THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM: April 1939

The Low Cost House: 50 Examples

Houses by Cliff May, Alden B. Dow, Bertrand Goldberg, Raphael Soriano, Donald Barry, Victor Stromquist, Thiry and Shay, Samuel Glaser, John Yeon and many others

Will Burtin [Art Director], George Nelson [Associate Editor]: THE ARCHITECTURAL FORUM. Philadelphia: Time, Inc. April 1939  [Volume 70, number 4]. Slim quarto. Wire spiral binding. Thick printed wrappers. 192 pp. Editorial content and period trade advertising. The spiral binding is in unusually good condition and does not bind any pages when opened. A nice copy thus. Interior unmarked and clean. Wrappers lightly worn, with inking inside the ‘F, O, M’ letterforms, and a piece missing from the upper edge of the rear panel [see scan], but a very good copy.

8.75 x 11.75 spiral-bound magazine with 192 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. A magnificent snapshot of the blossoming of the modern movement in North America in the final days before the start of World War II.

Contents:

• 50 LOW COST HOUSES - Houses in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Robert M. Little and Robert E. Hansen, Architects; Houses in Doylestown, PA., Elfman & Sons, Designers; House in Springfield, Mass., James J. Fitzsimmons, Architect; House in Oakland, CA., Alfred C. Williams, Architect; House in Los Angeles, CA., J. B . Lyman, R. E. Collins, Architects; Houses in Austin, Texas, David C. Baer, Architect; Houses in Memphis, Tenn., J. Frazer Smith, Inc., Architects; House in Jackson, Miss., Henry G. Markel, Architect; House in Portland, Oregon, Dirk Winters, Designer; House in San Diego, CA., Cliff May, Designer; House in Midland, Mich., Ralph W. Boone, Architect; House in Midland, Mich., Alden B. Dow, Architect; House in Sparta, NJ., Edwin R. Closs, Architect; House in Del Ray Beach, FL., Paist and Steward, Architects; Houses in Fredericksburg, VA., Cecil L. Reid, Designer; Houses in Louisville, KY., G. Alfred, Architect; House in Sheldon, Iowa, F. W. Benson, Designer; House in Seattle, Wash., George Wellinton Stoddard, Architect; House in Lafayette, Indiana, Bertrand Goldberg, Architect; House on Balboa Island, CA., G. Branch, Designer; House in Safford, Arizona, J. D. Halstead Lumber, Builders; House in Los Angeles, CA., Raphael S. Soriano, Designer; House in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Donald Barry, Designer; House in Norfolk, VA., R. O. Tate, Designer; Houses in Miami, FL., Paist and Steward, Architects; House in Kirtland, Ohio, B. J. McGarry, Architect; House in Kingsport, Tenn., L. Maxon, Architect; House in Chicago, Ill., Victor Stromquist, Architect; House in Birmingham, AL., Miller, Martin & Lewis, Architects; House in Seattle, Wash., R. L. Durham, Architect; House in Asheville, NC., Henry Irven Gaines, Architect; Row Houses in Seattle, Wash., Thiry and Shay, Architects; House in Phoenix, AZ., Ben O. Davey, Architect; House Portland, Oregon, Harold Wade Doty, Architect; House in Boise, Idaho, H. C. Hulbe, Architect; Houses in Burbank, CA., Arthur Weber, Designer; Houses in North Hempstead, LI., Benjamin Driesler, Architect; House in Lexington, Mass., Samuel Glaser, Architect; House in Dothan, AL., John David Sweeney, Architect; Houses in New Albany, Indiana, Gunnison Housing Corp., Designers; house in Brownsville, Texas, R. L. Brockman, Builder; Houses in Victorville, CA., E. Webster and A. Wilson, Architects; House in Portland, Oregon, John Yeon, Architect; house in Oreland, PA., Richard C. Martin, Architect.
• MARKET - Home building's biggest, most stable, least tapped market is that for the low cost house - a statistical analysis of its size, characteristics and habits.
• PLAN & DESIGN - Of fundamental importance, exacting character, and sales significance ... basic cross-sections, 1, 1 1/2, and 2 story plans, plan models, cost estimates.
• CONSTRUCTION - Techniques for cost reduction as practiced by architects, builders, and manufactures.
• LABOR COST - No.1 Bugaboo proves important, but not all-important. Home Building's labor costs mapped and charted.
• QUANTITY PRODUCTION - A "solution" for the small house; a theory versus some facts.
• LAND & SERVICES - The cost of raw land, lot improvements, and street improvements ... how these costs can be cut ... row housing.
• CARRYING CHARGES - Cost per month of home ownership; Mortgage financing ... maintenance and depriciation ... heat and hot water ... taxes and insurance ... summary showing variations in total carrying charges.
• SUMMATION
• MONTH IN BUILDING
• THE ARCHITECT'S WORLD - Thoughts without pictures, controversial and otherwise.
• THE DIARY - Events, conjectures, criticism, from a personnal viewpoint.
• FORUM OF EVENTS - News in pictures ... Information Please at The Architectural League.
• BOOKS
• LETTERS

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.

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