|
Atelier - a workshop or studio, especially for an
artist.
The Vito Battista Atelier Foundation, 141 Willoughby Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11201, was founded in 1990, as a Not for
Profit Corporation, by Vito P. Battista, R.A. to encourage the advancement
of Architecture by using the model of the atelier, which was popular in
Europe in the 1800’s and through the 1930’s.
Mr. Battista's education and professional career was highly influenced by the atelier concept and as a tribute to this system of education, he established the Vito Battista Atelier Foundation to perpetuate this ideal.
The purpose for the corporation is educational
and charitable and, as stipulated in its Articles of Incorporation, the
purpose is to:
- Promote and encourage interest in Architecture from its earliest concepts
to the limits of Man's creativity
- To promote the science of Architecture and related technologies and
sciences.
- To provide a workshop environment for the continued training of Registered
Architects and promising Architectural graduates.
- To promote research in Architecture.
- To assist community groups, including but not limited to schools,
libraries and housing agencies, in the implementation and review of
civic projects dealing with architecture.
Among the projects supported by the Vito Battista Atelier Foundation:
Downtown Brooklyn Development Project Planning
Grant
Regional Plan Association
Americans with Disabilities Act Guidelines Seminar
American Institute of Architects, Brooklyn Chapter
Computer Laboratory Network Installation
Internet Web Page Development and Maintenance
Vito P. Battista Library Development
Institute of Design and Construction, Brooklyn, New York
Public Lecture Series
Professional Design Center of New York, Inc.
Presidents Lecture Series
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
Vito Piranesi Battista, R.A. - 1908-1990
Vito P. Battista, born in Bari, Italy came to the United States when he was three years old. As a teenager, he dropped out of school to help his father run an ice business in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Realizing the importance of an education, he attended Brooklyn Evening School (which later became Boys High School) and then went on to earn an architecture degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, and a Master's Degree in Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also received a scholarship to study at L'Ecole Des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, France, and received a diploma in 1932. He also received a diploma from the Beaux Arts Institute of Design in New York. He did graduate work at both Columbia University and at New York University.
As an architect, he participated in the design of the 1939 Worlds Fair, the Brooklyn Civic Center, the State Supreme Court building in Brooklyn and many other large public buildings.
He was active in the Brooklyn Chapter of the American Institute of Architects where he was president from 1951-1953; and was a director of the New York State Association of Architects and the New York City Society of Architects.
His most gratifying accomplishment was the founding of the Institute of Design
and Construction, a junior college offering associate degrees. The Institute
was founded to help talented students who could not afford to attend a full
time university become professional architects. He instituted a "Work and Study Program" to
help students help finance their own education by attending a full program for
the first year at low tuition, then returning in the evening to complete their
education while working during the day.
Vito Battista was also extremely influential in helping students prepare for the State Board Examinations for Architectural Licensing.
Many currently practicing architects were helped to achieve their professional ambition by the mentoring of Vito Battista.
The Library at the Institute of Design and Construction in now named The Vito P. Battista Library.
|
