Albert Mayer (planner)
| Albert Mayer | |
|---|---|
Mayer photographed by Carl Mydans, 1936
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| Born |
December 29, 1897 New York City, United States |
| Died | October 14, 1981 (aged 83) New York City |
| Nationality | American |
| Education |
Columbia University Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Planner, architect |
| Known for | Plan of Chandigarh |
Albert Mayer (December 29, 1897 - October 14, 1981), an American planner and architect. He is well known for his contribution to American new town development and his innovative planning work in India, including the master plan of Chandigarh, the new capital of the Indian Punjab. Mayer practiced as an architect in New York City post-1935, as an engineer stationed in India for the U.S. Army during World War II, and a planner and consultant after World War II.
Mayer was born in New York City and attended Columbia University and then Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a degree in engineering in 1919. After working for several years post-graduation in the civil engineering sector, Mayer became interested in the social ramifications of design and a few years later he became a registered architect.
Mayer was said to be “one of a group of socially oriented architects, planners and urban theorists, including Lewis Mumford, Clarence Stein and Henry Wright." With Mumford and Wright, Mayer co-founded the Housing Study Guild, a group of design professionals that explored rapid urbanization at the turn of the 20th century. This group was publicly funded and studied different typologies of public housing.
Mayer returned to Columbia University after he retired from the professional world to teach.
Albert Mayer designed many large-scale apartment buildings in New York and was a senior partner at Mayer, Whittlesey & Glass, an architecture firm started in 1935. Mayer worked on large-scale housing projects and his interest and involvement to this sector ultimately led the US Government to change their housing policy in the 1930s thus establishing the United States Housing Authority in 1937.
Mayer designed many apartment buildings in Manhattan. He also served as a consultant for large-scale housing projects all around the country from Cleveland to San Antonio to Miami.
When Mayer was not working in New York, he was a consultant in a variety of international settings. Mayer served as a planning consultant in places like British Columbia, Israel, and India. He believed that it was the duty of planners to “bring order to the urban landscape." Mayer believed that new towns were a solution to the sprawling, organically grown cities of the prior age. Like many of his contemporaries, including Lewis Mumford and Clarence Stein, Mayer saw a solution in planning tha prevented rapid growth and industrialization. He believed that planned cities could meet all of the social needs of the new generation and Mayer was given this very task in the case of Chandigarh.
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