Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 22, 1995 TAG: 9502220063
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The program is at 3 p.m. in Hancock Auditorium. Also Friday is an exhibit of Wright's work in the Cowgill Hall lobby and a special exhibit of Wiss' work, including photographs, architectural drawings and watercolors, in the Hancock Hall lobby.
Tafel was Wright's student for nine years and became a senior fellow at his architectural complex, the Taliesin Fellowship. His talk will be called "The Frank Lloyd Wright I Knew."
Wiss' colleagues credit him with much of the success of Tech's architecture program.
"While embarking on the design and implementation of my new architectural curriculum, I saw ... Wiss as a 'shock absorber' or a stabilizer in my rather radical approach to architectural education. I found ... Wiss' sensitivity to student needs an indispensable ingredient to the success of Virginia Tech," Charles Burchard, the college's first dean, said in a news release.
Wiss, who was a professor of architecture history from 1947 to 1983, built a house in Blacksburg that reflects Wright's idea of "organic architecture," a type of design that considered the building's site in its architecture. It was regularly studied by students of architecture, landscape architecture and horticulture.
Wiss, who died at age 81, donated his extensive slide collection and papers to the college after his retirement. In 1988 the college founded the Henry Wiss Prize for Academic Achievement in the History and Theory of Architecture.
The college has renamed its Center for Theory and History of Architecture the Henry H. Wiss Center for Theory and History of Art and Architecture.
by CNB