Pratt Institute - Prattonia Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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PARP AB BY I WO MO A ir br “a Construction Management Have you ever considered what your biographer will have to say about you? I’ve even fantasized about where I will be when they get around to writing it. Some- times I’m a rich old timer with enough fight left in me to employ a battery of lawyers to set the record straight. More often than not, I’m six feet under and rather indifferent. Now that I’m about to graduate let me tell you some- thing, while it’s still fresh in my head. It was a rainy Wednesday, we all left the job and headed for “Bordie’s”. I know it was “Bordie’s” because we got paid on Thursday and the beer was cheap; I had known these guys all my life. Uncle Vito, Sal, and a couple of cousins, even my old man was there just before the accident. Vito and I were having our annual debate over my re- turning to school. Of course I had all the facts. Federal Pro- grams, the earn and learn angle, Pratt's reputation. He claimed I sounded like a car salesman and I guess he was right. The match book Vito was toying with hap- pened to be one of those “are you stuck in a dead end job” numbers. You know the ones. The afternoon brews distilled the sim- ple message into the rallying point I needed. Sure I knew the business, I explained, and yes, I was making a good buck and no, I didn’t think I was smarter than anyone else, but, I knew myself well enough to know I wouldn’t be happy without the bucks on the management side of the busi- ness. The conversation ended the same time as the rain. I still don’t know why I had those matches in my pocket the night of the funeral, but when I went up to light a candle, there they were. Friend biographer, they are still with me.

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Joseph Cusumano, Thomas Hollander, ?, Leroy Pratt, René Bowen, Leroy Harris DO Oy OAD ny i OAS Aa

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We came to Pratt a number of years ago, as clients looking for a mind to be constructed. Our pockets full of holes, we went to banks to finance this long five year project. We thought we had a pretty good idea what the end product was going to look like, and what function it would serve. Little did we know about archi- tects and their mischievous ways. The site of our mind was virginal and virtually untouched. Certain first year professors bid on laying the foundation of our mind. After the contracts were awarded, they bulldozed their way onto the site, and totally and rudely uprooted our naivety. After a while we felt we were left with just a gaping hole in our cerebral ground. These teachers then proceeded to firmly place the foundation—basic and sound. Yet at that stage we had thoughts that revisions in our original design had been made; even suspected some faulty con- struction. Next, systems were incorpo- rated. Systems of forms, systems of logic, systems of styles, sys- tems vs. systems. At that time we wondered if the project should be abandoned altogether because of a lack of funds, shoddy work attitudes of the contractors and our own doubts whether the mind we wanted originally con- structed was even worth it all. And yet the work continued and our minds grew and grew. Now on the eve of our grand opening we have difficulty com- ing to terms with what was created for us. A hodgepodge of styles. A little of this and a little of that. However it can be described, it is unusual and peculiarly ours. But the real challenge now is deciding what to do with the mind, as it has been a case of form before function. Wee hh MTT TTL Te a Te TOT TT TTT TT ARCHITECTURE Kathryn Zimbalatti, Melvin Cummings, Anibal Galindez, Jay Singer, Eileen McNin- nie, Alexandra Mazzeo Below Ayelet Artzi, Kenneth Fladen, Michael Biagioli, John Haskopoulos, Bob Stevens, Kenneth Bere, James Petitto, Stephen Beacham, Wendy Chow, Cassandra McGovern, Hooker Van Deusen, Mario Rincon, Mark Cooperman, Dennis Grasso, David Thruston, David Lederman Klain, Len Lizak, Chris Guerra, T czyk, Bill Simmons, Paul Chud Regis, Cliff Broffman, Bonni Corvino, George Tougias, Alexis Ann de Vere, Cathie Franco E. Romao, Cy Seid pied pimmelg Alera piemeig NTR Nila STG DIR DTA NRT, Daly DIM nT) NRA Nie NPL Nie en Die Ue Nim Ni