John Cheesman "Chip" Harkness (November 30, 1916 – November 28, 2016) was an American architect who was a founder and partner of

The Architects Collaborative The Architects Collaborative (TAC) was an American architectural firm formed by eight architects that operated between 1945 to 1995 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The founding members were Norman C. Fletcher (1917-2007), Jean B. Fletcher (1915-19 ...

(TAC) in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

with

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

and six other architects. He was a part of TAC from its inception in 1945 until the firm's demise in 1995. Chip Harkness was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to architect Albert Harkness and was educated at the Harvard Graduate School of Design graduating in 1941. He worked briefly for the New York firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), but as a conscientious objector during World War II, he refused to work on war-related projects. Because this was the majority of SOM's work at the time, he was let go. He was also briefly in the

American Field Service AFS Intercultural Programs (or AFS, originally the American Field Service) is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, professional ...

. In 1945, shortly after the founding of TAC, he and his wife Sarah P. Harkness joined forces with another architectural couple Norman and Jean Fletcher, also founders of TAC, to submit entries for the Smith College Dormitories competition hosted by ''Progressive Architecture'' magazine. The Harkness' came in second place. One of the earliest projects for TAC was the creation of the

Six Moon Hill Six Moon Hill is a residential neighborhood and historic district of mid-century modern houses in Lexington, Massachusetts. Description Incorporated in 1947, the community originally encompassed 28 houses which were built between 1947 and 1953. ...

neighborhood in

Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...

which featured many innovations in architecture, landscape planning and community development. The house he shared with Sarah P. Harkness and their growing family included radiant heat in the floor, skylights that were a reuse of the technology for creating bomber turrets, an open plan in which the kitchen was directly connected to living areas and large expanses of glass. All of the TAC partners other than Gropius lived there. This was followed a few years later by Five Fields residential development. During his work at TAC, Harkness was involved in designing many public and private school buildings throughout

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

, as well as urban design jobs such as Jubail New Town in Saudi Arabia, a city for 400,000 inhabitants.

Wayland High School Wayland High School is the public high school for the town of Wayland, Massachusetts, United States. During the 2021-2022 school year, there were 831 students enrolled at the high school. Wayland High School is consistently ranked as one of the b ...

received considerable attention for its "campus" style and new methods of instruction. He was elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

in 1971 as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1994. Harkness became Harvard wrestling's first NCAA national champion on March 26, 1938 when he defeated Oklahoma's Marshall Word for the 175 lbs. title. Harkness, the Crimson captain that season, also won the EIWA title and was named the EIWA's Most Outstanding Wrestler. He died on November 28, 2016, two days short of his 100th birthday.Chip Harkness, 99, last living founder of The Architects Collaborative
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harkness, John C. 1916 births 2016 deaths Architects from New York City Architects from Cambridge, Massachusetts Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni