TAC

abbr. Tactical Air Command.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

American architectural partnership formed in 1945 by WALTER GROPIUS, Norman Collings Fletcher (b Providence, RI, 8 Dec 1917), Jean Fletcher, John Cheesman Harkness (b New York City, 30 Nov 1916), Sarah Pillsbury Harkness, Robert Senseman MacMillan (b Hibbing, MN, 4 April 1916), Louis Albert McMillan (b St Louis, MO, 24 Oct 1916) and Benjamin Thompson (b St Paul, MN, 3 July 1918). Although Gropius was Professor of Architecture at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, where the group was formed, the majority were graduates of the School of Architecture at Yale University, New Haven, CT. The partnership's original design philosophy reflected Gropius's central preoccupations, particularly the social responsibilities of architecture and the unity between aesthetics and technology. The partnership was organized cooperatively, with profit-sharing and democratic decision-making. Unlike the specialized roles that developed in most architectural partnerships, members of TAC were intended to become architectural all-rounders through an exchange of knowledge. The group's motto, 'teamwork by individualists', reflected the fact that final design decisions could be taken by individual partners. The collaborative method, essentially involving small teams working on separate projects within a shared general outlook, ensured considerable productivity over many decades.

See the Abbreviations for further details.