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Sarah P. Harkness
Sarah Pillsbury Harkness (July 8, 1914 – May 22, 2013) was an American architect. She was a co-founder of The Architects Collaborative (TAC), an influential design firm that operated between the years of 1945 and 1995 based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At TAC, she was partner-in-charge on a wide range of building projects, particularly for educational institutions. She was author, co-author, and editor of numerous writings on the topic of design. She was one of the founders of the Six Moon Hill neighborhood in Lexington, Massachusetts where she lived for over 60 years.
Born Sarah Pillsbury in Swampscott, Massachusetts, but called "Sally", she was the daughter of Samuel Hale Pillsbury, a lawyer, and the former Helen Farrington Watters. She graduated from the Winsor School and then from the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (affiliated with Smith College).
In 1974, She received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Bates College.
Sally's first architectural project was a summer house for her parents in Duxbury, Massachusetts which she completed as a student at the Cambridge School. In this work she was supervised by Eleanor Raymond also a graduate of the school. The Pillsbury Summer House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, and is still in use as a private summer home.
Despite Harkess's success in this first project, she struggled to find architectual opportunities following graduation. She saw this as the inherent bias "against being a girl." She did gain useful professional experience and contacts in a short-lived business venture to distribute Artek furniture designed by the Finnish team of Alvar Aalto and Aino Aalto.
During World War II both she and her new husband John Cheesman Harkness (known as "Chip") interviewed at the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill. He was offered a job and worked briefly at the firm. In an interview with Professor Wendy Cox in later life, Sally said that the partner there (probably Louis Skidmore) claimed "he had never hired a woman in this office and we never <would>" Instead she began work at a company that developed a novel type of packable furniture made from plywood called Pakto. She worked there between 1941-43. Her next position, (1943–44) was with the Museum of Modern Art where she worked on preparation of traveling exhibitions.
Sally and Chip Harkness were among the founding partners of The Architects Collaborative ("TAC") in 1946. Walter Gropius, then teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design was asked to join and became the last and eighth of the founders. Despite his reputation as a pioneer of modern architecture and founder of the Bauhaus school he did not take a more senior role in the firm than the others.
The "collaborative" in the name represented a deeply held belief in a less individualistic, star-driven way of working. In 1966 Sally wrote, "The essence of collaboration is the strength of the individual. When collaboration is operating as it should, a good idea can be carried with conviction, recognized by others without loss of their own prestige. The spirit of exploration and invention, led by philopsophy, can be present in an office. Ideas are welcomed from wherever they come. Archtectural music is orchestral rather than solo. Every member is involved." In the Cox interview, she said "Collaboration is a rare and wonderful thing; it is something to strive for as opposed to competition. The idea of people contributing something to the solution of the problem is quite wonderful. You feel great if you have been able to make a contribution, even if it’s only “I’m the one who thought of moving the wall from there to there.” And it made all the difference, and I feel proud. But you have to have an attitude about it. You have to care more about the thing than you care about your own success."
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Sarah P. Harkness
Sarah Pillsbury Harkness (July 8, 1914 – May 22, 2013) was an American architect. She was a co-founder of The Architects Collaborative (TAC), an influential design firm that operated between the years of 1945 and 1995 based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At TAC, she was partner-in-charge on a wide range of building projects, particularly for educational institutions. She was author, co-author, and editor of numerous writings on the topic of design. She was one of the founders of the Six Moon Hill neighborhood in Lexington, Massachusetts where she lived for over 60 years.
Born Sarah Pillsbury in Swampscott, Massachusetts, but called "Sally", she was the daughter of Samuel Hale Pillsbury, a lawyer, and the former Helen Farrington Watters. She graduated from the Winsor School and then from the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (affiliated with Smith College).
In 1974, She received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Bates College.
Sally's first architectural project was a summer house for her parents in Duxbury, Massachusetts which she completed as a student at the Cambridge School. In this work she was supervised by Eleanor Raymond also a graduate of the school. The Pillsbury Summer House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, and is still in use as a private summer home.
Despite Harkess's success in this first project, she struggled to find architectual opportunities following graduation. She saw this as the inherent bias "against being a girl." She did gain useful professional experience and contacts in a short-lived business venture to distribute Artek furniture designed by the Finnish team of Alvar Aalto and Aino Aalto.
During World War II both she and her new husband John Cheesman Harkness (known as "Chip") interviewed at the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill. He was offered a job and worked briefly at the firm. In an interview with Professor Wendy Cox in later life, Sally said that the partner there (probably Louis Skidmore) claimed "he had never hired a woman in this office and we never <would>" Instead she began work at a company that developed a novel type of packable furniture made from plywood called Pakto. She worked there between 1941-43. Her next position, (1943–44) was with the Museum of Modern Art where she worked on preparation of traveling exhibitions.
Sally and Chip Harkness were among the founding partners of The Architects Collaborative ("TAC") in 1946. Walter Gropius, then teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design was asked to join and became the last and eighth of the founders. Despite his reputation as a pioneer of modern architecture and founder of the Bauhaus school he did not take a more senior role in the firm than the others.
The "collaborative" in the name represented a deeply held belief in a less individualistic, star-driven way of working. In 1966 Sally wrote, "The essence of collaboration is the strength of the individual. When collaboration is operating as it should, a good idea can be carried with conviction, recognized by others without loss of their own prestige. The spirit of exploration and invention, led by philopsophy, can be present in an office. Ideas are welcomed from wherever they come. Archtectural music is orchestral rather than solo. Every member is involved." In the Cox interview, she said "Collaboration is a rare and wonderful thing; it is something to strive for as opposed to competition. The idea of people contributing something to the solution of the problem is quite wonderful. You feel great if you have been able to make a contribution, even if it’s only “I’m the one who thought of moving the wall from there to there.” And it made all the difference, and I feel proud. But you have to have an attitude about it. You have to care more about the thing than you care about your own success."