Federal Regional Assembly »!, Western >/* States Federal Regions VIII. IX. X October 30-31. 1975 Denver. Colorado Colorado Women s College Houston Fine Arts Center Alaska Arizona California Sponsored by the \ National Endowment for the Arts with assistance from Department of the Interior General Services Administration Colorado Hawaii Idaho Montana Nevada New Mexico North Dakota Oregon South Dakota Washington A A Federal Regional Design Assembly A Western States Introduction For two centuries the federal government has been dealing in design matters through its responsibilities for construct- ing and furnishing office build- ings, printing publications and hiring design professionals. Today there is no question that it IS the largest client of design services in the world. Three years ago the federal government acknowledged its responsibility to take the leadership necessary to exemplify the highest stand- ards of design excellence In May 1972 the White House initiated the Federal Design Improvement Program and asked the National Endow- ment for the Arts to coor- dinate its implementation. Four major elements com- prise the Federal Design Improvement effort: 1) De- sign Assemblies; 2) a review and expansion of the 1962 Guiding Principles for Fed- eral Architecture; 3) a Federal Graphics Improvement Pro- gram; and 4) revised Civil Service procedures for re- cruiting and hiring design professionals for government service The significant prog- ress made in each of these areas is highlighted in Nancy Hanks s address to the Fed- eral Regional Design Assem- bly Western States on page six. The objective of Design Assemblies is to increase federal administrators' aware- ness and understanding of design as a management re- source. The Assemblies are devoted to explaining and illustrating how design can serve as an effective manage- ment tool to save time and money, enhance communica- tion and simplify maintenance. Since 1973. three Design Assemblies have been con- vened The First and Second Federal Design Assemblies were held in Washington. DC. The first Federal Regional Design Assembly /Western States represented a pilot effort to hold an Assembly for federal administrators and designers working in the 15 state western region Four- hundred federal and state officials attended the two-day program that included ses- sions on architecture, interior design/industrial design, landscape architecture/ environmental planning and visual communications. These proceedings record the presentations made by each of the Assembly s speakers The subjects and issues discussed are as rele- vant now as they were at the Regional Assembly. Lam Lattin Coordinator Federal Regional Design Assembly/Western States A panel discussion during tlie landscape architecture session m Foote Music Hall Table Contents 4 General Session 1 Architecture 20 Interior Design Industrial Design 28 Visual Communications 36 Landscape Architecture Environmental Planning 41 Governor's Remarks General Session 6 Robert N Sheets 6 Ttie Federal Design Improvement Program Nancy Hanks 8 Keynote Address The Honorable Rogers C B Morton Robert N. Sheets has served as Executive Director of the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities since 1968 Currently he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Western States Arts Foundation, a member of the Colorado Humanities Committee, and an advisor to Historic Denver. Inc Nancy Hanks has served as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Council on the Arts since 1969 Prior to 1969. Miss Hanks was President of the Associated Councils of the Arts; Executive Secretary of the Special Studies Project. Rocke- feller Brothers Fund, and Project Coordinator for the Rockefeller Panel Reports entitled The Per- forming Arts: Problems and Prospects for America. Rogers C. B. Morton was appointed Secretary of Com- merce in May. 1975 after serving as Secretary of the Interior Chairman of the Republican National Committee and as Con- gressman from Maryland s Eastern Shore for seven years Since the Regional Assembly. Mr Morton has been appointed Counselor to the President of the United States. Patchwork Puppet Productions: Ingrid Crepeau i Peter Principle), puppet designer; Sarah Toth Yochum (Millie Modern), author; Julian Yochum (Leroy Letter- man), author Patchwork Puppet Productions is a professional puppet company residing m Washington. DC The members of Patchwork were involved in the writing, performance, de- sign and construction of an ex- tensive variety of traditional and originally-scripted puppet pro- ductions for the Smithsonian Resident Puppet Theater Patchwork Production s puppet vignette. The Client-Editor- Designer Connection, made a number of cogent statements about improved federal graphic design as an important national goal ^ i- ■-tv .■"S^. .«W ^^■'. Opening Remarks Robert N. Sheets On behalf of the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities it is my pleasure to welcome you to Denver and this first Federal Re- gional Design Assembly The Colorado Council and its staff IS proud to have assisted the National Endowment for the Arts in the preparation of these next two days and I would like to recognize the Colorado Council Chairman Robert B Yegge for his fine leadership m this regard. Having just returned from a three-week tour of the Arts Councils of Great Britain, I am full of the enthusiasm and commitment to quality of design and how it affects our lives. England, Scotland and Wales today are living testa- ments of a designed historical tradition. When we toured the mining districts of Wales it became infinitely clearer to me how great the designed heritage of the Ronda Valley has affected the architecture of Colorado. The role of design in our human fabric is a universal association and its ability to communicate better under- standing between peoples is as strong on the plus side as the absence of quality design is strong in the misunder- standings of people To design IS to communicate, and our goal here these next two days IS to challenge our senses as government representatives to open the doors within our bureaucracies to better com- munication through better design. The Federal Design Improvement Program Nancy Hanks We are getting started a little late— not this morning but late m this century In fact, the first Federal Regional Design Assembly could have been held 200 years ago. That s pretty late to begin when we think about it because the government was involved in design before there was a federal government. After all. the Declaration of Inde- pendence is a very beautiful and impressive work of graphics. And, 200 years ago, the Second Continental Congress considered the design and outfitting of the first American naval ships And what about the famous textile designer who designed a work of worldwide impact that remains as modern today as when it was first designed, the American flag'^ All my history books said the person was Betsy Ross— now people are saying it was Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Jersey. I don't know who designed the flag, but I don't think it makes that much difference— we got a good one, so you take your pick. As for architecture and urban planning, the federal govern- ment has been a major design client since its inception. After the Constitution was ratified in 1 789, various cities wrangled for the honor— and the eco- nomic asset— of becoming the permanent seat of govern- ment. The argument was resolved with the decision to build a new capital from the ground up, a city that would reflect the new republic s ideals in its design and architecture, Pierre L Enfant was chosen to plan the city on the Potomac, and he was eminently quali- fied. Since L Enfant s day the United States Government has become the largest single design client in the world Uncle Sam is the busiest builder, the most prolific publisher and the most active purchaser of products from paper clips to interplanetary rockets Because government is such an active design client, it should have been in the fore- front of design excellence. We should have been constantly setting an example. But for years the government did not Aware of that unhappy fact, four years ago the White House initiated the Federal Design Improvement Program and asked the National Endowment for the Arts to be its coordinator. Interest in this Program has been widespread. We've had wonderful cooperation from most government agencies. This Assembly today, as you know, is co-sponsored by the General Services Administra- tion and by the Department of the Interior We have active cooperation of many other agencies, both state and federal. President Ford recently wrote: "The American people are right to expect excellence from their public officials and government. I firmly believe that, in order to inspire the people s pride in their government, we must provide them with manifest evidence of its vitality, creativ- ity and efficiency by setting the highest standards in architec- tural design, environmental planning and visual communication. We all share this goal. Our purpose today and tomorrow is to discover new tools to help us meet it. We cannot inspire con- fidence by passively accepting the status quo, by saying We ve done thingsthiswayfor years, " or by ducking behind tired procedures established decades ago to solve problems that may no longer exist We must address modern prob- lems with modern tools, and design is one of them. Just as the founding fathers used the best available talent to reflect their highest ideals in their new capital, so can we in our own time nurture excellence. The Federal Design Improve- ment Program has four components: 1 ) a program to review and expand the 1962 Guiding Principles For Federal Architecture: 2) a program to improve federal graphics: 3) a program to develop new civil service recruiting and rating procedures for design profes- sionals; and 4) an education program for federal administra- tors and designers, of which this Assembly is a part Just a word about each of the four components. They all link together The ongoing study of federal architecture has the goal of making government buildings notonly more inviting and attractive but more useful, more meaningful and more a part of the community in which they exist To date, three reports have been issued* These reports are being read, discussed and debated. They put to rest the misguided myth that a government building must be a brand new, isolated office block occupied exclu- sively by government workers. The reports elaborate the premise that older buildings, many of historic or architec- tural interest, can be adapted, saved, "recycled" if you will, and economically put to new uses. Elsewhere old and new government buildings can be integrated into their surround- ing neighborhoods; ground floor space can be leased for restaurants, theaters, and shops. The publiccan patronize these businesses which, in turn, can help pay for the buildings. Presently some stumbling blocks must be sur- mounted, but the recommen- *Copies of; 1 1 Federal Architec- ture; A Framework for Debate; 2) Federal Architecture; Multiple- use Facilities, and 3) Federal Architecture, Adaptive-use Facilities are available from the Architecture + Environmental Arts Program, National Endow- ment for the Arts, Washington, D C 20506 dations hold high promise. Interestingly, the first multiple use building— since the Pentagon— IS being built right now by a quasi-government agency This is the new home of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, an independent agency that does not have to conform as closely as the rest of us to GSA rules Unfortun- ately GSA does not presently have full authority to imple- ment multiple-use ideas. But a bill now pending in the Congress would clearly give it that authority and other agencies could then move ahead aswell. The bill has been approved by the Senate and is awaiting House action, I'm very hopeful that we will see House action soon so that we can incorporate the multiple-use factor into our buildings. In graphics, the second element of the Federal Design Improvement Program, progress has been dramatic. Thirty-four departments and agencies— one-half the total- are working to strengtinen visual communication through effective layout and design. The Endowment provides eval- uation teams that review an agency's total visual output- posters, logos, forms, publica- tions—and the teams recom- mend ways to make these materials more effective and economical. When we first started the Graphics Improvement Pro- gram people said. Oh my heavens, you II never make it That s like striving to reach the moon " Well, guess whaf? You may not have realized it but last summer when the Russian-American space flight was launched, it carried NASA s new logo, the cap- stone of this agency s entire new graphics program! Great progress has been made at the Labor Depart- ment, the Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fed- eral Energy Administration, even the National Zoo Next month Labor Secretary Dun- lop will present the Vice-Pres- ident with the first compre- hensive graphics manual which has resulted from the Federal Graphics Improve- ment Program. I think one of the outstanding success stories of graphic improvement is the National Park Service. A very fine de- signer took its tremendous range of typefaces and publi- cations and put them into one format which is easier to read In addition the Park Service saved $340,000 in one year utilizing the new design. We might have a break- through in reading the words from the Congress of the United States The Secretary of the Senate, who is very interested in design, has just completed a pilot project to improve the readability of New Graphics for the National Zoo were designed by Wyman and Cannan, as part of the Fed- eral Graphics Improvement Program nRTionnL ZDDLGGICRL PRRK Senate publications The re- sults were enthusiastically received and led to the pos- sibility of redesigning all Con- gressional publications, in- cluding the Congressional Record. The third part of the Federal Design Improvement Program depends on the Civil Service Commission and its ability to recruit and rate qualified design professionals in all disciplines for all government agencies. New procedures have been approved in re- sponse to the Civil Service Task Force Report. Excel- lence Attracts Excellence. From now on to enter federal service as a designer, the applicant must demonstrate his or her skills and be rated professionally The fourth element of the Federal Design Improvement Program involves design edu- cation through publications like Federal Design Matters* and Design Assemblies, The purpose of the design educa- tion program is to promote understanding of the many ways that design can be an effective management tool. The message is simple: De- sign IS not a frill, it is basic to the performance of products and people A well-designed newsletter is better read than an unattractive one; it com- municates more effectively A well-designed building can be less expensive to maintain, to heat and to cool A well- planned office interior moti- vates people to take a greater interest in their work Thus far, there have been two Design Assemblies in Washington. DC. each at- tended by more than 800 federal administrators and designers. Last year Colorado and Ohio held their own State Design Assemblies Alaska. Kentucky. Michigan. Tennes- see and Washington are about to do the same A number of federal agencies had their own intramural assemblies of similar kinds And today we have representatives of the 15 Western States gathered for the first Federal Regional Design Assembly But why was Denver se- lected as the site for the first Regional Design Assembly? Because the design chal- lenges we all share through- out the nation are so clear in this region: the government owns 50 million acres in the West; it manages 2500 build- ings occupied by the largest number of civil servants out- side Washington. DC: it communicates with 36 million citizens here; and this region IS addressing environmental problems that are as challeng- ing as any m the nation Fur- thermore, the West has proven Its eagerness to move ahead in design matters Three states have held or are planning to hold their own assemblies. Oregon already has begun a program to improve state architecture modeled after the Federal Architecture Project. So progress is indeed being made We hope after these two days, more progress will be made As civil servants and administrators, we are regain- ing our understanding of the importance of design to our government and our people. "Federal Design l^atters is available from the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC. 20506 Keynote Address The Honorable Rogers C B Morton A better quality of life is a nebulous phrase, so nebulous that I think no two people interpret it the same way Consequently, it describes a commodity that is hard to deal with in wholesale terms. But it probably sums up as well as anything else what we are seeking in the things we build, or print, or design. The man-made environment is always superimposed on a greater natural environment, so the man-made environment is an intrusion. There must be a better mating between what we do here on earth with our drills and our air hammers, our earth movers, our arts and crafts and the setting that na- ture has put around us. We have a delicate job of balanc- ing what man does with what nature is, and this is a philos- ophy that we have to put together in our own spirits and in our own souls and in our own minds if we're really going to accomplish anything in design. To one extent or an- other, the difference between good and poor design will de- termine whether our intrusion upon nature exerts a benefi- cial impact. Whether we achieve balance and harmony or disruption will determine the quality of life. In the nostalgic craze that seems to have taken hold as we get close to our 200th birthday, many people seem to want to go back to the good old days before dirty industries and automobiles were pollut- ing the air. Well, you know there's no way to go back to the old days. So let us not think of design as a reversion but always as a move ahead. Let s not think of design as some way just to bridge a gap in what we have done on the right and done on the left. Let s think of design as some way of moving forward Its a reach for great- ness and once man stops reaching for greatness, the economic and political con- cepts on which civilizations are built will fall. In this coun- try, wherever I go I see that the desire for the reach for greatness has often been su- perimposed with the desire for the status quo, by the de- sire for security Altogether there has to be a sense of adventure in design or we immediately pour con- crete into the state of the art of our civilization and it hard- ens and when it hardens it begins to atrophy Design must be an adventure and it must move with man s creative spirit. It IS the difference be- tween boredom and excite- ment in little things. At the opening general session, Nancy Hanks shared the stage with Secretary of Commerce Rogers C B Morton m Houston Fine Art Center s Corkin Theater 13A 14A 16A Architecture 12 New Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture: An Overview Bill N Lacy 14 New Guiding Principles for Federal Arcfiitecture: Reports and Activities Lois Craig 15 New Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture; GSA Response and Current Policies Frank J Matzke 17 Social Scientist and Architect: The Collaborative Effort John Zeisel, Moderator Robert Stiibley Louis E Gelwicks 19 Architecture by Team William Wayne Caudill Bill N. Lacy, Director of the Architecture + Environmental Arts Program, National Endow- ment for the Arts, is currently serving as Executive Director of the Federal Study to revise and update the 1962 Guiding Principles for Federal Architec- ture An architect, he has been a faculty member at Oklahoma State University. Associate Chairman of the Department of Architecture. Rice University, and Dean of the School of Architecture. University of Tennessee John Zeisel, Director. Architec- ture Research Office and Assist- ant Professor in the Sociology of Design. Harvard University Graduate School of Design, is also principal of Zeisel Research. Cambridge. Massachusetts Recently, he has served as a member of the AIA Urban De- sign Assistance Team studying options for urban transportation and life styles m Phoenix. Arizona, and as research director for the Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education s study to reduce school property damage William W. Caudill, Chairman of the Board. Caudill Rowlett Scott Inc . IS a nationally recog- nized proponent of the team concept of architecture His firm is well known for its designs of schools and educational and health facilities Selected Plan- ner of the Year by the Council of Educational Facilities m 1970, Mr Caudill is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Lois A. Craig, Staff Director of the Federal Architecture Project, has directed the research and editing for the ad hoc task force interim report entitled Federal Architecture. A Framework for Debate. She is presently pre- paring a visual history book on federal architecture Ms Craig was a consultant to the Task Force on Land-Use and Urban Growth sponsored by the Rocke- feller Brothers Fund and Pro- gram Associate, Housing and Urban Growth Division, National Urban Coalition Robert G. Shibley, an architect with the Office of the Chief of Engineers. Department of the Army, has been responsible for a wide range of architectural projects, including the develop- ment of design methods and research programs, the imple- mentation of a computer-aided design review system and fed- eral liaison activities related to architectural research respon- sibilities. Frank J. Matzke, Associate Commissioner for Project Man- agement. Public Buildings Service, General Services Administration, joined GSA in 1972 His former positions in GSA include Regional Admin- istrator for a six-state region headquartered m Chicago Illinois and Acting Assistant Commissioner for Construction Management Louis E. Gelwicks is President of Gerontological Planning Asso- ciates. Santa Monica. California and since 1969 has been a partner in Gelwicks and Walls and Associates. Los Angeles and San Francisco A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Mr Gelwicks was previously a principal m his own architectural firm From 1961-71. Mr Gel- wicks taught several courses m the area of environmental design at the University of Southern California. Los Angeles. (above) Daniel. Mann. Johnson & Mendenhall s Titan I Launch Complex. LowryAir Force Base. Denver. Colorado (below) A view upstream of the Bureau of Reclamation s Columbia Basin Project. Grand Coulee Dam Marcel Breuer Hamilton Smith and Thomas Hayes were consulting architects for the Third Powerplant and Forebay Dam. built in 1968 The inclined concrete beam carries a visitor s elevator 10 New Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture: An Overview Bill N Lacy In a recent English article titled Who Cares About Architecture'' the following question was posed: If it is argued that architecture reflects society and that people must love a society in order to love its architecture and if the trouble today is that people do not love their society, does it follow that we have to wait until people create a society they can love before we can produce lovable architecture? For the past four years since I joined the Endownnent. we have been trying to create a lovable architecture or. as singer Joni Mitchell puts it. trying to stop them from paving over paradise and putting up a parking lot." In the eight year history of the program, we have awarded over 800 grants or roughly ten million dollars and these grants have been made m the fields of architecture, urban design, landscape architec- ture, industrial design and interior design But one of our most im- portant and ambitious projects has been the Federal Design Improvement Program which is directly responsible for this gathering today and the two which preceded it. It all started in 1972 when we finagled a Presidential direc- tive aimed at improving the quality of design in govern- ment Architecture is not often thought of as a means of communication but our buildings do reflect what we think of ourselves and they become a statement about our nation. We felt that this was an assignment worthy of our efforts and we've been pursuing it these last three years. We were asked to revise the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture that were developed m 1 962 Though they have a very high sounding name these first principles may have been prompted by as simple an incident as a motorcade down Pennsylvania Avenue when John F. Kennedy was inaugurated. The story goes that the sub- ject of how miserable Pennsyl- vania Avenue appeared to the august personages m the motorcade became a subject of discussion at a Cabinet meeting and an ad hoc com- mittee was formed, Arthur Goldberg, who was then the Secretary of Labor was asked to head this and not many people know that Arthur Gold- berg had a hand in the federal architecture guidelines Along with him was someone who played an equally prominent part, Patrick Moynihan, the former Am- bassador to India and now to the U, N It was a very simple docu- ment but not simple-minded The preamble to the study on Pennsylvania Avenue was in the mam, a one page state- ment and it's important. I think, just to hit the highlights of it to give you an idea of what this first set of guiding principles covered Among the suggestions made in this one page were these; Major emphasis should be placed on the choice of de- signs which embody the finest contemporary Ameri- can architectural thought. Where appropriate, fine art should be incorporated in the designs, with emphasis on the work of living American artists. Design must flow from the architectural profession to the government and not vice versa. The advice of distinguished architects ought to, as a rule, be sought prior to the award of important design contracts Special attention should be paid to the general ensemble of streets and public places of which federal buildings will form a part Now, none of us, in re- viewing these earlier ideas could quarrel with any of the guidelines They were a good set of rules to follow The only problem was that they were limited m their coverage and more importantly, they provided no means for im- plementation and as good as they were, there were a number of things ten years ago that could not have been anticipated and some critical considerations that have de- veloped in the intervening decade For the most part they dealt with the subject of aesthetics and we wish to add other dimensions to them. We want to talk about the social, psychological and behavioral implications of a set of guid- ing principles that would not only include aesthetics but would deal with the user s satisfaction, the real client instead of the client client We finally came up with a word that we think sums up all the things we are trying to talk about, and that word is accessibility. The kind of accessibility that casts the government in the role of a host, we feel is a more ap- propriate symbol of our time than one presenting the federal government as a stable and dignified body In the course of developing new guiding principles, we studied a number of issues We had a high-powered task force and government repre- sentatives from all the agencies that build. We spent two years deliberating be- cause Its not an easy task and we were determined that we were not going to come up with a cookbook of how to do good architecture. So we didn t set out. nor did the 1 962 group, to establish an official style Instead, we were trying to look at those things we felt could be changed, could be influenced to create a better architec- ture We knew that we couldn t improve the architectural talent in the country by any- thing we wrote, that we were going to get the best buildings by the best talent available and that s the most we could ever hope for. 12 But we did deal with some of the procedural questions, some of the processes we thought were often over- looked not only in federal but non-federal architecture, and we talked about some of those things: Architectural review and evaluation boards: post-evaluation of design de- cisions: ways of assessing the value of amenities: establish- ing design review boards for federal agencies. We have no real lab for experimenting in architecture and it seemed to us the federal government offered the best opportunity for such a laboratory We talked about mixed uses, how to make federal buildings more lively rather than placing them in an area for the purpose of revitalizing a depressed part of the city and in fact, adding to that depres- sion. We talked about how we might get better people with- in the government so that they could exercise better judgment and select better people outside the govern- ment. We talked about the flexi- bility of design that would allow for growth and change. We are now recycling build- ings that were built in a period when the programs were relatively simple and we find its not that difficult to make them usable once again, a hundred years later. We think that many modern buildings are built with programmatic restrictions that don't allow for the accommodation of growth and change. Any of you in governmental positions know that change and growth are things you can count on each year, and an architec- ture that won't permit that kind of flexibility is a limited architecture. Historic preservation and adaptive use were sweeping the country at the time we were looking at these guide- lines, so these also became important considerations, as did architect selection and design competition. Well, these were some of the things we grappled with and most of them found their way into 15 recommendations and three staff reports which, in turn, have prompted some significant legislation affecting federal architecture Ada Louise Huxtable ob- served in the New York Times a few years ago that a certain major federal agency build- ing program projected such an appalling image of the federal government that it could drive any loyal but sensitive citizen to defect. We believe the worst of that period IS over and that our chances of seeing genuinely distinguished federal archi- tecture haven t been better in decades. Lighthouses are among the countless anonymous structures, both useful and beautiful, that are part of the federal govern- ments enormous building program. At left, the Race Point lighthouse on Cap Cod and at right, the lighthouse on Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 13 New Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture: Reports and Activities Lois Craig In addition to our staff of four. we have a task force of 1 5 people who have a special interest in design working on the Federal Architecture Project. They include such people as architects O Neil Ford and Harry Weese, anthropologist Edward Hall. Dick