Rudolph's view of the UN General Assembly building

Dag Hammarskjöld outside the UN building in 1953. Photo: Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

Paul Rudolph was a fan of Le Corbusier's work. So much so, that he radically changed his design of the Art & Architecture building at Yale following a visit to Corbusier's chapel at Ronchamp. But his criticism could be as strong as his praise.

A friend of the Foundation alerted us to the following excerpt from the February 1st, 1953 edition of the Sydney Herald about the then-recently completed United Nations building:

“Walking through the General Assembly building for the first time last month, a prominent younger-generation American architect, Paul Rudolph, disliked what he saw. ‘It brings the so-called International style close to bankruptcy,’ he said in “Architectural Forum” ‘The building is not really a product of the International style, but rather a background for a grade B movie about “one world” with Rita Hayworth dancing up the main ramp.”

Ouch.

Is that a look of anticipation in Dag Hammarskjold's face while he waits for the show to begin?

If you have a favorite quote you found and you'd like to share, let us know!

Paul Rudolph, The 'Future' and Brain Science

The Future Condominiums. Photo: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Paul Rudolph’s design of the exterior of the Future Condominium is used as an example of optical illusion in the article ‘Can we change our vantage point to explore imaginal neglect?’ published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences by Paolo Bartolomeo and Sylvie Chokron.

Image: Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Write Bartolomeo and Chokron,

The objects in Figures 1 and 2 were designed to represent the salient features of a building, two views of which are shown in Fig-ure 3 (Griffiths & Zaidi 2000; Halper 1997). Notice that in the left panel the balconies seem implausibly tilted up, whereas in the right panel they implausibly appear tilted down. A frontal view of the building reveals the balconies to be horizontal parallelograms.

This knowledge never weakens the illusion.

Image: Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Paul Rudolph’s building exterior. Photo: Nicolas Janberg

The 35-story building, located at 32nd Street and Third Avenue, was built in 1990-1993.

Floor plan showing the parallelogram shape of the balconies. Image: Douglas Elliman

The building has 165 condominium apartments and was developed by Donald Zucker. It was designed by Costas Kondylis with Paul Rudolph as consulting architect for the building’s distinctive exterior.

Rudolph inspired dollhouse for your 'miniature Modernist'

The Dylan House. Photo: Brinca Dada

Who says a dollhouse has to be Victorian? If you are looking for a cool holiday gift to inspire a young future architect, we found some amazing examples at Brinca Dada. The above caught our attention for an obvious reason:

Inspired by the minimalist masterpieces of Paul Rudolph and Tadao Ando, the brinca dada Dylan Dollhouse House with Furniture features a concrete-and-glass feel, but with the breezy openness of a beachfront home. Floor-to-ceiling windows open to allow natural light into the house and play from many angles. The Dylan House has five living spaces on three levels: living room/dining room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and roof patio. The Dylan House Furniture set contains 23 pieces...enough to fill five living spaces on three levels: living room/dining room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and roof patio. Furnish their imagination with this awesome complete dollhouse and furniture set.

We’re not sure the above is very Rudolphian, but it may have taken a cue from his Florida work:

Do you see a resemblance? Neither do we…. Photo: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Brinca Dada also makes other options for your miniature Modernist which remind us a little of Paul Rudolph’s Quadruplex at 23 Beekman Place:

The Bennett House. Photo: Brinca Dada

All that’s missing is a lot of chrome and some Plexiglas furniture. And is that hole on the roof where the bathtub is supposed to be?

Paul Rudolph Featured in Docomomo US 'Doco Games' for Giving Tuesday

Paul Rudolph’s Burroughs Wellcome Headquarters, Shoreline Apartments and Niagara Falls Public Library are featured in Docomomo’s ‘first ever battle for architectural survival with the “Doco Games.” 

According to the organization’s website,

The #DocoGames is a day-long tournament that features sixteen of Docomomo US’ biggest supporters fighting to save a building they love.

Armed with razor-sharp adjectives like “rectilinear”, “articulated” and “brutalist”, the #DocoGames will begin promptly at 10:00 AM Eastern on Tuesday, November 27th, with four (4) rounds of players advancing every two (2) hours. Each of the (16) sixteen players will encourage friends and colleagues through social media channels to give to Docomomo US throughout the day.The player who brings in the most money during each round will advance to face a new player. 

Round 1 pits Mr. Rudolph’s architecture against such notable works as SOM’s Union Carbide Building, Richard Neutra’s George Kraigher residence and M. Paul Friedberg’s Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

While we don’t want to take sides, we ENCOURAGE YOU TO SUPPORT TEAM RUDOLPH!

