictated by the
seale of the area) could be
jointly occupied by community
businesses, college classrooms,
office space for faculty, commu-
nity organizations, private es-
tablishments, information cen-
ters, and academic facilities.



30

CLASSROOMS: The structure envisioned for
classrooms allows flowing spaces free of major
mechanical elements, which are attached to the
exterior of the building like peripheral arteries.
The interior spaces would be organized according
to current needs. Variables such as room size,
classroom ratios, offices, lecture halls, and corri-
dor placement would be worked out at the time of
occupancy and could be easily altered or changed.
Stairs are designed as vertical piazzas—spaces
for people-watching or gossip.

The base of this structure is a series of piers
placed on a 20-foot module. Upper levels are
formed with prefabricated Vierendeel truss walls
which allow generous openings and support a pre-
cast floor system. This clear span floor system is
based on a 10-foot module. Interior supply ducts,
wiring, plumbing, and lighting are housed in pre-
fabricated sections that are placed between
beams. Walls and windows can be arranged as
necessary by lighting prefab units into place.

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The new buildings must re-
spect the surrounding area both
in structure and design. The pro-
posed 20-foot module, since it is
based on the existing store and
housing module, would form the
basis of the structural system
used for new construction. All
utility pipes and ducts should

be placed outside of the build-
ings, leaving the floor spaces
completely open. Movable walls
and visual dividers could then be
placed wherever the inhabitants
needed them. Spaces could be
rearranged as required.

The open areas behind the
new buildings would be public

spaces, used by both college and
community people. These could
be “tent” areas—terraces, loung-
ing spaces, open art galleries,
small parks, with the possibility
that they could be covered with
a removable roof structure for
“umbrella” protection in bad
weather.

31



Information in the library must be both accessible
and attractive to students and community. A li-
brary chiefly containing paperback volumes will
give greater access to a larger number of people
than a conventional library. The Bedford-Stuyve-
sant library will attempt to reveal the excitement
of its content through its physical character and
appearance. Sidewalks and streets become part of
the library, with newsstands, book racks, and
poster displays. The large, skylit main floor will
suggest a fair as well as a storehouse demonstrat-
ing that a library can symbolize both action and
knowledge.

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4-0-0 +

Second level Roof level



The college’s library cannot be
simply a warehouse for books or
the domain of scholars. Although
small libraries might well be scat-
tered throughout the area, even
in housing and recreation spaces,
the main library functions should
be at the street level on the
major retail street and closely
tied in with the existing nearby
public library. But this would
not be what is generally thought
of as a library, collegiate or any
other kind. It would not resem-

ble a storehouse but a store,
a book fair, a place with free
and open access. Although there
would be some part of the library
reserved from close contact with
the public—the computer data
bank, rare hardbound volumes,
and expensive research materi-
als—the basic purpose of the li-
brary would be to get as much
reading material as possible into
the hands of students and com-
munity people. Most of the vol-
umes would be paperbacks, and

33

as many of these as possible
would be given away free or sold
at cost. The main floor book fair
section will be divided into two
sections, one on each side of a
major north-south avenue with
a bridge over the avenue to con-
nect them. The open areas at
each end of the library will be
covered by “tents” to form an
outdoor extension of the library.
Meeting rooms and lecture space
could also be included for both
college and community use.



34

CULTURE: The cultural center will be located
near a secondary subway line to increase its acces-
sibility. It is designed to accommodate a variety of
functions. It can be divided into several classroom
theater spaces, or it can form a single, 1,500-seat
theater. It can be arranged as a theater-in-the-
round or divided into two conventional proscenium
theaters. Balconies can be sectioned as lecture
spaces or classrooms for instruction in theater
arts or music. Additional classrooms and work
spaces are arranged around the main structure to
increase the use and activity of the area and pro-
vide auxiliary services such as set design and con-
struction shops or rehearsal halls. The large, open
court in front of the center can serve as a grand

foyer or lobby during larger performances, a
pedestrian passage with retail shops, an outdoor
concert area, a tent-covered exhibition space, or
a small park. Bedford-Stuyvesant needs local cul-
tural facilities—its own theater company, its own
musical performances, art galleries and studios,
jazz combos, etc. It needs a place that can act asa
center both for activities generated by the college
and those arising spontaneously from the commu-
nity. These cultural and entertainment activities
would not be limited to the college’s cultural
center, but the center might be a place where
things begin and from which they could expand
outward into all other parts of the area.



Se) J ey oe

ee

Second level

Roof level



36

it caer

RECREATION: The college and community need
a place to play, exercise, and walk.

Earth mounds around the playfields create play
spaces for children, sound protection for the
neighborhood from traffic, visual relief and bar-
riers, seating areas for organized sports events,
underground spaces for dressing rooms, service
areas, and fallout shelters, and circulation control.
Bubble structures will cover the arena, basketball
courts, and swimming pool at different times of
the year.

