AGENDA FINE ARTS COMMISSION MEETING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87-01130R000100030049-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 6, 2002
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: August 27, 1973
• Content Type: AG

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AGENDA
FINE ARTS COMMISSION MEETING
1000 Hours, 27 August 1973, Rm 7B44 Hqs
1. Stairwell Colors:
Please look at the three painted stairwells:
C Corridor, 1st Floor; F Corridor, 1st Floor; and
North E Corridor, all floors. We will again discuss
stairwell colors.
2. Reber Pamphlet:
Be prepared to discuss the pamphlet distributed with
the minutes of the last meeting.
3. Exhibition Schedule:
Some suggestions for exhibitions have been submitted
in response to our employee bulletin. We will review
these suggestions.
4. Telephone Book Design:
I I will present the final design of the Agency
telephone DOUA to the Commission for approval.
STATINTL
Chaim,
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Employee Comments
on the
Chinese Exhibition
Very interesting!
A lovely exhibition. Very interesting!
Amazing. Excellent.
Excellent exhibit. Should light it so it could be seen.
Simply magnificent. It's marvelous to be able to view
such simplistic beauty at the office.
Very good.
This is a fine exhibit. In the event you have another on
Chinese art, I have a few pieces of antique ivory which
may be of interest.
Suggest more care with lighting.
Turn on the lights so one can see the displays!
Beautiful sure!!
Sincere appreciation to the owner(s) for sharing these
lovely things with us!!
Excellent exhibit!
What does Chinese art have to do with intelligence? Get
another intelligence display.
For me, the loveliest and most enjoyable display to date.
Very interesting. Would be nicer if the lights would be
kept on.
Superb -- a real inspiration!
Very fine exhibit -- interesting because of its diversification.
Turn on the lights!
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Very, very interesting!
Should you have a further Chinese exhibit, I can provide
bronze mirror and grave figures from the Han through the
Ching Dynasties.
Ah Sooooo Vaily Goood.
A beautiful, inspiring presentation. Thanks for taking
the time and effort to share it.
How Lucky I am! That I should happen to come olUt to HQ
on business while this exhibit is here.
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TO ALL CIA EMPLOYEES:
The Central Intelligence Agency is fortunate to.have a
headquarters building and campus which among federal build-
ings ranks as one of the most attractive and interesting.
Allen Dulles, the Director of Central Intelligence
from to' , was the moving force in the
creation of our headquarters. Among other things he was most
interested in the wooded campus and personally marked those
trees to be saved during construction.
Colonel Red White, the then Deputy Director for Support,
painstakingly gave oversight to the design created by the
architectural firm of Harrison and Abramovitz of New York.
The construction was completed in 1961.
CIA management considers the use, maintenance and
improvement. of our facilities wherever located to be an
important part of our stewardship to the United States
Government and the citizens of our country. As an aid to
carrying out this trust this booklet has been prepared. It
seeks to inform all employees of the background and content
? of our environment and to earnestly urge that all of us do
our part in preserving it. An attractive environment con-
tributes to our individual well being. In the long run it
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costs less. Avoiding unnecessary expenditures of funds and
waste of our material assets is also a part of our steward-
ship. The concern and cooperation of employees, General
Services Administration which manages the physical plant, and
management at all levels is imperative to success in our
endeavor.
The publication of this booklet is part of a com-
prehensive and continuing environmental plan. Only through
such a plan can we wisely spend the limited funds available
for our physical surroundings.
HAROLD L. BROWNMAN
Deputy Director
for
Management and Services
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WHAT IS DESIGN
Design is a purpose, a plan which-sets out to achieve
a specific goal. Design takes individual parts and works
them together in a way that creates a total which is greater
than the sum of the individual parts. The fundamental re-
quirement for a successful institutional environment z.s
planned and integrated design. At Headquarters for instance
the building and campus are part of the design planned by the
original architects. The sharp lines of the building are
softened by the trees and shrubbery that surround it. In-
side, the predominant whiteness of the walls is complimented
by the colored door and accent panels. The important thing
about design is that once it has been defined and is success-
ful it should not be indiscriminately altered. Any modi-
fication of a basic design component should be the subject
of careful study. If it is not the integrity of the entire
design could be threatened.
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DESIGN FOR OFFICES
In general, we have been more successful with. our design
for public, spaces than for private offices. One reason for
this. is that public spaces are more readily subject ;o a
overall discipline. Our problems in preserving our design
in public spaces. relate principally to the way we as em-
ployees use them and problems of. maintenance, Coffee stains,
litter on floors, and soil marks from leaning against walls
suggest ways where we as. individuals can help. Workmen
also contribute to disfigurement through splashing of wax
on walls when the floors are being waxed and the leaning of
stepladders and building materials against painted walls,
as illustrations. Initially the white paint was flat, but
we have now turned to a semi-gloss which we find to be more
resistant to soil and abrasion.
