Onward and Upward

Since the University has bid for the property where the MTA yards are now located, speculation about the form of the next House-to-be has probably begun. The urbane stateliness of the present Houses is regretably too costly for the College to duplicate; thus with the realization that the break with tradition has now been irrevocably made, some Housing suggestions for the new era are offered in the spirit of modernism.

It was not without murmered whimperings that the plans for Quincy and the Leverett House extension were greeted. Quincy rises like an aircraft carrier in dry dock; and the Leverett towers will reflect a Miami-Beach-hotel flamboyance complemented by a library which combines the best architectural features of a Peter Pan Drive-In and a Shinto temple.

It is in the spirit of Harvard's venerable tradition of eclecticism that the next House should be fashioned. Combining the appearance of Lamont and the forbidden city of Peking, the new House could perhaps be built as a Bauhaus Pagoda. Corridors could run in circles around a central elevator shaft, while a facing of gilded gargoyles could garnish the outside.

What might be in order is a House which asserts Harvard's debt to the great traditions of European building--architectural styles which must always be viewed in context of a general Zeitgeistlicheweltanschauung. One thinks immediately of the ultimate synthesis, a Greek temple with flying buttress. Such a structure would squat gracefully across Boylston Street and express the ever-existant tension between the real and the ideal.

Of course, any new Harvard House will serve as a microcosm for a new, pioneering society, and interested sociologists may wish to observe the leadership patterns among those who decide to cast light into darkness. Any such House must be fit to inaugurate the bold new concept of the Behavioral Barogue.