Ravitch, a builder, and so on. Very important to our effort to improve federal architecture has been a group comprised of representatives from 20 federal agencies with major construction responsibility Our first task was to state what federal architecture is. In Washington, we all think we know what federal architecture IS. If you leave Washington, I would say the first image that springs to peoples minds would be the White House, the Capitol, or the local home town post office We decided we should be more methodical about a definition and remembered seeing an old report from the 30s of the Public Works Ad- ministration that listed building types It began with abatoirs, and we were so enchanted with a list that began with abatoirs that we decided to make our own list and I had a researcher pour over the real property inventory and the appendicesof the U.S. Budget. After he'd come up with 1 68 different building types. I let him stop. Our list began with aquariums and auditoriums and ended with youth centers and zoos. So the opportunity for design in the federal government is enormous. The U S government has worldwide property worth 83 billion dollars, other projects like dams and fort facilities worth 39 billion It constructs about one billion dollars worth of new work each year: it pays an annual rental worldwide of 528 million The Department of the Inte- rior, according to Fortune magazine, shows greater profits than General Motors through timber rights, offshore oil leasing, etcetera To make this more vivid you could say. the domestic inventory in- cludes floor space equal to 1 .250 Empire State Buildings: the land holdings are the equivalent of a third of the continental United States We should not forget the great amount of construction the federal government sup- ports but does not build. Standards and regulations follow our design dollars Federal dollars go into FHA. hospitals, schools, sewers, highways Everywhere your federal government is present designing the environment. There are also policies that have spatial impact One that comes to mind, air quality standards. Those standards could affect the shape of metropolitan areas. The task force concluded that the size, range, complexity of federal construction and the tangle- ment of related policies, regulations, people, required that they circulate a framework report. This framework was intended for debate. Since our first task force report, we've started trans- lating standards into archi- tectural reality. The first report had to do with multiple use I went to Canada to talk to offi- cials there about their mul- tiple use program, which is now nationwide for them in both new buildings and the conversion of old buildings. In our own country, it has been difficult to have mul- tiple use in federal buildings because of a lot of regulations. We thought that even without new legislation, the govern- ment could place publicly attractive services at ground- floor levels. Such things as the Government Printing Office book stores could be made an appealing storefront operation that could attract people to a building. The Public Cooperative Use Act of 1 975 IS concerned with adaptive use of existing buildings It passed the Senate this summer and is now before the House awaiting action. The bill does two things: It en- courages the government to consider adapting not only historically important build- ings but also architecturally interesting buildings, which might not qualify for the Na- tional Register, before they build new buildings: and the second part allows a wide range of community and com- mercial units on the ground floors of federal buildings if, and this is an important if, the community so desires it We are now in the process of doing a staff report on design competitions and awards We re also interested in look- ing at building management and its effect on the design and the reception of federal buildings The govern- ment-as-host approach would in- clude housekeeping, attitudes of employees in the lobby, how de- signers might assist managers to assist the users of the building to claim their space. Its our belief that if people are given the chance and some en- couragement that IS not patronizing, they will modify their own environment. Were also trying to give this framework for debate a historic dimension with a visual history of federal architecture. We re hoping it will be published late in 1 976. We are trying to cover everything from forts and lighthouses through federal office buildings, through land policies like the railroad policies of the 1 9th century and the FHA and hous- ing policies of our own time. We'd like to see demonstra- tions that we alone don t have the resources to mount, on such things as building man- agement, multiple use, adaptive use, competition, design awards and citizen par- ticipation. All the experiments that can be done will enlarge the public s awareness of what is possible. 14 New Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture: GSA Response and Current Policies Frank J Matzke Built in 1 858 as the tirst Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington. DCs Renwick Gallery was a Civil War hospital, a US. Courthouse, and finally it was reopened in 1971 , as part of the Smithsonian Institution, to house design exhibitions, crafts and decorative arts Designers for the building s restoration were John Carl Warnecke and Asso- ciates and Hugh Newell Jacobsen and Associates. The reason for promulgating the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture in 1962 and restating them some 10 years later in afour part pro- gram of specific objectives is simply this: a quest for quality The Public Buildings Service concept of quality and design encompasses function, cost, serviceability and user satis- faction—a cycle of considera- tions that provides new design program data from user re- sponses, as well as post facto analysis of technical and budgetary performances Function: If afacility fails to meet functional requirements positive effort turns into waste. Cost: Cost is reckoned not only in the expenditure of funds; we see time as a function of cost and time is money for government as much as it is for business. In an effort to capitalize on time, some government agencies, particularly the Public Buildings Service, have utilized a systems approach to the design and construction of new facilities and optimized the use of fast track and building systems through better management of the entire process. Fast track requires the overlapping of the design and construction phases of a project and allows independent and discrete portions of the construction process to proceed before complete development of design detail. Serviceability: Design is not limited to the presentation of a three-dimensional composi- tion fixed in time. Design for serviceability must anticipate and provide for compatibility with the surrounding environ- ment, adaptability to func- tional and physical modifica- tions and the ability of a building to live within a reasonable maintenance and operating budget User Satisfaction: Perhaps this is one of the most difficult considerations to assess because the government's clients tend to be abstracted and anonymous. Current interest among government agencies m developing user profiles and evaluating user responses will do much to overcome the inclination to avoid design responsibilities by perpetuating the myth of "mass-man." One of our current programs we've considered to be of the highest importance is that of energy conservation. We have issued two significant publications on energy con- servation design guidelines for new and existing build- ings. A new federal building incorporating many of these guidelines is now nearing completion as a demonstra- tion project in Manchester, New Hampshire. Concur- rently, a demonstration project for environmental conservation incorporating a sizeable solar collector has been designed and is now under construction in Saginaw, Michigan. A program area that has relatively little visibility but has considerable impact on the performance aspect of design is that of life safety systems, particularly in tall buildings The recently com- pleted Seattle Federal Office Building has become a model for high-rise fire safety and its features are being duplicated currently in both public and privately constructed office buildings. GSA IS mandated by specific legislation to prescribe standards and to otherwise insure that physically handi- capped persons have ready access to and use of federal facilities. We are currently engaged in the updating of performance standards to cover auditoriums, dining facilities, libraries, court- rooms, display areas and other special facilities not included in present standards They will also address a wider range of disabilities than the present standards which concentrate primarily on the wheelchair-bound We work very closely with the National Endowment for the Arts on a program we call Art in Architecture. By congressional mandate we provide up to one-half of one percent of new construction funds for the express purpose of commissioning works of art to be integrated into our building structures, their landscaping and their interiors GSA has also been responsive to those ground swells in design that may soon break with considerable impact upon our federal facilities They include the maintenance and preserva- tion of historic structures, the adaptive use of existing structures, historic or other- wise, and multiple use or mixed occupancy in federal facilities. 15 (from top) One hundred years of changing attitudes are demonstrated m the design of this series of federal hallways: Federal Court of Appeals Building, San Francisco, 1870; National Park Service office building, Santa Fe. New Mexico, 1939, San Francisco Federal Office Building corridor renewal, 1962. Los Angeles Federal Office Building, Charles Luckman. architect, 1972. "What a very little fact sometimes betrays the national character Andrew J Downing, 1840 16 Social Scientist and Architect: The Collaborative Effort John Zeisel, Moderator John Zeisel. director of the Architecture Research Office of Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Robert Shibley. architect with the Army Corps of Engineers and Louis Gelwlcks, president of Gerontological Planning Associates, presented their analyses of the users' view of architecture— social and psychological reactions to architectural spaces. John Zelsel's office is devel- oping information about visitor and worker responses to buildings, l-le showed a number of slides to point out the elements in a building that evoke visitor response including: entryways, lobbies, hallways, signing and light- ing and discussed various factors that make these areas responsive to visitor needs. He also analyzed the needs of people working in these same buildings. We ve come a long way in understanding the elements of a work station, the kinds of things that people do. how they make themselves at home, and we ve started to translate that into open land- scaped cubicles with advanced technological furni- ture and hardware and that s a big step forward But, we ve also got a long way to go in really resolving how these things work and it's a matter of management as well as design We've got to begin to design environments that accommodate needs for privacy and social interaction. We ve talked about the barrier-free environment. Usually, what you see is pic- tures of wheelchairs not being able to go up stairs or wheel- chairs not being able to go through doors. My earliest recollection of learning about barrier-free environment was a drawing of someone with crutches trying to stand at a urinal or get into a toilet stall. It s overwhelming, the way we really lock out the handicapped It's an issue that research has found out a lot about and can find out more about in specific situations There is an attitude that says. You re spending public monies, it has to look bad We've got people trapped in public housing, we ve got people trapped in public buildings, we don t have to worry about them I think we have to change our priorities to create buildings that are more humane, less hostile, more welcoming and more accessible. Robert Shibley The social sciences can offer significant assistance to those who control design and man- agement by giving valid in- formation on human and social requirements as well as user- manager values. Questions of accountability— for whom or to whom and for what— are useful questions. Accountability is really a learning resource that can help us be much more re- sponsive to users, to man- agers, to the political and organizational concerns that we're involved in daily and to the design professionals Be- yond our collective oppor- tunity to be accountable there is opportunity to actually im- prove the social health of the people in the organizations we serve by the very way we do business. I n the process of problem seeking or programming, m digging to find out informa- tion that is design relevant, we also learn a great deal more about the organization we're with. The process can help management and working level personnel communicate, A good design process can give managers an ear to the ground. One method we might use to improve the state-of-the-art in architectural design is to record what we learn in the process of design, to seed that back into the same project, and to record what we learn in the activity of design in a very rigorous way. We all have some kind of guidance manuals, but they are really not sufficient as learning resources. Most of them are made to make chal- lenge very difficult in the intro- duction of new evidence and therefore revision is not genuinely encouraged. Not because it doesn t say in the back of the book, send me your recommendations for change, but because of the content of the book itself, and what it says and what it does not say about how the infor- mation got to be what it is. I suspect that the organiza- tionsthatare represented here have a similar problem with guidance, in order to unfreeze this guidance, to develop some more responsive design procedures and to take advan- tage of the opportunities we're talking about, certain cate- gories of information have to be present in all guidance. We ve got to give the people who use our guidance docu- ments information about what problems we're trying to ad- dress with those documents. We have to describe the conte) the documents are appropriate for use in. We have to get on with the business of giving them the image that allows challenge and. we ve got to give them the supportive evidence on the relative im- portance of the problem, the accuracy of the context des- cription and the appropriate- ness of the solution or the tentative solution image. 