Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 7, 2003|Volume 32, Number 10

Architect Robert Damora took this photograph of John Johanson's "Sprayed Concrete House" for the "Seeds for Architecture Program" 1956-1958. It is among the images by Damora on view in the new School of Architecture exhibition.

Exhibit looks at Robert Damora's
'70 Years of Total Architecture'

An exhibition of selected work by the modernist architect and photographer Robert Damora, who is known for using his virtuosity in one art form to enhance the other, will be on display at the School of Architecture Gallery Nov. 17-Feb. 6.

This original exhibition was designed by Damora and organized by Dean Sakamoto, critic in design and director of exhibitions at the School of Architecture.

"Robert Damora, 70 Years of Total Architecture" will feature design, research and photography by the alumnus, who received his Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1953 from Yale, where he studied under George Howe, chair of the then Department of Architecture.

Damora's project for the Cape House received Architectural Record magazine's 1962 House of the Year Award, and his work was displayed in the acclaimed "Visionary Architecture" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1960. As a photographer on assignment, Damora created iconic images of works by architects such as Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Louis Kahn, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Edward Stone, Paolo Soleri and Paul Rudolph.

In tribute to Rudolph, designer of the Yale Art & Architecture Building where the exhibition takes place, the show will include Damora's montage of Rudolph and his masterwork, which was published on the cover of Progressive Architecture in 1964, as well other photographs of the landmark Yale building.

In addition, the exhibition will showcase Damora's work as the director and photographer of United States Steel Corporation's research and development program of exploratory architecture designed with advanced concrete structures. His images of this influential program of design proposals by the foremost architects and structural engineers of the 1950s were widely published in professional journals and popular magazines such as House & Garden and Look.

Drawings and models of Damora's designs for the "Better Houses at Lower Cost" program of the early 1960s will also be on display. The architectural initiative, which is still active today, emphasized designs that used fewer parts and simpler assemblies.

Accompanying the exhibition will be a 25-page catalogue with selections of Damora's photographs, a preface by School of Architecture Dean Robert A.M. Stern and an interview with Damora by Sakamoto. A limited number of these catalogues will be available to the public free of charge.

An opening reception will take place on December 1, 6-8 p.m., in the gallery.

The Art & Architecture Building is located at 180 York St. The gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, contact the School of Architecture at (203) 432-2288, or visit the school's website at www.architecture.yale.edu.

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