)

Second level

~ Roof level


One of Bedford-Stuyvesant’s
most obvious needs is for more
and better recreation space.
Communities also need open
space as a break in the land-
scape, but urban open space is
always at a premium. Careful
use of available space is needed
in order to get maximum return
from those areas put aside for
recreational purposes.

The plan provides many ways
of using the same space without
interfering with or excluding
other activities.

One way to make multiple,
noninterfering use of open space
is to create—artificially if neces-
sary—different levels of use, in

this case, by creating undulating
mounds or small hills that are
both useful in themselves for
sliding, for bouncing things off
of, or rolling down but which also
can house things under them
and serve also as dividers sep-
arating different kinds of activ-
ity.

The play or recreation area for
this college is placed tentatively
in an area not far from the cul-
tural center. The heart of the
recreation complex is a 4,000-
seat, roughly circular, bowl-type
arena sunk into the ground and
surrounded by earth mounds.
The seats are removable, so that
the playing field and the mounds

37

become additional play space
when seating is not needed. With
the seats in place, it can be used
for games, concerts, lectures, or
rallies. Canopied and heated, it
can be used in all kinds of
weather. Dressing rooms and
maintenance areas are located
under the earth mounds.

The area also contains a large
swimming pool which may be
covered with an air-supported
structure and heated for use in
cold weather. Several fountain-
type or “shower” pools are in-
cluded for children to swim and
play in. There are also sculptural
concrete slabs for handball, graf-
fiti,and small games.



38

LINEAR PARKS: Streets are Bedford-Stuyve-
sant’s open spaces for people’s movements and
transportation. Visually they rise and fall, gently
reflecting the terrain, angling here and there to
set different grid directions. They have a cool
north side, a summer choice. Many streets are
wider than need be—an opportunity to examine
an alternative to the backyard park—a sort of
linear park connecting the college facilities. These

sidewalk parks offer the community its own choice
for landscaping on a joint-occupancy basis. This
leaves backyards, the last vestiges of private open
space left in Bedford-Stuyvesant, to be developed
individually. Unfortunately, these settings can
only be seen from the air and are not always vis-
ible assets to the community. They should be
preserved as part of the heritage of a community
such as Bedford-Stuyvesant.



Perhaps the urban spaces in
Bedford-Stuyvesant that have
the most exciting potential are
the streets themselves—the com-
munity’s open spaces. Even now
the streets are places where chil-
dren play, people congregate and
meet, especially on the sidewalks
and front stoops. But for the
most part, these open spaces are
given over to traffic and parked
cars. The streets are filled with
signs saying “Don’t” do this or
that. In Bedford-Stuyvesant the
streets are extraordinarily broad
compared to suburban streets
and can be used in many ways.

One possibility is to think of
creating “linear parks” along
many of the streets and perhaps
some of the broad thoroughfares
of Bedford-Stuyvesant. A linear
park is essentially a different way
of using the available sidewalk
and street space. Instead of park-
ing cars bumper to bumper along
both sides of the street, cars can
be limited to one side of the

street but parked at an angle of
70 degrees. This would accom-
modate most of the cars pre-
sently parked in the bumper to
bumper fashion.

The space on the opposite side
of the street is thus freed. The
sidewalk area on the side of the
street where no parking is al-
lowed can then be expanded out
into the street itself up to 10
feet. This area is then screened
off from the traffic part of the
street by segmented concrete
slabs set upright on the ground,
thus creating a linear private
area that could run the length of
the street. This kind of park area
could then be used for many pur-
poses. Tables and chairs, per-
haps with umbrellas, scattered
along the space could produce a
kind of Parisian sidewalk cafe
where people could congregate,
drink coffee, and chat.

Small concessions — newspa-
pers, coffee, hot dogs, magazines,
tobacco, popcorn, ice cream—

39

could be dotted along the park.
Shade trees, selected by home-
owners, could be planted on both
sides of the sidewalk. The seg-
mented slabs could be used for
art work, posters, community in-
formation, and advertising and
graffiti. Each park would be un-
der the control of the people liv-
ing along that particular street.
Thus individual parks could have
different arrangements, depend-
ing upon the people’s desire.
Each park should contain pub-
lic telephones—but not the or-
dinary glass box that can be
destroyed by vandalism. A much
better solution would be a metal
post, covered by a protective
hood to guard against weather.
Built into the metal post would
be a push-button dialing system
with speaking and listening
outlets similar to an intercom
system (thus eliminating the re-
movable hand phone), a set of
instructions engraved into the
metal post, and a slot for coins.

