Something about the Nature of Architecture: The History of the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library

Paul Rudolph

Paul Rudolph in front of Art & Architecture building

Born in Kentucky the son of an itinerant preacher, Paul Rudolph (1918-1997) received a master's degree from Harvard University in 1947, studying under Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. His studies were interrupted for three years during WWII while he served in the US Navy as a ship construction supervisor. Rudolph began his architecture career with a series of residential designs in Florida, earning recognition for his innovative use of materials and modular designs, culminating in the widely regarded Walker Guest House (1952). During the early 1950s, Rudolph often traveled outside of Florida to teach and lecture, critiquing early modern design (International Style) and developing his own bold, experimental solutions for architecture. Cementing his reputation further, Rudolph put together "The Good Design Exhibition" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City which opened in 1952, and was awarded the "Outstanding Young Architects Award" in 1954. 

Paul Rudolph with building model (1960s)

For his first university building project, Rudolph was picked to design the Mary Jewett Arts Center at Wellesley College  in 1955. In the fall of 1957, while Yale was enthusiastic for modern architecture, President Whitney Griswold asked him to lead the Yale Architecture department as chairman. Shortly after, Rudolph would be given the task of planning the new Art & Architecture building for campus, an ambitious project that would stretch on until 1964 and would ultimately become the definitive work of his career. During his 8-year tenure at Yale, Rudolph continued his busy architectural practice, designing for both public and private clients. These included massive brutalist works like ENDO Laboratories in New Jersey (1960) and the Boston Government Service Center (1962). By 1962, Rudolph led offices in New Haven, Cambridge, and New York City. During this prolific period, his office left traces on our local landscape designing a total of five buildings in New Haven, for both the campus and the city which still stand today: Greely Memorial Lab (1957), the Art & Architecture building (1958), Temple Street Garage (1959), Married Student Housing (1960), and Crawford Manor (1962).