17 Louis E Gelwicks As an architect involved in a reasonable annount of re- search, programming and planning. I ve come to the con- clusion that the architect has a minor role in the overall vol- ume of decisions affecting design. Most design decisions are made on a typewriter, not on a drafting board For exam- ple, to what extent do we acknowledge privacy and per- mit its use m buildings? The answer affects design consid- erably and I think we should really look on this and similar questions as design decisions If we re going to do our job. if we re going to interrelate a varietyof sociological findings, research and concerns of people, we ve got to have good facts In a recent meeting of the Environmental Design Re- search Association, a paper titled The Design of Compre- hensive Information Systems for Design was given. It read in part. if general informa- tion systems to facilitate en- vironmental design are to supersede the growing collec- tion of specialized programs and services, a better appre- ciation of the problems and possibilities of such systems IS needed A lack of theory to guide the design of compre- hensive systems, the prolif- eration of more or less specialized and arbitrary high level languages, unintegrated data, inadequate capacity for describing relationships, the complexities of large-scale operating systems and the magnitude of the information problems posed by environ- mental design, have conspired to discourage, confound and diffuse effort The jargon of the social sci- entists and the semi-literacy among architects has been holding design back for about 20 years In an experiment in housing for the elderly, about 35 older people were asked to develop what they felt would be an ideal apartment. We were trying in this experiment to get at the reasons people do things, what their priorities are. what their trade-offs are The result of the program is four plans studio apartments with alcoves and all the furni- ture plotted You suddenly realize that people don t use space the way architects de- sign It We ve got to work with the behaviorist. use some of his input, and much of the re- search of the past 10 years. Mr. Gelwicks went on to show photographs of a num- ber of environments that he feels are socially positive. He concluded with the thought that a good public space, one that IS attractive, comfortable and usable, is liable to be filled with people. In other words. we can learn best about de- sign from the people who use It. Caudill Rowlett Scotts Student Housing. State University College at Brockport, New York was designed and constructed in 1 8 months by the team method Completed m 1972. this complex was funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Dormitory Authority of New York State. 18 Architecture by Team William Wayne Caudill The notion that an architect designs a building is a popular misconception People who should know better, like architectural writers, critics and historians, can only con- ceive of one person ever designing a building. A wealth of ignorance about how a building is designed prevails within and without the profession. The reasons for this are: writers know very little about the design process, or they can t explain a team, or they belive that the Renaissance man still exists. The fact is: One person can t design a building Another: The prima donna is dead The new genius is the team Architecture? What's thaf Ask ten architects, get ten different answers. Now let me see if I can clarify what we think architecture is and how buildings are designed these days, based on the experience of the CRS (Caudill Rowlett Scott) team with a 28-year track record of literally hundreds of buildings. Not only do we design buildings by team, but we evaluate their performance by team— with the users on the team. User involvement may be the key to successful buildings. But user involvement cant substitute for great designers But architecture is too im- portant to be trusted to one person who wants to express his urge for creativity. One man (or woman) cant hack it alone Like doctors, there are scores of different kinds of architects. Design- ing buildings is a complex operation. The CRS-designed concert hall in Houston re- quired 13 3/4 man-years, involving 61 different people getting it out in 1 4 months. The Manhattan College re- quired 30 man-years and the assistance of scores of dif- ferent specialists to produce It in 12 months CRS is now working on a project that will take 300 man-years to design with hundreds of specialists involved. Only a few years ago. architectural profs were telling their students: Take your time Mies van der Rohe took ten years to design a house. The more time spent on design, the better it will be. If it took ten years to design that house today, its cost would more than double the original budget. In this day, simply to keep up with inflation requires uncommon speed during the design and construction process, and only a team can do it But its not only that. Owners are demanding shorter design and construction time. They don t want to wait. That's why building systems and systems buildings— fast track- ing and construction manage- ment and the like— are coming in so strongly And when you get into systems buildings, more people are involved in the design/build team of teams. The essence is this: 1 ARCHITECTURE \S A GOAL 2.evrE/\/WISTHE MEANS TO ACHIEVING THAT GOAL. If architecture ' is the goal, then what is "architecture? " We re back to the muddle. What meaning should we use? Our most recent notions of what those of us who practice by team think architecture is: Architecture is a personal, enjoyable, necessary ex- perience. Man perceives and appreciates form and space from three distinctly different but interrelated attitudes: of the physical being, of the emotional being, and of the intellec- tual being When architec- ture does happen to this person, an aura seems to emanate from form and space that evokes a re- sponse by fulfilling his physical, emotional and intellectual needs. The goal is to design build- ings which possess architec- ture. If architecture is "personal expression, " a team would not only be unneces- sary, it would get m the way But architecture being "a personal experience, " with the user being the final judge of whether a building possesses architecture, a team is needed— with users on the team The team s job is to design the forms and spaces in such a way that the building and the user fall in love with each other So one notion is this: If the users are to have a building that possesses architecture (by our definition), it s better to design the building by team action. 1 n CRS we operate on two theories relating to team action: The Theory of Product and the Theon/ of Process. The Theory of Product- product meaning anything from a group of buildings to a single building to a part of a building. We state the Product Theory this way: architecture has a better chance of happening if func- tion, form, economy and time of the product are considered as one The Theory of Process goes something like this: Since every architectural task requires three kinds of thinking/doing relating to management, design and technology, the design task can best be done by a team led by a troika— a manager, a designer and a technologist. The Process theory evolved over a 1 5-year span of prac- tice. It s sound. Ourdesigners at first were reluctant to share honors awards with managers and technologists. Of course, they were delighted to share responsibilities and liabilities. Today the most competent designers in CRS are pleased with this trilateral leadership arrangement They no longer need to be orima donnas, and the managers and technolo- gists are no longer second- class citizens 19 Interior Design Industrial Design 22 Opening Remarks M Elliott Carroll 22 Design Awareness William Pulgram 23 Open Office Case Study: Federal Aviation Administration Seattle Regional Office Dennis Green Moderator C B Walk, Jr Sam Sloan Walter Kleeman. Jr 26 Dialogue: Interior Design Excellence Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Washington, D.C. W.A Howland Jeffrey H Miller M. Elliott Carroll, Executive Assistant to the Architect of the Capitol, was formerly a partner m the architectural firm of Vincent G Kling and Partners, Philadelphia. Pa From 1960-70 he served on the executive staff of the American Institute of Architects. Washington. DC While at the AIA. Mr Carroll served as Deputy Executive Vice President and administered the publication of the 6th edition of Architectural Graphic Standards. William L. Pulgram is President of Associated Space Design Inc . Atlanta. Georgia In 1958 he was appointed Associate and Chief Interior Designer at Finch Alexander Barnes Rothschild & Pascal, Atlanta, joining Asso- ciated Space Design as Execu- tive Vice President m 1963 Mr Pulgram is a recipient of a first prize for architecture design from L Ecole des Beaux Arts. France C. B. Walk, Jr.. Regional Admin- istrator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). is respon- sible for the agency s activities in Idaho. Oregon and Washing- ton Since joining the FAA in 1960 he has been Chief. Aircraft Management Division. Flight Standards Service. Washington. DC; Chief. Flight Standards Division. New York. Manager. FAA New York Area Office, and Deputy Director of the Aero- nautical Center. Oklahoma City Sam Sloan, President. People Space Architecture Company, has completed numerous archi- tectural and environmental design projects including the interior open office plan for the Federal Aviation Adminis- tration s Seattle regional head- quarters Prior to forming his own firm, he completed various projects related to urban plan- ning and institutional design, including multi-media lecture and research laboratory facilities W. A. Howland, Jr. is Deputy Comptroller of the Currency for Operations Planning. Since joining the Comptrollers Office in 1968. Mr Howland has served as attorney-advisor for antitrust litigation. Administrative Assist- ant to the Comptroller and Dep- uty Comptroller for Administra- tion Previously he served in the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Air Force for 16 years Jeffrey H. Miller is a partner in the interior design firm Hunter/ Miller & Associates. Alexandria. Virginia From 1966-69 he served as the Environmental Design Coordination Officer for the Chesapeake Division of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command During this time. Mr Miller was responsible for many innovative projects and was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal by the Secretary of the Navy for his design work Dennis Green, Director of the Western States Arts Founda- tion s Design Program, was formerly Director of Interior Architecture and Design Pro- gramming with James Sudler Associates. Denver Colorado Previously he had been a prin- cipal in his own firm in Seattle. Washington His former positions include responsibility for design research with General Services Administration and teaching at the College of Human Ecology. University of Maryland Walter Kleeman, Jr., Associate Professor of Interior Design at Western Kentucky University, is also Co-chairman Environmental Research and Development Council of the American Society of Interior Designers Dr Klee- man serves as ergonomic con- sultant to architect Sam Sloan for the design analysis of the Federal Aviation Administra- tion s Northwest Regional Office. Seattle. Washington, and the Southwest Regional Office. Los Angeles. California One of several GSA feasibility studies of air-supported struc- tures as environments for federal offices and public spaces 20 r^' » ifV.t^ Opening Remarks M. Elliott Carroll Excellent office environ- ments contribute to efficiency of communication, employee morale and productivity and enhance management coor- dination. This afternoon, we re going to be talking about some case histories that illustrate these points The Federal Aviation Administration of- fices in Seattle and the offices of the Comptroller of the Currency in Washington, D C Mr. Carroll introduced the search for interior design ex- cellence by showing examples. in the Capitol, of untenable office conditions. Before we see the good ones. I m going to give you one of the saddest case histories I have discovered since I arrived at the Capitol a year and a half ago The in- terior of the Capitol building was designed by a physician Dr William Thornton Because he didn t know much about building design and construc- tion, he selected the second runner-up in the competition to do that work There are two Senate Office Buildings: the old Russell Senate Office Building and the Dirksen Senate Office Building oc- cupied m 1961 In the Russell Senate Office Building allo- cation of office space was based on the size of the con- stituency the Senator repre- sented The Senators from Delaware and Nevada, for example, got four or five rooms The Senators from California and New York got seven or eight The average square footage per person in these offices is 67 I don t think there s a junior high school anywhere in the country that has a secretary s office of less than 1 50 square feet Senate clerks have the same problem Be- cause of these blatantly in- efficient situations the Architect of the Capitol has obtained an appropriation to conduct an experiment in the next year and a half m the Senate offices to apply the lessons of interior office plan- ning that you II be hearing about this afternoon to that long neglected situation Design Awareness William Pulgram We will address ourselves here to the problems of the administrator, the person responsible for the opera- tional efficiency of an agency, a department or maybe just one small segment within an agency When we ask the administrator what problems he or she is having in achiev- ing an efficient operation, the concerns voiced usually have to do with people: their rela- tionships to each other and to their supervisor, the type of work they do, their personal problems such as anxieties, tensions, personal satisfac- tion, opportunities, salaries Way down in the list of major concerns the administrator mentions the physical work space All the concerns enumer- ated are usually couched in terms of psychological needs of people or in terms of how many desks, chairs, pieces of paper and square feet of floor space a group needs to per- form its assigned task What is rarely discussed is the qual- ity of the physical work space We want to illustrate that there is a critical relationship in the interaction of people and physical space We hope to show that appropriate phys- ical environment can contri- bute to the solution of the people-related problems and concerns of the administrator In the following enumeration of administrator s complaints, I do not mean to imply that all federal government of- fices are ineffectively de- signed There are many very appropriate installations, but more often than not we hear the following: 1 Limited Agency Input 2 No Personnel Involvement 3 Poor Space Utilization 4 Obsolete Furniture and Equipment 5 Inadequate Building Systems 6 Insufficient Maintenance 7 Too much Red Tape and Time How can you take care of your needs'?" 1 Maintenance Keeping existing spaces and facilities in good repair IS the simplest form of prob- lem solving: the task is to preserve the original inten- tion of the design 2 User Input If there is going to be a realistic approach to provide a humane working or living environment for people, there has to be a comprehensive analysis of what the needs of the organization are and the individuals within it 3 Design Know-How What we are talking about is the use of design profes- sionals. 4 Hardware Earlier concepts of office planning included full height walls, doors and the conven- tional equipment of desk and files The uses for certain types of equipment have been reevaluated The in- flexible full height wall gives way to the movable panel that might provide a vertical work and storage surface in addi- tion to visual and audial privacy 5 Building Systems Architectural technology is being utilized to provide a container appropriate to the changing patterns of human organization Long span struc- tures allow greater bay spac- ing and even column free space Technical and elec- trical systems have been designed to allow for reloca- tion and change Open space planning has provided the potential for more economic and effective distribution of light and air conditioning. 