The Art And Architecture Of Paul Rudolph

This work is a memorial tribute to Paul Rudolph (1918-1997) from the graduates who studied under him at the Yale School of Architecture.

Equally admired and maligned for his remarkable Brutalist buildings, Paul Rudolph (1918–1997) shaped both late modernist architecture and a generation of architects while chairing Yale’s department of architecture from 1958 to 1965. Based on extensive archival research and unpublished materials, The ArchitectureofPaul Rudolph is the first in-depth study of the architect, neglected since his postwar zenith. Author Timothy M. Rohan unearths the ideas that informed Rudolph’s architecture, from his Florida beach houses of the 1940s to his concrete buildings of the 1960s to his lesser-known East Asian skyscrapers of the 1990s. Situating Rudolph within the architectural discourse of his day, Rohan shows how Rudolph countered the perceived monotony of mid-century modernism with a dramatically expressive architecture for postwar America, exemplified by his Yale Art and Architecture Building of 1963, famously clad in corrugated concrete. The fascinating story of Rudolph’s spectacular rise and fall considerably deepens longstanding conceptions about postwar architecture: Rudolph emerges as a pivotal figure who anticipated new directions for architecture, ranging from postmodernism to sustainability.

Paul Rudolph (1918–1997) authored some of Modernism's most powerful designs and served as an influential educator while chair of Yale's School of Architecture. His early residential work in Sarasota, Florida, garnered international attention, and his later exploration of Brutalist materials nd forms, most famously embodied in his Yale Art & Architecture Building (1963), earned Rudolph both notoriety and acclaim. Many of the dynamic drawings included in this collection — selected from the architect's archive housed in the Library of Congress — illustrate his highly emotive hand and deft drafting skill. They include his designs for Tuskegee University Chapel, Interama, Lower Manhattan Expressway, his analysis of Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, and his own inventive penthouse on Beekman Place in New York City. A lively Rudolph interview, conducted in 1986, and a newly commissioned introductory essay provide context for the drawings.

The Building Blocks series presents icons of modern architecture as interpreted by the most significant architectural photographers of our time. The first four volumes feature the work of Ezra Stoller, whose photography has defined the way postwar architecture has been viewed by architects, historians, and the public at large. The buildings inaugurating this series-Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal, Wallace Harrison's United Nations complex, Le Corbusier's Chapel at Ronchamp, and Paul Rudolph's Yale Art and Architecture Building-all have bold sculptural presences ideally suited to Stoller's unique vision. Each cloth-bound book in the series contains at least 80 pages of rich duotone images. Taken just after the completion of each project, these photographs provide a unique historical record of the buildings in use, documenting the people, fashions, and furnishings of the period. Through Stoller's photographs, we see these buildings the way the architects wanted us to know them. In the preface to each volume Stoller tells of his personal relationship with the architect of each project and recounts his experience photographing it. Brief introductions reveal the unique history of each building; also included are newly drawn plans.

Paul Rudolph, one of the twentieth century’s most iconoclastic architects, is best known – and most maligned – for his large “brutalist” buildings, like Yale’s Art and Architecture Building. So it will surprise many to learn that early in his career he developed a series of houses that represent the unrivaled possibilities of a modest American modernism. With their distinctive natural landscapes, local architectural precedents, and exploitation of innovative construction materials, the Florida houses, some eighty projects built between 1946 and 1961, brought modern architectural form into a gracious subtropical world of natural abundance developed to a high pitch of stylistic refinement. Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses reveals all of Rudolph’s early residential work. With Rudolph’s personal essays and renderings, duotone photographs by Ezra Stoller and Joseph Molitor, and insightful text by Joseph King and Christopher Domin, this compelling new book conveys the lightness, timelessness, strength, materiality, and transcendency of Rudolph’s work.

Exhibition held: October 1 - November 14, 2010, The Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. Gallery, The Cooper Union; curated by Ed Rawlings and Jim Walrod.

"Writings on Architecture collects in one volume nineteen essays, lectures, and interviews by architect Paul Rudolph, Chairman of Yale's Department of Architecture from 1958 to 1965 and designer of Yale's Art and Architecture Building, now renamed Paul Rudolph Hall. These texts are as important today as when they were first articulated, extending across the full sweep of Rudolph's career from his beginning years as a residential architect practicing in Sarasota, Florida, through his time at Yale when he was at the peak of his worldwide influence, to the last years of his career."--BOOK JACKET.

The light- and breeze-filled modern houses in Florida of the 1950s – featured in Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses – and the hard-lined silhouette of Yale's Art and Architecture Building (1962) are the two images that come to mind when one thinks of Paul Rudolph. Yet, few people know the work of the last decades of his life, from the 1970s through the 90s. Published here for the first time, Rudolph's final works are explored through his masterful pencil drawings, models, and photographs, as well as the last interview of his life with architect Peter Blake. In a book that considers these projects in the context of his early success, Roberto de Alba explores the architect's buildings designed from 1969 to 1996 and includes an astonishing variety of projects, many built, such as houses, towers, bungalows, chapels, corporate buildings, and urban plans of a monumental scale. All show the complicated interplay of space, light, and mass that are the trademarks of Rudolph's genius. Through de Alba's close contact with the architect before his death, Rudolph's own vision is conveyed in descriptive texts and accompanying images. Paul Rudolph: The Late Work is designed as a companion volume to The Florida Houses, and is the second in a planned three-volume set of the complete works of this legendary architect.