Unlike earlier federal buildings such as the old State
Department and Department. of Interior, our headquarters
building has relatively few interior masonry walls. The
purpose was to allow flexibility to meet changing conditions.
It was also in the short run less expensive, but it creates
problems---no thing is permanent. This leads to a continuing
need for reestablishing order in our offices. Order is the
key to design. Lack of order. in our offices, provoked by
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overcrowding and our inability to establish and maintain
standards of order throughout our offices has led to dis-
comfort, a sense of frustration, or depression at times.
The explanation in part is our penchant for covering office
walls with assorted objects from cartoons and calendars to
maps, the latter being easily accessible in the Agency for
both functional and esthetic purposes. We recognize the
importance of clean facilities which requires a more exten-
sive char force than funds have permitted since we entered
the building. No relief in this regard is in sight. Self
help here begins with Bash of us being conscious of the need
to be as tidy as possible.
Many of our offices have excess furniture which does
not serve functional purposes. This contributes to a feeling
of congestion. We frequently consider office safes to be our
enemy. Yet office safes are to an office what a stove is to
a kitchen, a necessary part of the job. If we remove the
scotch tape and the things frequently stacked on top of it
we call less attention to the safe. This important mainten-
ance job should be done by each of us individually.
An office is, indeed a private place. Theindividual
spends more time there than in any other single place. He
feels the need to surround himself with objects of a per-
sonal character which make him feel more comfortable. When
this is overdone, however, clutter results. Clutter is the
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enemy of good design in that it makes space smaller aid
usually lacks a center of interest to invite the eye.
Those who from their foreign travel or otherwise have
acquired objects for wall decoration and which are meaning-
ful to the individual could. use them as wall hangings if
they wished. The Agency, however, as a matter of policy
does not provide framing for such objects.
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A LOOK AT OUR SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Our first floor and the adjoining campus have been
gradually developed to provide services to our employees
and areas of special interest and relaxation.
The main quadrangle, with its spacious well-lighted
walkways and pure color accents, is the center for movement
of most employees whether located in headquarters or outlying
buildings who have business here. Contemporary paintings
are on loan from the Corcoran Art Gallery. Our history is
in part reflected in the portrait gallery of previous
Directors of Central Intelligence.
The Exhibit Corridor - 1D - has in the last ten years
presented some fifty cultural exhibits such as traveling
art exhibits, Agency employee art shows, the historical
exhibit on the Cuban missile crisis; and special exhibits
such as the Escher exhibit, a collection of an Agency
employee.
The Credit: Union, centrally located on this. quadrangle,
is conveniently located to give financial assistance to
employees.
The North and South cafeterias with their vaulted
ceilings and expanses of glass looking out on the campus
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are complemented by the Rendezvous Room, providing a buffet
in a relaxing atmosphere with contemporary appointments. It
is open to.all Agency employees. Receptions which were earlier
held in outside commercial facilities can be held in the
Rendezvous Room.
Proximate to the Credit Union and-the eating facilities
are the ticket office and store operated by the Employee
Activity Association.
From the building to the campus there are eight exits
affording easy access for strolling at the noon hour or
for outdoor eating.
Planning calls for the installation of a self-service
post box in the tunnel entrance. It will.take a longer
time to develop the Agency museum which will be housed,
according to current thinking, in corridor IA. This loca-
tion would permit use with or separate from the exhibit
corridor.
Plans are also underway to develop trails for noon
time walks in the woods toward and along the river as well
as bicycle trails on campus which would connect with the
National Park Service public bicycle paths.
Employee medical services are also available at the
first floor next to the exhibit hall., This area was one of
the first to be designed in contemporary mode.
From this listing it is readily apparent that we have
developed in our ground floor area an arcade effect where
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without leaving the building employees have easy access to
service units planned to relate effectively to our handsome
corridors.
The whole has been planned for desired emotional lift
as one moves through the building.
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DESIGN AND THE INDIVIDUAL
In the long run the maintenance and preservation of
an environment or a design is the responsibility of each
individual. Whether by carelessness or lack of thought, it
is the individual who destroys the environment or violates
the design. If we all do our part we all benefit. But
when a few are thoughtless, we all suffer. We are proud
to have one of the handsomest buildings in the federal complex.
Our master plan for maintaining high environmental standards
in all our facilities has been praised by many important
visitors who have compared ours with their own environments.
However, we have a continuing task of improvement. We hope
your individual pride will prompt you to help us improve.
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