22 Open Office Case Study: Federal Aviation Administration Seattle Regional Office Dennis Green, Moderator Mr. Green's remarks centered around participation of the user in the design of the envi- ronment. The Federal Aviation Administration Seattle office Is an excellent example of the vi/ay a design team works. Users often don t under- stand what is happening to them in the design process because they are not in- volved. Involving them re- duces their anxiety and helps them understand how to adapt and how to enjoy the end product Design participa- tion produces physical design more related to the balance between desired values and actual values. Participation creates a setting in which a total range of value prefer- ences can be uncovered and in which a point of view can be a positive force Participa- tion provides a more dem- ocratic environment and more emphasis on individual responsibility. Participation dispels the idea that nobody cares about how / feel and therefore I'm not worth very much. If people are allowed to se- lect the things that feel best to them, they will pick a color that they like, and they re going to find that the things they choose are better suited to their needs than they would be if someone else selected them. Participation provides a log- ical framework in which inter- disciplinary actions can com- pliment each other rather than contend with each other. In this case, our ideas are open, we exchange ideas and we all become better profes- sionals, better facilitators at our jobs. C B, Walk, Jr Very briefly, I'd like to talk about how i got into this project. Back in the late 60s, the President decided that he would like to create federal regions in various locations across the country. One of the first things I did in looking around for a head- quarters structure was look at the new Federal Building in Seattle. It is a beautiful building but, I was happy to learn, it was already over- subscribed Why? Because I didn't want to have a regional headquarters, particularly in- volving aviation, located in the city center. Access to our customers would be difficult and our employees would have tremendous problems in finding parking, and we try to be an employee-oriented organization. For example, inside parking costs $45 a month. For a married man or woman with children, that buys a pretty good insurance policy. Now, I had always taken the position that if I had anything to do with the construction of a regional headquarters build- ing, I wanted it on an airport and I wanted it so arranged that the people we serve, our customers, could land their air- craft and park right in front of the building and come in, do their business and be on their way. I also wanted to have good public transportation from the city center par- ticularly, so that our minority and ourelderlyemployees would have good public trans- portation access to this building. After the building design was completed, we started thinking about the interior design. I have always felt that people spend more time on their job than any one thing they do in their life except sleep, and I think manage- ment has a great responsibility to create an environment that will make their working conditions pleasant and productive About the only thing I was certain of was I wanted to have our employees involved to the maximum extent possi- ble in the design of their building. I also wanted to have experts design the in- terior. We organized various employee committees and looked at all types of designs. What came out of these com- mittees and our discussions was the concept of open landscape planning. Since I was impressed with what I had observed GSA accomplish in the Seattle Federal Office's interior design, we con- tracted with them for design services, and they in turn sub-contracted with People Space Architecture Company. Now, the first meeting that I had with the GSA representa- tives left me walking around in circles and, being a 57-year- old conservative, I wasn't at all impressed with those bearded, long-haired young men who came to my office. But it wasn't long until I realized that I was dealing with very talented people. One thing I mentioned earlier was employee involvement. We had a lot of it in our whole operation. We tried to get our employees involved not only in our routine business, but in our decision making. I did not abdicate my responsibility, but I did try to get as much input as possible from my employees. The building cost $2.5 million, we spent $166,000 on new furniture, $19,000 on equipment, $3800 on refur- bishing some old furnishings. The base rental is $305,645, we have janitorial service, with $73,800 for utilities, which equals out to $5.42 per square foot. We felt this was a very economical square footage charge. On July first of this past year when GSA's standard level user charge went into effect and they started ad- ministering our lease, the cost went up to $9 42 per square foot 23 (above) Federal offices are often clut- tered and lacking in essential concern for the people who use them (below) The office of the FAAs North- west Regional Headquarters, Seattle, Washington, designed by People Space Architecture Company of Spokane, is charac- teristic of the new use of open planning in federal buildings 24 Sam Sloan Our work started with a week long design team visit to FAA's existing environ- ment—talking, looking, discussing, planning The methods of investiga- tion were the questionnaire, interviews and observation We held sessions with each individual and in groups of 20 to 25 over a period of two weeks. We explained what work environments are and asked them to tell us what they thought their environ- ments were all about. Consequently, as we worked over the next three years with these same people they could understand the ques- tions that we were asking and they could intelligently an- swer them We interviewed every single person working in the FAA regional offices. 285 of them, and charted our interview analysis on a pre-designed data sheet Our comprehen- sive questionnaire regarding personal preferences, indi- vidual idiosyncrasies and group requirements was given to each individual The answers were compiled and computer synthesized to develop a graphic representa- tion of individual and group needs. This is a very interes- ting matrix. It does two things: it identifies when an individual does not need a certain item that everybody else in his work group does need; and, it also identifies when an individual needs some- thing that the rest of the group does not need. We set up a mock environ- ment in a hangar at Boeing Field to reflect the eventual space design. We turned it into a furniture store in es- sence. Each and every person in the FAA came in on a sched- uled basis to shop around and talk to our designers and se- lect what he wanted We gave them the advice that we could, particularly when they asked for it, as to how they should orient their particular work station to meet their needs. Each indi- vidual made all of his own color choices, selected his own equipment, the amount of it and the type An individ- ual decision data sheet was recorded for every individual now numbering 320 due to a rather dynamic growth of the agency during our efforts. Group relationships, territory and travel compromise were developed based on research data and the experience we had accumulated in our ob- servations of the system. Finally, we used what might look like an archaic tool to put this all together We actually drew up each indi- vidual's requirements to scale, put them on a sheet and glued them up with rub- ber cement. It took a lot of time but the eventual product was a drawing When the drawing was sent to Washing- ton, D. C. for evaluation by the main headquarters of the FAA. people who had worked in the Seattle office recog- nized people by the chairs, desks, layouts, and they rec- ognized groups by their orientation, without the labels It should be mentioned at this point that the aesthetic that we created was a hetero- geneous aesthetic solution, something that had many and varying different color com- binations and contents. That heterogeneity created what the people themselves thought of as a residential value environment as op- posed to a homogeneous solution that involves a very carefully controlled color scheme designed by a designer. Walter Kleeman, Jr. My view of the FAA project is an ergonomic one, the im- minent interface between people and equipment, be- tween the user and his envi- ronment. The consequences of what happens in this inter- face are usually very low key The backache is slow in com- ing along, it doesn't hurt very much at first and it doesn't cripple anybody for months or perhaps years. The cause of the backache may be relatively simple: a chair with low lumbar sup- port, or a chair that is not ad- justable in a range wide enough to accommodate the people who use it. Or, if the seat height won't go low enough, legs dangle, pres- sure IS exerted on the blood vessels in the bottom of the upper leg and legs may in- crease in size causing vari- cose veins As you might suspect, there IS plenty of literature pub- lished by the U. S. govern- ment about the design of chairs, but unfortunately, the available chairs on the market don't reflect that information We made sure that the tops of the work surfaces in Seat- tle were not glaring by speci- fying matte or dull surfaces that reflect between 30 and 50 percent of the light that hits them If the top color is too dark, the line of contrast between the white paper and the top of the desk will be very strong, so strong that your eyes are attracted to the contrast line instead of to the paper you're supposed to be reading or writing upon. This strong contrast line becomes a distraction in your work. What happens, then, if the work surface top is too lighf?" The contrast line tends to completely disappear. So you need to specify the reflec- tants so that the ergonomic limits of 30-50 percent reflec- tants could prevent any one of these problems. 25 Dialogue: Interior Design Excellence Office of the Comptroller of thie Currency Wasfiington, D.C. W A, Howland Jeffrey H. Miller This case study demonstrates how an administrator and a designer can join together to create a fine, workable result. Mr. Howland: Th\s agency was created in 1 863 The old facil- ity consisted of long, dirty corridors, cluttered work stations, a totally inadequate design to handle the appro- priate tasks. The new facility of the Comptroller of the Currency in Washington is 150.000 square feet. A period of 1 8 months was spent on design and actual construction. The new office at 490 L Enfant Plaza is rather unique in that it s a mixed use facility. It is leased by the Comptroller. The building has a hotel on the top three floors and there are 8 floors of office space, two are occu- pied by the Comptroller. When this project began I didn't know about office furni- ture systems and all of these things that were being rec- ommended to me I was open- minded, but at the same time, I had to be very pragmatic and I wanted to talk to the actual users. I took copious notes and have them available here for our present use. Mr. Miller: We 6 usually dis- cuss the merits of one system versus the other. While we were doing this, we were also discussing matrixes we were applying to the organization, who needed to be near whom Mr. Howland: We learned so much more rapidly, I think, than we could have otherwise, because we were in the designer s arena Jeff Miller was there with his staff, research materials and files— everything we needed to answer questions. Mr. Miller: We considered true life cycle costing and that led to certain design de- cisions. We looked upon design as a problem solving arrangement. Movable walls and metal partitions were chosen because we knew that we could rearrange offices over a weekend, not interrupt- ing the work Mr. Howland: Our design process was carried out in four separate phases: conception, design plan, design implemen- tation and evaluation. Mr. Miller: Everything except the Knoll office system was bought from the Federal Supply Service— chairs, carpeting, accessories This just shows that the federal supply system isn t necessarily a disaster, but you do have to know how to use it creatively. The lighting fixtures we used were not in the building standard. We ended up using nothing that was offered in the building standard because we found everything else more cost-effective We se- lected a light fixture that in fact cut energy consumption and that represented an annual saving of $18,000 in the electric bill. One of the other design problems we were faced with was the ever-present one of who sits at the perim- eter with a window. You can imagine, with a 60,000 square foot floor, the ratio of windows per square foot of usable space is rather low and we decided that there should be equality of treatment for everybody. We tried to de- velop a scheme in which we borrowed lights for interior offices. We also provided very wide spaces between enclosed offices so the light would come streaming in and be shared We opened up the fire stairs to make them com- municating stairs, instead of locking them. Finally we de- signed a brochure that out- lined all information about the new facility: the neighbor- hood, security, how to get there by bus, parking and then, very clearly defined, the role that was being played by the agency in developing the space and, generally what that space was going to include Mr. Howland: We have about 307 people employees) now in Washington Managers told me their people were happier, that they even dressed better' We have been able to look at areas that have been used for a year now and they are still sparkling People are obvi- ously proud and are taking care of their spaces The last thing III talk about in the design solution is the central conference facility As most administrators know, everyone needs a conference room, so they say. And in our survey, we got the same result. After evaluating the true needs we created two official confer- ence rooms. Both of them were designed so they did not need any audio-visual speaker systems. One has no doors, is glass-enclosed, and right next to the library It s frequently used and is scheduled We did a study on relative costs for developing our space We have a lease op- tion extending through a total of 30 years The cost of this development comes out at less than one half of one percent of what we re going to spend on those people during that period. So as far as we re concerned in our evaluation, it is very much worth it. We announced a graphics program a couple of months ago and we re beginning to implement it. We find much less resistance to that program than initially confronted the office design program I believe it is be- cause our people have learned what good design is all about. 26 Four exhibitions were shown at the Assembly including The Design Necessity, an exhibit prepared for the First Federal Design Assembly The exhibition illustrates design performance criteria in graphics, architecture, interiors and environmental planning. 27 Visual Communications 30 Overview of the Federal Graphics Program Jerome H Perlmutter 30 The New Federal Graphics Labor Department Case Study John W Leslie John Massey 33 Symbol Signs: Department of Transportation s Signage System William R Myers Thomas H Geismar Jerome H. Perlmutter is Coor- dinator of Federal Graphics. National Endowment for the Arts Mr Perlmutter was Chief of Publishing for the State Department when he was de- tailed to the Endowment m 1973 to implement the Federal Graphics Program In 1970, at the request of the White House, he conducted a comprehensive study on the impact of visual communication and the aesthet- ics of graphics m the federal government i5 r ^i William R. Myers is Deputy Director of the Office of Facilitation. Department of Transportation, Before joining the Department, he was respon- sible for a wide variety of facilita- tion activities in the Department of Commerce, first with the Mari- time Administration and later with the Bureau of International Commerce. Prior to government service. Mr Myers served as Special Assistant to the Presi- dent and Vice President of Fruit Growers Express Company John W. Leslie has served as Director of the Department of Labor s Office of Information. Publications and Reports since 1959 In his current position, Mr Leslie directs all public informa- tion activities of the Labor De- partment and advises the Secre- tary of Labor on public informa- tion aspects of Departmental programs Mr Leslie has served as press officer for the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Assistant Director of Information Thomas H. Geismar is a partner in the graphic design firm Chermayeff and Geismar Asso- ciates and also a partner m the architectural design firm Cam- bridge Seven Associates He is especially well known for design- ing numerous corporate trade- marks and symbols, and major institutional exhibitions. Mr Geismar s work has been exhi- bited throughout the United States and Europe, as well as in Russia. Japan and South America John Massey is founder and Director of the Center for Ad- vanced Research and Design and Director of Corporate and Marketing Communication for Container Corporation of Amer- ica He recently designed the Department of Labor s new graphics program Over the last fifteen years. Mr Massey s designs have received wide recognition m this country and abroad In 1967 he was named Art Director of the Year by the National Society of Art Directors These images are from This is the Federal Government, a six-screen slide'sound pre- sentation depicting a histor- ical survey of federal graphics, produced by Intermedia Systems Corporation. 28 ,■%. ^_ ^; '^'J^ ** ••••••••] 7 A ** •••••••• xx ^^ •••••••• *A^^ •♦•••••• ^ ** •••••••• p^-^l'fej i 1 Hm^^THE WHITE HOUSE L^ ^ '3f n"'i c pcys\iv if / ^i ^ pi Al I THE COCWYRY TO THE RESCp( A i« c: o I nif e: is; r f- or s k n \.' i c i ; rTooo^yvE TRjjs': V lU=U rf^-.' - Overview of the Federal Graphics Program Jerome H Perlmutter Agency administrators ex- pressed interest in the Federal Design Improvement Program through a number of questions: Question: How do we select a design consultant? Perlmutter: If Westinghouse and IBM want a design con- sultant, they survey the field and pick one and that s it But the federal governnnent is a different story, and Im sure maybe the states are the same way. We, in the Endowment, have a register of over 250 designers of various special- ties Now lets say department X wants to go into the program. We will be glad to provide them with the names of three or four expert firms who can satisfy or solve a particular problem. When an agency is ready to send out bids, they are obliged to also advertise nationally in the Commerce Business Daily, published by the Department of Commerce Now this will bring in firms who may not know about the requirement So what happens then is they send out the bids to these three or four firms, others come in based upon the advertisement, and the agency, in a selection process, may have about a dozen to choose from. A tech- nical committee is appointed within an agency: they review everything, and finally come up with a selection. But let me make one thing clear. In the federal government, the job doesn t go to the lowest bidder. It goes to the most qualified firm that the agency perceives can do the job Question: Who evaluates agency graphics'^ Perlmutter: That is a beautiful part of the program. When I joined the Endowment, three years ago, I knew I would need outside assistance for this area. A lot of designers and communicators asked me what they could do to help the government And I said. Well, you can serve on a panel And they said that they would be very happy to serve and do anything to support the pro- gram Let me mention some of the people we have on the panel We have the head of design of Cooper Union, Pratt Institute and Rhode Island School of Design We have the head of design of IBM, Exxon, Westinghouse, CBS. We have a mix between the academic and the commercial, we have heads of design studios, and we also have about a dozen government members. We have 50 panel- ists in all, and draw upon five or six for any given panel meeting. The New Federal Graphics Labor Department Case Study John W Leslie In 1 957. the Department of Labor's budget was cut. This gave me the opportunity as then Deputy Director of Infor- mation, to consolidate all graphics production as an economy measure The results of this consolidation provided one of the essential elements that I believe is needed for a successful visual communica- tion program A well staffed centralized graphic production unit, large enough to support the various graphic talent necessary for a viable program, IS essential The last ingredient, and the most vital one in running an effective graphics program is executive support. We had organization, a good staff and executive support, yet our graphics program was lacking It was no surprise when the panel of experts set up by the Arts Endowment to review our product suggested that we have an outside expert take a look at what we were doing and make recommenda- tions for improvement The panel found that while there were numerous outstanding examples of graphic product, there was no common stand- ard or system and each piece of graphics work was created independent of all others In other words, we invented the wheel every time a new graphics product was created. If the new design program accomplishes nothing else, it provides a ready answer to all the would be designers we have in the program areas of the department. After the panel of the Endowment took a look at our material and pointed out its shortcomings to us, we put out invitations to bid. We selected as the contractor the Center for Advanced Research and Design, located in Chicago, to review the department s work and to come up with some solutions to our problems Though not all department managers and members of the graphics staff are sold on the new system, it is a vast im- provement over our former way of doing things, and I would point out also that the program has received the full support of past and present. Secretaries. There have been substantial savings of time and money in the design and printing of material, which enables us to obtain more product at the same cost. And the product itself is better. The Public Printer estimates that our new system of standardiza- tion of publication sizes, papers and inks would save about 15 percent in printing costs. We have experienced a similar reduction of approximately 15 percent in the time spent on the design development of graphic materials When you consider the Labor Depart- ment spends over one and one- half million dollars a year in all types of visual design and another five and one-half to SIX million dollars a year on printing, the magnitude of the savings in the new system is clear It has enabled us to get more product for our design per printing dollar 30 U.S. Department of Labor H'h ©^'M Labor Offices in the United States and Canada "••?•?•- •*•* %^ John Massey s graphics hand- book for the Department of Labor contains guidelines for communicating in many differ- ent ways The Departments new mark and its traditional seal are used in a number of ways; a flexible exhibit system is shown in one of its many possible configurations: and sample publication grids are an important part of this exemplary design guide en ^ h CM 4300-4385 JS^ 4300 4385 ^^ Stairwell S2 31 John Massey Our assignment from the Department of Labor was to evaluate the graphic aspects of the department s commun- ication program, and to recommend procedures by which graphics could help to more effectively facilitate the department s overall com- munication objective. Our first task was to prepare a written program including a statement of objectives, a schedule of tasks to be per- formed, a time schedule, and a cost schedule The program of procedure was organized in five chronological steps or phases; 1 ) The briefing- principals within the depart- ment described the depart- ment s purpose within govern- mental structure, the depart- ment s overall objective with specific attention to the function of information com- munication performed in achieving these overall objectives; the organization of the information communi- cation staff within the department and its various agencies, and the pragmatics of current procedures regard- ing the planning, creation, and production of printed and related communication material 2) Data collection — we collected a cross section of the department's printed and related material produced in the previous two years, plus research reports and studies previously undertaken regard- ing the departments graphic or communication program 3) Analysis— we were able to determine if the graphic con- tent and visual character of the department s material effectively supported the department's objectives delineated in phase 1 The disparity between the depart- ment s reality and purpose and its visual impression was documented and this disparity was reviewed by principles within the department, 4) De- sign function— the purpose was to develop graphic solutions which would bring the visual impression of the department closer to the department s current reality Now the reality of today s Department of Labor centers around the function of enforc- ing statutes designed to advance the public interest by promoting the welfare of wage earners of the United States, improving their work- ing conditions and advancing their opportunities for profitable employment In order to fulfill its charge, the department is organized into a series of offices which function to administer specific department programs. The administrative offices which administer programs with high visibility in this regard are the Manpower Administration, Labor Management Services Administration, Employment Standards Administration. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics The prime objective was a development of a compre- hensive graphic system for use by the department totally. Now, in addition to organiz- ing the proposed graphic system, consideration was also given to providing the department with uniformity of identification, a standard of quality and a more systematic and economic template for publication design In a closer relationship between graphic design as a means and pro- gram development as an end. the proposed graphic system would become an effective tool in assisting the depart- ment to achieve its program directives Now, a viable de- sign solution must clearly and strongly support this informa- tion dissemination. The content of each printed piece must be immediately legible and understandable. The piece must be recognizable as having emanated from the United States Department of Labor The inherent character of the design itself must com- municate that the content of the piece is important, up to date, alive and vital. A Department of Labor communication design element 'or logo) was devel- oped to appear on department communication pieces m combination with the title. With consistent use this element will instantly com- municate that this particular piece IS from the Department of Labor A unifying element running through all the publi- cations of the department. Its agencies, and bureaus, this design element does not replace the official depart- ment seal The fifth phase of the pro- gram was validation At this point we worked closely with the Government Printing Office to establish standards for sizes typography, grid systems, paper specifications and color Our objective was to arrive at perhaps no more than four to six sizes for printed material, two to four type faces, standard colors, grids and paper Tremendous economy could be realized with the adoption of these standards and yet they impose no limitation on the creativity of the departmentsdesigners. editors and information officers In fact, such stand- ards would allow the staff more time to concentrate on the creative aspects of their publications because the me- chanics were predetermined. After the concept was validated by applying it to select upcoming projects, the final phase was implemen- tation. At this point, a compre- hensive design standards manual was developed and produced and today this manual is beginning to func- tion as an integral part of the department s overall communications operation. 32 Symbol Signs: Department of Transportation's Signage System William R. Myers The Department of Transpor- tation s symbol signs program is intended to help the average traveler and even more exten- sively the average pedestrian, find the way to and through transport terminals and other large public buildings The need is for signs that are clear. uniform, and easy to compre- hend This means, above all. signs that surmount the lan- guage barrier. With the growth of international travel, .many visitors find themselves in strange, confusing surround- ings not knowing the country s language and uncertain of where to go or how to obtain help. But this is not all With the growth in population and increasing contacts between federal, state, and municipal governments and the citizens they serve, clear and compre- hensible signs are needed in every important public build- ing. The solution is symbol signs, symbols that place a heavy premium on design excellence. The proliferation of diverse, uncoordinated and often con- fusing symbol systems was the major influence on our de- cision to develop a symbol system that could be adopted for government use on a national basis. The average pedestrian could not be ex- pected to recognize and react properly to such a bewildering variety of symbols An effort to standardize was necessary From the very beginning the Department of Transportation sensed that for any program to be productive, it should have four main elements: 1 ) consul- tation with a representative group of advisors; 2] engage- ment in the program of the broadest possible range of professional experience and skills in the fields of graphic arts and industrial design; 3] design and testing in ac- cordance with professional criteria and techniques; 4) submission of the resulting symbols to the recognized standards-making organization in the United States, the Amer- ican National Standards Insti- tute, and for ultimate submis- sion to the International Orga- nization for Standardization. First, to begin the consulta- tive process we held a series of exploratory meetings over a period of almost three years To these meetings we invited experts from the federal gov- ernment, from the transporta- tion industry, and from fields of graphic arts and industrial design. We drew from their expert knowledge a wide range of ideas and opinions about the merits and draw- backs of existing sign systems and how we could go about developing a sound and work- able system. To this end we formed the Advisory Commit- tee on Transportation Related Signs and Symbols to furnish advice, guidance and over- sight. We wanted the broadest pos- sible spectrum of professional advice, experience and skill in the field of graphic arts that could be found in this country. To obtain it we went to the American Institute of Graphic Arts and took the unique step of entering into a contract with AIGA for the first phase of our program. The General Services Admin- istration has designated ten installations in the United States that will cooperate with us in the testing procedure. Dulles International Airport has agreed to be a showcase for our symbols It is installing them and will assist in field testing during peak traffic hours. At least four major bicentennial committees, those for Boston. New York. Philadelphia, and Washington, are using the symbols at their various sites and events and at related transportation facilities. The object always has been to develop a comprehensive system of transportation re- lated passenger and pedes- trian oriented symbol signs. The basic group of 34 is the vital beginning. To assure a well rounded system, however, between 20 and 30 additional symbols will be needed. Work is to go forward on these sym- bols simultaneously with the development of the testing criteria and methods The additional symbols ultimately will be subjected to the same testing and evaluation and modification as the basic group. When testing and evaluation are completed, the system will be presented to the Interna- tional Organization for Stand- ardization. I'm inclined to think that their acceptance as an American standard is the most important single action that could be taken to guaran- tee wise voluntary use of these symbol signs. The federal government is in the best position to act in sup- port of uniformity and stand- ardization. This fact, even when taken alone, argues for active federal leadership. 