Masonry Magazine February 1972 Page. 7
Lincoln School, Architect Gunnar Birkerts, AIA. (Photo: Cummins Engine Company, Inc.)
the Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company which opened in 1953.
The momentum for quality design began when the Cummins Engine Foundation, headed by industrialist J. Irwin Miller, offered the Foundation's resources to pay architects' fees for school buildings. Like all good offers, this one had strings attached. The Foundation said: architects must be chosen from a list of the top six American architects, the same architect could not be chosen for the next building, the original architect must design any later addition to his building, and the architect must have total design responsibility including landscaping and interior colors and furnishings. Other requirements were also spelled out.
One of the schools designed under these provisions is the W. D. Richards Elementary School. Edward Larrabee designed it in 1965. It has high brick walls topped with a series of bold, sloping roofs which create saw-toothed skylights. These provide studio-type lighting, leaving the masonry walls free for work space.
In later years, in addition to schools, the Foundation widened its offer to cover all public buildings. The first public structure resulting from the expanded offer was the Schmitt School designed by Harry Weese and dedicated in 1956. Weese also designed the Lincoln Center which he calls "a Black Forest stage setting for exhilarating winter evenings under the stars." It is a year-round recreation center for all age groups. He also designed the clubhouse at the Otter Creek Golf Course. Its championship golf course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, one of the country's foremost golf course architects.
The First Baptist Church, completed in 1965, was designed by Weese, too. The brick structure has been described by Architectural Forum as having a violently angular silhouette, looking like an expressionist miniature of a medieval village. The end wall is perforated brick screen behind which the choir, organ and access to the baptistry are located, partially shielding (Please turn page)
Four Seasons Home with chapel, designed by The Architects Collaborative, Norman Fletcher, FAIA. (Photo: Rondal Partridge.)
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