Public School



40



HOUSING: Living densities in Bedford-Stuy-
vesant are high, concentrating people in low-rise
housing that dates from the late 1800’s. The fact
that these densities are high does not mean that
they are undesirable. The question of desirability
concerns the use of available space, not density.
Thus the new housing provided by this proposal
retains, and in some cases increases, the existing
densities of the area by providing more efficient

41

uses of space. New housing will fit into the 20-foot
module that is characteristic of housing in Bed-
ford-Stuyvesant. Instead of a space-consuming
stairway for each unit, common stairs serving up
to 12 units are employed. The new houses will
have a variety of private yards and communal
spaces permitting more comfortable surround-
ings. The new housing units can be introduced into
available spaces.

Vy L_[eveth Fawts

One of the things that Bed-
ford-Stuyvesant most desper-
ately needs is additional housing.
Even if all of the better homes
are restored, there will still not
be sufficient low-cost housing to
go around. And since the college
will be using some of the avail-
able sites in the area (even if
they are occupied now by aban-
doned or inadequate buildings or
vacant lots), housing must be a
prime concern for the college. An

additional factor that the college
and community planners must
consider is that the presence of
the college itself will attract into
the area many new people—fac-
ulty, students, possibly even ad-
ditional adults who will work in
or about the college. In fact, if
the college succeeds in doing
what it sets out to do, it should
be a major generator of an eco-
nomic boom for Bedford-Stuy-
vesant. New businesses, new

manufacturing concerns, new
public facilities should be com-
ing in and will need space.

This will present planners with
areal problem, for existing hous-
ing should be removed only in
extreme circumstances and
should be promptly replaced.
There is, however, a considerable
amount of space available in the
empty lots and abandoned build-
ings. The need for housing that
meets the density requirements



42

of Bedford-Stuyvesant and still
has greater amenity has been
studied and one possible solu-
tion projected.

The kind of challenge repre-
sented by housing is exactly
what this new kind of college
and this new kind of planning
process is all about. It is one of
the main reasons why this plan
so far has stressed the necessity
for flexibility in the distribution
of college facilities, the mainte-
nance of the urban mix and joint
occupancies, and the establish-
ment of close links with every
segment of the community. An
academic ghetto would obviously
contribute nothing to the solu-
tion of these problems. But a

college that works with the com-
munity, that occupies only one
or two floors of a building, a col-
lege that can move out of a build-
ing if it is suddenly needed for
other purposes and move into a
new combination with other
functions, can solve problems
and meet challenges that con-
ventional college planning is in-
capable of dealing with.

This kind of planning — in-
cluding the creation of the unique
academic institution outlined
briefly here—is not going to be
simple. It faces problems that
conventional planning would not
have. There is the matter of the
acceptance of a different kind of
curriculum and a new kind of

faculty. The college needs to be
accredited and accepted by the
larger academic world. The aca-
demic people and the community
people must work together to
create the college and enable the
planning process to work. The
kind of facilities described here,
such as low-cost, high-density
housing, must be made to pay
economically. Money must be
raised to create this college and
to restore Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Solutions to these problems will
come—when they come—out of
the continued work of the resi-
dents in Bedford-Stuyvesant and
all people interested in making
America’s Bedford-Stuyvesants
better places for people to live.





Other reports from EFL

The following publications are
available without charge from
the offices of EFL: 477 Madison
Avenue, New York 10022.

BRICKS AND MORTARBOARDS.

A guide for the decision-makers in
higher education: how the colleges
and universities can provide enough
space for the burgeoning enrollments
of this decade; how the space can be
made adaptable to the inevitable
changes in the educational process in
the decades ahead. (One copy
available without charge. Additional
copies $1.00.)

CAMPUS IN THE CITY.

EFL’s annual report for 1967 and an
essay on the physical problems and
trends in planning of urban colleges
and universities and their potential
role as a catalyst in the remaking

of the cities.

COLLEGE STUDENTS LIVE HERE.

A report on the what, why, and how
of college housing; reviews the factors
involved in planning, building, and
financing student residences.

DESIGN FOR ETV—PLANNING FOR
SCHOOLS WITH TELEVISION.

A report on facilities, present and
future, needed to accommodate
instructional television and other new
educational programs. Prepared for
EFL by Dave Chapman, Inc.,
Industrial Design.

DESIGN FOR PAPERBACKS:

A HOW-TO REPORT ON

FURNITURE FOR FINGERTIP ACCESS.
Physical solutions to the problems of
displaying paperback books for easy
use in schools.

EDUCATIONAL CHANGE AND
ARCHITECTURAL CONSEQUENCES.

A report on school design that reviews
the wide choice of options available
to those concerned with planning new
facilities or updating old ones.

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY

ON THE LIBRARY BUILDING.

A position paper reporting an EFL
conference on this subject.

RELOCATABLE SCHOOL FACILITIES.

A survey of portable, demountable,
mobile, and divisible schoolhousing in
use in the United States and a plan
for the future.

THE SCHOOLHOUSE IN THE CITY.

