You can’t fix problems with the same thinking that made the problems

Walter Cudnohufsky wasn’t satisfied with the status quo. He had received a Master’s degree in landscape architecture from Harvard in 1965, spent eighteen months traveling, and was teaching design at a large university. He was frustrated with traditional design education, which he considered too compartmentalized, inflexible, and theoretical.

He had explored design education in his graduate thesis and had been reading progressive education theory. He wanted to try a new way of doing things, with hands-on learning, more like a working design office. He thought it should be student-based, not institutionally organized, and he wanted it to be a shared experience that emphasized teamwork. He wanted to start a new school that would turn design education on its head. And he did.

A PERSONAL LOAN LAUNCHES THE SCHOOL

Although he hadn’t envisioned a design school in a rural setting, for reasons of economy, Walt began the school in his Conway home and peripheral buildings—a sugar-house and a converted barn. He secured an $8,000 personal loan to pay for renovations and float the school in its first year. Construction took place over the summer of 1972, in anticipation of the first class—seven men and two women, mostly from Massachusetts.

Classes were held every day, at times with studio also every day. There might be an impromptu stone wall building demonstration or other invitations to “learn by doing.” Chores were always part of the sharing, potlucks and games part of the fun. Communications always was and still is an important focus of the school.

Walt’s belief was that if you can’t explain your ideas in writing and speaking, then you’re not in charge of yourself or what you’re doing.

SECOND DIRECTOR ARRIVES AS STUDENT

Don Walker, who would prove to be a major force in the evolution of the school, came as a student in 1978. He already had two degrees in landscape architecture and much experience in teaching and practice. He, too, was disillusioned with his teaching experience and the persistent pressure to do research. With Don’s addition to the staff came a gradual shift in focus from teaching traditional landscape architecture to encouraging design that is environmentally sound. Increasingly applicants were seeking this new way of looking at design.

ACCREDITATION ACHIEVED

The New England Association of Schools and Colleges granted full accreditation effective 1989. In 1992, Walt left the school to put into practice the things that he had been teaching. He began what continues to be a thriving private practice, one that has many ecological and community building dimensions. Today he regards the Conway School as his greatest lifetime contribution, while giving credit to the people who are carrying the school forward.

Don Walker became Director in 1992, a position he held until his retirement in 2005. Don and staff oversaw the move from the school’s thirty-year home to a nearby wooded hilltop. The 34.5-acre campus is being planned as a learning laboratory for sustainable design.

Conway’s third director, landscape architect and conservation planner Paul Cawood Hellmund, is committed to the school’s unique teaching approach and to sustainable design. He also has a strong interest in expanding the school’s perspective to global environmental opportunities. In the school’s lively history, some things, such as its outward appearance and personnel, have changed. Other things, especially its focus on individualized learning, will always remain as constants.

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Learn more about the Conway School

This Fortieth Anniversary Report includes “Hiking the Leeward Hills: A Mosaic of the Conway School’s Forty Years.”

Learn even more in a book commemorating the Conway School’s fortieth year. Drawing Lessons: Forty Years of Design Education at the Conway School is 116 pages and heavily illustrated.