Sert to Seek Approval, Site for New Building

The School of Design is considering the construction of a new building to replace its present facilities in Hunt and Robinson Halls, Jose Luis Sert, dean of the Faculty of Design, said yesterday.

Plans for the design and site of the building are still indefinite, but Sert outlined a few of the major features.

"It would be better to have one large building that would house all our needs," he said. "The new building would have to double the space we have in these two old buildings." In choosing the site, "it wouldn't be our intention to go very far from here," he added.

"We could then go into many experiments that the conditions of these buildings do not allow us to go into now," Sert said. The new structure would include workshops with special equipment as well as improved facilities for the use of audio-visual aids. The School's workshops are now housed in an old bindery on Memorial Drive.

The projected building would permit the School to expand its student body, chiefly through better teaching methods. "It's more an expansion in depth than in width," Sert said.

The plans are contingent both upon the approval of the Faculty and upon to acquisition of the necessary funds. "We may have to be content with just remodeling the two buildings," Sert said.

Government Aid

Sert and Gardner E. Campbell, Jr., assistant to the dean of the Faculty of Design for Financial Development, are studying the possibility of getting government aid. "We're contemplating a series of development projects that would get us some financial help," Sert explained.

There will be announcements in the near future concerning the new building, the development program, and "what we foresee for the School in coming years in terms of new courses and new aids and methods of teaching," according to Sert.

Order in the Mess

"We believe there's an increasing awareness of the importance of guiding the growth of our cities and putting some kind of order in the mess we have around us," Sert said.

"The professional training in this school is closely tied to the shape of things to come in cities," he continued. "We would like to be of greater assistance in this matter and we believe we can do it by training more and better people to cope with these problems."