"Packaged House" System, 1942-1952: Section

1937–1952

I. M. Pei among his Harvard students

Among Gropius’s Harvard students was the future famous architect of Chinese origin I. M. Pei, builder of the Louvre’s glass pyramid.

during the Second World War

Information on German houses for British bombing raids

Like other refugee German architects, Gropius gave the RE8 research department of the British Air Ministry information on the typical construction of German houses; it was used to find the most efficient way of setting fire to houses with incendiary bombs, in planning raids such as the bombing of Hamburg in July 1943.

1944

Becomes an American citizen

In 1944 Gropius became a naturalised citizen of the United States.

1945

Senior partner of The Architects Collaborative

In 1945 the young founding members of The Architects Collaborative (TAC) in Cambridge asked Gropius to join as their senior partner: the firm embodied his lifelong belief in teamwork, which he had already successfully introduced at the Bauhaus. Among TAC’s earliest works were the residential developments Six Moon Hill and Five Fields in Lexington.

1947 · Distinction

Honorary Royal Designer for Industry

1952

Retires from Harvard

In 1952 Gropius retired from the chairmanship of the Department of Architecture; at the end of his career he also sat on the Visiting Committee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.