Архитекторлар Ынтымағы: 1945-1995 жылдардағы американдық тәжірибе

The Architects Collaborative (TAC) was an American architectural firm formed by eight architects that operated between 1945 and 1995 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The founding members were Norman C. Fletcher (1917–2007), Jean B. Fletcher (1915–1965), John C. Harkness (1916–2016), Sarah P. Harkness (1914–2013), Robert S. McMillan (1916–2001), Louis A. McMillen (1916–1998), Benjamin C. Thompson (1918–2002), and Walter Gropius (1883–1969). TAC created many successful projects, and was well respected for its broad range of designs, being considered one of the most notable firms in post war modernism.

Norman Fletcher, Louis McMillen, Robert McMillan, and Ben Thompson first laid the conceptual foundation for what became the Architects Collaborative while they were classmates at Yale University, where they discussed forming "the World Collaborative," which would be an ideal office combining painting, sculpture, and architecture. Upon graduation, Norman Fletcher worked with John Harkness during the war at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York, and later, John Harkness worked with Jean Fletcher for Saarinen and Swanson in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan the firm started by Eliel Saarinen. Jean Fletcher and Sarah Harkness had both studied at the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

The idea of "collaboration" was the basis of TAC. As described by McMillen, conforming to the ideal of anonymity helped bind the office together. It was carried out in that an entire group of architects have their input on a project, rather than putting an emphasis on individualism. There would be a "partner in charge", who would meet with clients and have the final decision of what goes into the design. Originally, each of the eight partners would hold weekly meetings on a Thursday to discuss their projects and be open to design input and ideas. However, as the firm grew larger there were many more people on a team and it was more difficult to consolidate into one group. Therefore, many other "groups" of architects within the firm were formed and carried out the same original objective. The position of the firm's president would be rotated amongst the senior partners.

TAC's initial work consisted of residential projects, mainly single family houses. The most notable design was Six Moon Hill in Lexington, Massachusetts, a community dwelling in which several of the houses were the residences of the founding partners, excluding Gropius. Another one of TAC's specialties in this period was school buildings, which included many elementary and secondary public schools throughout Massachusetts and New England. TAC also designed many buildings for universities, among which was the Harvard Graduate Center, a small campus of dormitories and a building devoted to student activities. King Faisal II had a bidding process for the redesign of the city of Bagdad in order to turn into a busting urban center, the process included many popular postwar architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Josep Lluís Sert, and Alvar Aalto. Gropius, alongside The Architects Collaborative designed and planned the entire campus for the University of Baghdad, from 1958 to 1963. While the innovative process the TAC architects believed so deeply was carried out successfully, it did not become the norm for architectural firms.

For the most part TAC functioned as a team rather than on an individual basis, which was considered a unique method of architectural practice, which reflected Gropius' philosophy of working collaboratively with others when he was a Bauhaus instructor in Germany prior to TAC.

YearsLocationNotes1947–1950Six Moon Hill; Moon Hill Rd, Lexington, Massachusetts1949Harvard Graduate Center; Cambridge, Massachusetts1960Wayland High School; Wayland, Massachusettsdemolished 2012.1961Embassy of the United States, Athens, Greecewith consulting architect Pericles A. Sakellarios.1961–1966John Fitzgerald Kennedy Office Building; Boston, Massachusetts1962Parkside Elementary School; Columbus, Indiana1965Rosenthal Porcelain Factory; Selb, Bavaria, Germany1967IPS Building; Nairobi, Kenya1969Tower East; Shaker Heights, Ohio1973AIA Headquarters Building; Washington, D. C.1973Amathus Beach Hotel; Limassol, CyprusThe first hotel designed by TAC (in collaboration with the Cyprus based firm Colakides and Associates).1974Health Sciences Expansion; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota1976San Francisco Tower; Kansas City, Missouri1976–1979Bauhaus Archive; Berlin, Germany1979–1984Corporate Headquarters for CIGNA; Bloomfield, Connecticut1972Shirley S. Okerstrom Fine Arts Building; Traverse City, Michigan1973Manton Research Center, Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts1975Jubail Industrial Complex, Jubail, Saudi ArabiaAn Industrial town and housing development joint project with Bechtel Group providing engineering.1984O'Neill Library; Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts1984Copley Place; Boston, MassachusettsA mixed use retail, cinema, hotel, office building development1988Heritage on the Garden; Boston, Massachusettsa condominium facing the Public Garden1982–1986Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, Sharq area, Kuwait1989Snell Library; Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts1990Flagship Wharf Condominiums; Charlestown Navy Yard, Massachusetts