1960s Ideology: MJ Long 

Architecture jury trial, ca 1959

Paul Rudolph became chairman of the Department of Architecture in 1958, and during his tenure the school was nationally and internationally acclaimed. He showed an emotional love for architecture, emphasizing the discipline as an art, not a practice. Rudolph worked constantly as both an educator and a practicing architect, and as a critic he was admired for his direct and often blunt criticism. Still because Rudolph was a tough critic, he fostered an air of competitiveness amongst students. With Rudolph at the helm, students described the department as exciting and invigorating and came to the school to become true leaders in the field and achieve their lofty ambitions. Both Judith Chafee (B.Arch. 1960) and Mary J. (MJ) Long (M.Arch. 1964) were in awe of Rudolph’s teaching style.                                

“Training at Yale for the practice of architecture is based on the concept that architecture is the rational integration of the art and science of building. Architecture is a coordinating as well as a creative activity… The humanities and the sciences form the background for creative work and technical disciplines. The student is encouraged to study the related arts and to collaborate with students in the other arts and sciences.” Bulletin of Yale University, School of Art and Architecture, 1961–1962

MJ Long received her B.A. from Smith College in 1960 before getting her B.Arch. at Yale in 1964. She was fascinated by Rudolph’s approach to architecture, and she was intent on influencing Yale architecture studies herself. She continued to work in architecture after graduation, and always remained close to Yale. In 1973 Long joined the Yale faculty and in her first years she remembered the atmosphere being distinctly “anti-women,” though she was always well respected for her work. Long was a visiting critic in the 1970s and later returned regularly to Yale to teach master’s design studios until her death in 2018.

For her thesis project, Long was tasked with designing a Benedictine monastery and an accompanying parochial school. The site is situated in downtown Newark, New Jersey, surrounded on one side by an older community and on the other side by office buildings and highways. Long focused on aspects of privacy for her design of the monastery, and community engagement for the design of the school.