33 Public Services Telephone Mail Currency Exchange First Aid Lost and Found Baggage Lockers Elevator Toilets, Men Toilets, Women Toilets Information Hotel Information Taxi Bus Ground Transportation Rail Transportation Air Transportation Heliport Water Transportation r c + v_ ! "^ Concessions Car Rental Restaurant Coffee Sfiop Bar Shops H J Processing Activities Ticket Purchase Baggage Check-in Baggage Claim Customs Immigration ^ Regulations No Smoking Smoking No Parking Parking No Entry ® V_ Thomas H Geismar The Department of Transporta- tion contracted with the Ameri- can Institute of Graphic Arts for the design of standard symbol signs to help pedestrians find their way through public buildings The symbols shown here are the result of that study, and are now being tested in selected sites The AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts), which was founded in 1915, is probably the closest thing we have to a national graphic design organization. To my knowledge, the symbols project represents one of the first times that the government has contracted directly with a national design organization for creative serv- ices. And it seems to me that while it certainly doesn't guaran- tee better results, there are ad- vantages to both entities from such an arrangement. For the government, it lends a certain amount of validity to the rec- ommendations, and that s un- doubtedly useful to the gov- ernment in implementing the program For the design so- ciety, the association adds a certain raison d'etre to its existence and, in this particu- lar project, allowed normally competing professionals to work together on a common goal There were already so many symbol systems throughout the world that we didn t feel we could justify drawing up yet another new group with a distinctive logo. It seemed more reasonable to review all the designs in existence, to select those concepts that seemed most effective and then to redraw the particular designs as was needed in order to produce a system with graphic unity. Now that s a somewhat unusual approach for designers to take. In addi- tion all designers disliked the idea of design by committee But the circumstances again precluded the AIGA from selecting any one member or any one firm to undertake the project on its behalf. AIGA is made up of practicing profes- sionals and educators and has a small administrative staff so it would have to go to its membership to perform crea- tive services in a project like this. Therefore, a committee was selected. The committee consisted of Seymour Chwast, Rudolf de Harak, John Lees, Massimo Vignelli and myself as Chairman. The latter four of us are all designers and we all have considerable exper- ience in developing symbols and developing signage sys- tems. Seymour Chwast, an outstanding illustrator, was chosen because we felt that the drawing or the depicting of figures and objects was a very important part of our task. This sounds like a lot of pastry chefs to make a pie, but actually our idea was that we would decide what the pie was going to be and then we'd hire another pastry chef to actually make the pie and we would taste it and be the judges of it. In addition, we hired a young designer hus- band-wife team. Don and Karen Moyer, to act as coor- dinators of the project and to do the research that was necessary The first task was to gather together examples, manuals and research from around the world, and to organize the material into comparable for- mats so each could be proper- ly evaluated Eliminating theo- retical or experimental sys- tems we compiled documen- tation on 24 symbol systems in actual use in various parts of the world. They ranged from international systems, such as the I ACO group or the International Union of Railways to national standards as those for the British, Austra- lian, Canadian. German air- port authorities, to local facilities, such as Seattle- Tacoma, and the various worlds fairs and the Olympic Games of recent times. All symbols, from every system, were reduced to the same size, approximately one inch square, and organized in a fixed sequence At the same time the Department of Trans- portation task force devel- oped a listing of the most im- portant message areas that were to be symbolized These were grouped into categories We then organized all the existing symbolsinto the same individual message areas We decided that the symbol concepts should be evaluated in two different ways. First, by the committee members individually and then in group discussion. Each committee member was given a ballot for each message area. Using the inventory pages as a guide each of us privately rated every individual symbol in the collection. Using a scale of 1 to 5, each symbol was rated on its semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic dimension or in plain English, is the meaning clear, does it work as part of a system, isthedrawing legible? We also prepared a verbal analysis and recommendations for each message area. This was then used as a brief to be followed by Cook and Janowski Associates, who were the de- signers hired by the commit- tee to actually draw or design the symbols based on our rec- ommendations. For the most part we felt that extreme ab- straction and entirely literal symbols were inappropriate for our task. Instead we searched for the simplest pos- sible image that would still be recognizable, trying to bridge the gap somehow between oversimplification and literal reality. In the introduction to the final report we stated three very strongly felt convictions about the use of symbol signs: 1 ) the effectiveness of symbol signs IS limited to certain simple messages. Its very difficult to symbolize a com- plex process; 2) it is more harmful to oversign than to undersign; and 3) symbols will be useless at a facility unless they are incorporated as part of a total sign system. 35 Landscape Architecture Environmental Planning 38 Opening Remarks Raymond L Freeman 38 Aesthetics in Environmental Planning Marilyn Duffey-Armstrong 39 Post Construction Evaluation of Design Projects Ervin H Zube 40 Public Participation in Design Planning. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco. California William Whalen, Moderator Eldon Beck Frank C Boerger Ron Treabess Raymond L. Freeman, Assistant Director for Development. National Park Service, has been with the Service since the mid- 1940s directing a wide range of programs In 1956 he was instru- mental in developing the Service s Mission 66 Program —a ten year plan for the Na- tional Parks Mr Freeman was President of the American Society of Landscape Architects from 1971-1973 William J. Whalen, General Superintendent. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, loined the National Park Service m 1965 as a psychologist in the Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center program m the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Since then, he has served as a management official at Catoctm Mountain Park and worked in the Training and Personnel Divisions, Washington, D C. Marilyn Duffey-Armstrong, Operations Analyst Engineering Systems Division. Stanford Research Institute, is best known for her expertise in environ- mental impact analysis and aesthetic assessment Her report entitled Aesthetics m Environ- mental Planning, 1973. resulted from a state-of-the-art study prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency Ervin H. Zube is Director. Insti- tute for Man and Environment, and professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts He has served as a consultant to numerous state and federal government agencies, including the Army Corps of Engineers, the Depart- ment of the Interior and the Department of Housing and Urban Development Eldon Beck, principal m the firm of Royston Hanamoto, Beck & Abey, has been engaged in the practice of landscape architec- ture for sixteen years. His firm has participated m many major land planning, urban renewal and recreational projects throughout the country Currently, Mr Beck IS principal in charge of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area iSouth Unit) Frank C. Boerger is Chairman of the 15 member Citizens Ad- visory Commission for the Golden Gate National Recrea- tion Area, appointed by the Secretary of the Interior A professional engineer and principal with Madrone Asso- ciates, he has served as coordinator for the Contra Costa County Wastewater Manage- ment Studies to define solutions for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment Ron Treabess, a landscape archi- tect, joined the National Park Service in 1965 Since then he has completed various projects for the Park Service offices in San Francisco. New York City and Washington, D C During this time Mr Treabess has par- ticipated in various master land planning programs including the Gateway National Recreational Area in New York City Rocky Mountain National Park s alpine visitor center 36 Opening Remarks Raymond L Freeman There is hardly a social, economic or environmental issue before this country that IS not somehow deeply and directly bound up with ques- tions of land use and with questions of how and where we organize our activities in space The federal government ad- ministers and manages about one-third of the nation's land, and approximately 44 percent of the land in the 1 5 states represented here is federally controlled. Now, this amount of federal involvement be- comes larger when those areas affected by federal grant programs— housing, education, medicine, flood control, agriculture, open space, recreation— are all added to this. It is in the West that many decisions will be made and actions taken that will have an effect on land- scape and environmental quality People who have lived in the West for years and who have enjoyed the wide-open spaces, the clean air, wildlife and other amenities are also touched by the way these lands are used While the environment of people IS primarily man-made, the quality of existence relies heavily upon how we deal with the renewable resources of nature. While there can be no com- pletely natural environment inhabited by people, com- pletely artificial environments are equally unlikely Environ- mental planning provides a rational relationship among population characteristics and distribution and the quality of the several identifiable en- vironments that should be protected or enhanced We are aware of the problems and need to focus on the process that contributes to problem solving and well- designed living spaces. Plan- ning and design have become extensive and complicated processes. In fact, it some- times appears that the process is the only real action we take. Our traditional end products, such as plans and the actual facilities, are developed over a very long period of time. The planning process begins with an objective or problem identification stage and prog- resses through data gathering, alternative development and assessment, plan formulation, action or project development stages and finally, an evalua- tion of both the process and the products. Inherent today in any processes undertaken by the government is the provision for public participation, in order for a decision making process to be complete, mem- bers of the public must be involved from the early objec- tive stage to the evaluation of completed projects Precise times and methods used to gain public participation, of course, must be tailored to individual situations Aesthetics is one factor of environmental quality upon which we need to focus more of our attention Not nearly enough has been done to quantify aesthetics. If one looks at environmental impact indices, it is obvious that air, water and land use planning factors are quantified to a much higher resolution than aesthetics. Evaluation of completed projects is another major item which has not received enough effort or emphasis. We must be able to determine why certain facilities are aesthe- tically and environmentally pleasing, meet management objectives and user needs and why others do not Only by systematically evaluating projects and feeding this infor- mation back into the process can we hope to improve design solutions. Improved design solutions are less costly to construct, maintain and manage The cost of good design is a legitimate cost of doing the people's business. Aesthetics in Environmental Planning Marilyn Duffey-Armstrong In trying to define aesthetics in an operational way, the major thing to look at in west- ern culture is the gradual change in criteria We no longer have uniform standards but we have individual values to deal with. Aesthetics in the dictionary IS defined as a branch of phi- losophy dealing with the nature of the beautiful and with judg- ments concerning beauty Beauty is defined as a quality that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exults the mind or spirit. I believe that beauty is a verdict, a term used to express a personal reaction and not amenable to measurement Aesthetics. however, need not be con- sidered merely a branch of classical philosophy It can be considered a body of knowl- edge in its own right. What isit about our senses, about our state of well- being, that allows us to per- ceive things in a certain way? Man has basic physiological needs that are sensory. We have visual needs, we have auditory needs, gustatory, etc. We also have certain thresh- olds. Now. the thresholds have been established in terms of health, but they haven't been established in terms of aesthetic needs We also have social and psy- chological needs that are very much related to aesthetic per- ception. Social needs can be summarized probably in the best way by saying that we have certain kinds of values that are attuned to the era that we are