An essay on how the cities are
designing and redesigning their
schoolhouses to meet the problems of
real estate costs, population shifts,
segregation, poverty, and ignorance.
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY: FACILITIES
FOR INDEPENDENT STUDY

IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL.

A report on facilities for independent
study, with standards for the size of
collections, seating capacity, and the
nature of materials to be
incorporated.

SCHOOL SCHEDULING BY
COMPUTER/THE STORY OF GASP.

A report of the computer program
developed by MIT to help colleges
and high schools construct their
complex master schedules.

SCSD: THE PROJECT AND

THE SCHOOLS.

A second report on the project to
develop a school building system for
a consortium of 13 California school
TO BUILD OR NOT TO BUILD.

A study of the utilization of
instructional space in small liberal
arts colleges, with a do-it-yourself
workbook for the individual use of the
institutions that wish to survey their
own utilization levels.

Technical Reports

1. ACOUSTICAL ENVIRONMENT OF
SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Acoustics of academic space in
schools. An analysis of the statistical
data gathered from measurement
and study.

2. TOTAL ENERGY.

On-site electric power generation for
schools and colleges, employing a
single energy source to provide light,
heat, air conditioning, and hot water.
3. 20 MILLION FOR LUNCH.

A primer to aid school administrators
in planning and evaluating school
food service programs.

COLLEGE NEWSLETTER

A periodical on design questions for
colleges and universities.

Case Studies of

Educational Facilities—

A series of reports which provide
information on specific solutions to
problems in school planning and
design.

6. A COLLEGE HEALTH CENTER.
Case study of a model center for
small private colleges; architectural
design by Caudill, Rowlett & Scott.
8. THE SCHOOLS AND URBAN
RENEWAL.

A case study of the Wooster Square
renewal project in New Haven,
Connecticut.

9. AIR STRUCTURES FOR SCHOOL
SPORTS.

A study of air-supported shelters’as
housing for playfields, swimming
pools, and other physical education
activities.

10. THE NEW CAMPUS IN BRITAIN:
IDEAS OF CONSEQUENCE FOR THE
UNITED STATES.

Recent British experience in univer-
sity planning and its implications for
American educators, architects, and
planners.

11. DIVISIBLE AUDITORIUMS.
Operable walls convert little-used
auditoriums and theaters into
multipurpose, highly utilized space
for the performing arts and
instruction.

12. THE HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM:
SIX DESIGNS FOR RENEWAL
Renovation of little-used auditoriums
in old and middle-aged schools to
accommodate contemporary
educational, dramatic, and music
programs.

Profiles of Significant Schools
A series of reports which provide
information on some of the latest
developments in school planning,
design, and construction.

SCHOOLS WITHOUT WALLS—open
space and how its works

THREE HIGH SCHOOLS REVISITED:
Andrews, McPherson, and Nova
MIDDLE SCHOOLS—controversy and
experiment



Educational Facilities
Laboratories, Inc.

is a nonprofit corporation estab-
lished by the Ford Foundation
to help schools and colleges in
the United States and Canada
with their physical problems by
the encouragement of research
and experimentation and the dis-
semination of knowledge regard-
ing educational facilities.

Board of Directors
Milton C. Mumford,

CHAIRMAN
Chairman of the Board,
Lever Brothers Company

Alvin C, Eurich,

VICE CHAIRMAN
President, Academy for
Educational Development, Inc.

Clay P. Bedford

President, Kaiser Aerospace & Electronics

James C. Downs, Jr.
Chairman of the Board,
Real Estate Research Corporation

Henry Dreyfuss

Henry Dreyfuss & Associates

Morris Duane
Attorney, Duane, Morris and Heckscher

Edwin D. Etherington

President, Wesleyan University

Harold B. Gores

President, Educational Facilities Laboratories

Frederick L. Hovde

President, Purdue University

J.E. Jonsson
Honorary Chairman of the Board,
Texas Instruments, Inc.

Philip M. Klutznick

Chairman of the Board,
Urban Investment and Development Co.

J.L. Morrill

Consultant, The Ford Foundation

Winthrop Rockefeller

Governor, State of Arkansas

Howard S. Turner

President, Turner Construction Company
Benjamin C. Willis

Educational Consultant (formerly General
Superintendent of Schools, Chicago, Illinois)

Officers
Harold B. Gores

President

Jonathan King

Vice President and Treasurer

Alan C. Green

Secretary

Staff
Robert M. Dillon, ara

Consultant

Margaret Farmer
Editorial Associate

Lucille Gordon

Librarian

Ben E. Graves
Consultant

James J. Morisseau
Editorial Associate

Lillian Sloves

Publications Associate

Mary Webb

Accounting Associate

Ruth Weinstock

Research Associate

Educational Facilities
Laboratories
477 Madison Avenue

New York, New York 10022