growing up in. to cul- tural and social pressures or cultural and social desire. So we have social needs and we also have psychological needs that are related to aesthetic perceptions. In combination with the aes- thetic variables of the human being, there also are aesthetic variables in the physical en- vironment and these are the 38 objects that relate to our per- ceptions in terms of environ- mental variables. We have air. water, vegetation, habitat, light and noise. We also have variables in terms of land use that relate to space. Then we have design characteristics which are components of the land use variables and these are the characteristic variables that are always listed in aes- thetic impact assessments: color, texture, scale, pattern. There are natural and man- made components and they all have design characteristics which must be considered. Well, if we put these together and try to determine what aesthetic impacts are, we have the existing environ- ment and we have a proposed project. We superimpose that project on that site and deter- mine what kinds of changes will take place from the project on that particular site. We identify how that site serves the individuals in that community. What are the inter- actions now that have aes- thetic importance? We deter- mine whether or not those aesthetic needs are affected by the changes in the site and these are the aesthetic im- pacts. The needs are either infringed upon or fulfilled. We do not live in a world of unlimited resources. In terms of aesthetics, we don't have much longer to start looking at what our needs are m terms of our perceptions. We don t just have needs that are visual needs. Its no longer useful to just count trees and deter- mine whether or not the color is satisfactory. We perceive through all of our senses at the same time. We need to understand how our percep- tions work and what the bal- ances are. what some of the tolerance levels are for dif- ferent individuals. We need to use the information provided to us by psychologists and sociologists in understanding what our cultural and social needs are in terms of aesthetics. Post Construction Evaluation of Design Projects Ervin H. Zube Id like to try to answer three questions in my comments: 1) what do we mean when we're talking about post- con- struction evaluation?: 2) why should we worry about post- construction evaluation, what s in it for us?: and 3) assuming you go along with me and I ve convinced you that its a use- ful thing and there's something in it for you, how do you go about doing it? How can one carry out an evaluation of a project after it's been constructed? What do we mean by post- construction evaluation? Not too long ago there was a study of the profession of landscape architecture, and one of the consultants to that study was William H. Whyte He com- mented on the failure of designers to observe the con- sequences of their actions and to systematically learn from past experience. Post-construction evaluation then is an attempt to redress these failures. The task force report on post-construction evaluation defined that activity as an appraisal of the efficacy of a design setting to satisfy and support explicit and im- plicit human needs and values. The process were using in a National Park Service study draws on this task force report and identifiesfour components of a post-construction evalua- tion process: the users, the thing that we're evaluating, the environmental context and the design activity. Who are the people using the facility? Are they visitors, resi- dents, employees? What are their perceptions of the en- vironment? What are the spa- tial and temporal variations and their patterns of use? What are their levels of satis- faction? The place, the building, the open space, whatever it is we're trying to evaluate that has been designed and built, what functions are accommo- dated? What are the relation- ships between functions, materials, spatial allocations, features and structural ele- ments and what are the quali- ties such as sound, light and temperature, some of the is- sues we were just discussing a few minutes ago and in refer- ence to that setting, what are the supportive management and maintenance programs? What surrounds the project both in a social and physical environmental sense? What's the susceptibility of the proj- ect itself to external impacts from the surrounding area and/ or what s the probability of that project creating impacts on the surrounding environment? What was the initial program of the project? What con- straints exist in terms of site selection, budget, codes, regulations? Who made the decisions, who were the key actors in this activity and how much of the project was pre- determined before the de- signer was involved and what were the designer's assump- tions as to the patterns of use and users values? Why have post-construction evaluation? 1 ) Evaluation feeds back to the programming phase of the next interaction. 2) Information on different kinds of environmental set- tings and user responses al- lows us to better understand changes over time— why doesn t a building or park work as well 1 5 years after construction as it did 5 years after^ 3} We need data which helps us make informed predictions as to social and aesthetic impacts from a range of con- struction projects. 4) To open up another line of communication with clients and users. 39 Public Participation in Design Planning: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, California William Whalen, Moderator Eldon Beck Frank C. Boerger Ron Treabess Public participation in the design process is again seen as critical to the success of this recreation area study. Ron Treabess: We re now in the second phase of the three phase process of our plan to develop a total Golden Gate Recreation Area. The second, phase has been a series of very sophisticated workshops held throughout the area that are encouraging people to help us reach decisions The Bay area is notorious for having people who want to be involved in whatever is going on That was the background that brought about the formu- lation of this park, the real de- sire of people to have a voice. The Citizens Advisory Com- mission has the overriding responsibility to devise the plan. Eldon Beck: The big thing is how do you identify the recre- ation user in the Bay area'^ It finally focuses on the quality of existing transportation, the ability to get to the site. Ron Treabess: The other as- pect of contacting the public and recording facts was that in addition to the data collection of the people throughout the Bay area, there's a very real situation of political and plan- ning entities within the Bay area that can either affect us or be affected by us. So the park undertook a series of meetings with these various groups to try to create the necessary liaison and rapport Bill Whalen: We made a very conscious effort to get in touch with all of the regional bodies, elected officials, appointed ones, and commis- sions We spent an hour or two in an informal setting with them talking about where we were in the planning process because we do interrelate so much with people such as the directors of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, with the supervisors in both Marin County and San Fran- cisco County, with the water quality people, with the Bay Conservation and Develop- ment Commission, the Asso- ciation of Bay Area Govern- ments and it goes on and on and on and you only have to fail to meet with just one of these groups one time and It s brought to your attention quite quickly. The workshops have been announced through a donation of the Municipal Transit Dis- trict that put posters in 400 buses A window poster was developed that announced the workshops and it was placed in community and youth organizations The newspapers were of tre- mendous aid as were local newsletters telling the Bay area about what was going on There hasn t been a tremen- dous turnout in numbers but there has been a tremendous turnout as to input at the workshops The workshops themselves start with a slide show and then break into small groups so that we can have an effec- tive communication The al- ternatives developed from the summary of the workshops will be ready by the early part of next year A plan will be in position for presentation by June 1, 1976. 40 Governor's Remarks Richard D. Lamm was inaugu- rated Governor of Colorado in January, 1975. From 1966-74 he was a member of the Colo- rado House of Representatives and served as Assistant Minority Leader during the last three years of his term. As a legislator. Mr, Lamm was chief sponsor of legislation providing tax relief for the elderly, no-fault automo- bile insurance, and medical licensing revisions. An advocate for careful use of the state's natural resources, he has been a strong environmental voice in Colorado for many years Governor Lamm s remarks were delivered by Roy Romer, Executive Assistant to the Governor San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is the focal point for the Golden Gate Recreation Area Colorado is proud to have this first Federal Regional Design Assembly here in Denver. We appreciate the recognition being given to this state by the selection of Colorado as the location forthisinnpressive con- ference. We claim some credit for this state, through the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities, because last year Colorado was the second state in the country to sponsor a state level design confer- ence. Five other states have now followed that lead and are also recognizing that design IS an important facet of the function of government It took the United States gov- ernment nearly 200 years to develop a federal policy toward that group of creative activities we collectively call "The Arts, " and to create a workable means of implement- ing that policy. The National Endowment for the Arts recently celebrated its 10th anniversary as an agency of the federal government, and can look back on a record of practical success that might well be envied by many other federal agencies The reasons for that success are many, but one of the most critical factors has been an unusual willingness on the part of The National Endowment for the Arts to listen to those of us who live outside Washington and to allow us to identify our needs and to develop the means of addressing those needs. The partnership be- tween the Arts Endowment and the nation's State Arts Agen- cies has been an exceptional example of what can be done through cooperative efforts, cooperative efforts. Colorado was not far be- hind the federal government in developing a policy toward the arts and a means of im- plementing the policy. The Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities, establishedby the state legislature in 1967, has become a nationally recognized leader among state arts agencies. What has happened in Washington and what has happened in Colorado oc- curred because of a growing recognition on the part of the federal and state government that the arts are as important to American life as are business, housing, employment and other major concerns. The arts offer an enrichment and meaning to Americans that is scarcely definable because of their unlimited potential. Design deserves to be recognized as an important part of art and an integral part of government. Good design results in the best utilization of the space within our buildings, the most at- tractive appearance of our structures, as well as the best presentation of our printed and visual materials. From both an aesthetic view and a good management view, we should insist upon good design in government If we begin to think of design as a management tool for the most effective presentation of information, or the most effec- tive use of our space, or as a tool to make working condi- tions more enjoyable, then we are recognizing what design is all about. Design does not mean extravagance or frills. It costs no more to design a build- ing well than it does to create cold, unattractive and for- midable structures. If our state publications are to be read, the information should be pre- sented attractively. Within the confines of our current state austerity program there is no reason why a black and white letterhead cannot serve both the purposes of providing information and being attrac- tive to look at. The world we live in is harsh enough and the impositions we place on our natural environ- ment destroy existing beauty. It is little enough to ask that what we create should attempt to add to rather than detract from the beauty of our world. While you are in Colorado you will have an opportunity to see the extent to which Colorado citizens have gone to create and re-create beauty within our cities. You will visit Boulder, one of our cities which has been most aware of the costs of growth and development and which has worked to preserve space for natural beauty. You will see the restoration of some of Denver s early architecture at what we now call Larimer Square. Ancient houses on our Capitol Hill are being painstakingly restored and preserved because the archi- tecture of that period is of a quality and variety that can en- hance our city. We hope that you appreciate the design of our Civic Center, the early dream of a farsighted mayor. Mayor Speers, who took a lot of flak in his day for clearing out tenement houses in what is now our Civic Mall and who encouraged the design of our tree-lined parkways. We think we have a beautiful city because of the efforts of many people in the past. Much of our past is worth preserving and we need to continue to be aware that what we create through government will have a long time impact on our state and our city. Whatever you can do as a part of this con- ference to help us all learn to do a more effective job will help make Colorado a more beautiful state. For this we are enthusiastic and supportive. 41 Federal Design Improvement Program National Endowment for the Arts Federal Regional Design Assembly Lani Lattin. Coordinator Joanne Marks. Denver Coordinator Joan Shantz. Washington. DC Coordinator Nancy Lucia. Administrative Assistant Federal Architecture Project Bill N Lacy, Executive Director Lois Craig. Staff Director Federal Design Education Lani Lattin, Coordinator Federal Graphics Program Jerome H Perlmutter, Coordinator Federal Design Information Nick Chaparos, Coordinator Federal Design Resources Dennis Reeder. Coordinator \' "^ .^ ■*. J Lani Lattin Joanne Marks '^- Joan Shantz ^m -X,-. 'C^^, ;►.#!< ,-.-4^wa- , _"» V *•■ ' . "^ * " 1-1?: v'i ^«^ ^^ k k r r r r f Photo Credits Assembly photographs of conferees and speakers by Captain Bobby A. fvlolleur and James E. Johnson Otto Baitz. courtesy Caudil! Rowlett Scott: p 18 Courtesy Marcel Breuer and Associates Architects: p 1 1 (bottom) Courtesy Daniel. Mann. Johnson, & Mendenhall: p 1 1 (topi Courtesy Department of the Interior, National Park Service: p 13 Courtesy Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration: p 24 Frank Gelman: p 16 Courtesy General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service: pp 15, 21 Intermedia Systems Corporation: p 29 Copyright David Plowden, 1974. from Bridges. Reprinted by permission Viking Penguin Inc: p40 .Courtesy Ervin H. Zube: p 37 Colophon Book design: James E. Johnson Book editor: Mildred S. Friedman Text type: 9/1 1 point Helvetica Regular and Medium Captions: 8/9 point Helvetica Regular and Medium Text Paper: 80 lb. Michigan Matte Cover Paper: 80 lb. Mountie cover with Plastic Covering W^y"^.,- !"«%*■■ -J im ^r^ r^ m.;^{ ■^:< ^'-'■i■■