Support Tim Hayduk’s love of “PAUL RUDOLPH'S SCULPTURAL ARCHITECTURE” by following this link

Support Kate Wagner’s idea of “BRUTALIST HEAVEN” by following this link

Support Barbara Campagna’s aversion to ‘VICTORIANA’ by following this link.

Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. Since its inaugural year in 2012, #GivingTuesday has become a movement that celebrates and supports giving and philanthropy with events throughout the year and a growing catalog of resources.

Please support Docomomo’s efforts to preserve Modernism and may the BEST RUDOLPH WIN'!

Rudolph's Woman's Home Companion house rendered in 3D

Image: Woman's Home Companion

In 1956, the Woman's Home Companion magazine commissioned a house designed by Paul Rudolph. Tim Hills, who runs a vintage design and furnishing team based in Kalamazoo, Michigan known as Trystcraft, recreated 3d renderings of the proposed home after careful study of plans and renderings found in the magazine.

Image: Woman's Home Companion

Image: Woman's Home Companion

Using addresses published at the time, Tim was able to track down two additional versions beyond the one that is considered online as the only realized project.

Floor Plan of the house. Image: Woman's Home Companion

To read more including vintage photos and the story behind his work, follow this link and click the links below to see larger images.

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Rudolph's Cocoon House captured in new video

The exterior in 2017. Photo: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Paul Rudolph’s Healy Guest House, known as the ‘cocoon house’ for its unique roof construction, is featured in a new video by the Sarasota Architectural Foundation.

According to the video’s description,

Located on Bayou Louise Lane on Siesta Key, Cocoon House is a two-bedroom, one-bath, 760-square-foot cottage built as a guesthouse for Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Healy. The house gets its name from the technology used to build its roof: a polymer spray that Paul Rudolph saw being used at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on warships returning after WWII in order to "cocoon" or moth-ball them. Rudolph's creativity made him realize that this material could also be used in the construction industry. The Cocoon House was named “Best House Design of the Year” from the AIA in 1949; selected by MoMA New York in 1953 as one of 19 examples of houses built since WWII that were "pioneers of design;” and locally designated as a historic property by the City of Sarasota in 1985.

To watch the two-minute video, click below or follow the link here.

Rudolph's Orange County Government Center featured in 'Architectural Drawings: 8 Masterful Parallel Projections'

Paul Rudolph’s Orange County Government Center is featured in an article on Architizer’s website blog titled ‘Architectural Drawings: 8 Masterful Parallel Projections’ by Orli Hakanoglu.

Writes Hakanoglu,

Existing somewhere between plan and elevation, axonometric views allow complex spaces to coexist within a single frame. Though the rules for producing one of these projections are quite rigid, the techniques and styles with which designers choose to represent space are highly varied. This collection takes a look at several applications of the drawing technique that artists and architects past and present use to convey big ideas.

Image: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Hakanoglu says about Paul Rudolph’s axonometric and sectional perspective for the Orange County Government Center:

Rudolph’s masterful hand drawings are a testament to the power of combining representational techniques to communicate multiple aspects of a building. An axonometric view and a section perspective work in tandem to communicate the exterior façade’s protruding rectilinear volumes as well as the interior space within them. The axonometric drawing is quite unusual in that it rotates the entire drawing in space to provide a ground-up view, which presents the building from a believable human viewpoint.

Rudolph’s use of axonometric and section perspective drawings were a signature way he used to communicate his ideas of architectural space. As Laurence Scarpa noted in his article ‘Paul Rudolph: Metaphors, Paradoxes, Contradictions and Abstractions’,

Everything he did was an obsessive open-ended exploration. Rudolph explained this process: “Before making any sketches I will really think about it a great, great, deal and, finally, I will resolve that into essentially three or maybe four—it depends on the project—schemes.” Rudolph had the ability to work with multiple ideas simultaneously. These explorations resulted in extraordinary discoveries. This insight allowed him both the freedom to explore and to problem solve without being encumbered by either. Rudolph would say to me, “Buildings do not happen, they must be made to happen.” While working at his desk, he would move his hand over his drawing in such a way that he could better understand the actual scale and what it might be like to occupy the drawing, as if it were an actual building. He seemed as though he was actually inside the drawing. He would touch with his eyes and see with his hands. He always included human figures in his drawing, particularly in section and elevation drawings, to further understand how the scale of the space related to an actual person. For Rudolph the drawing was a building at full scale. This concept was the origin of his creative process.

Paul Rudolph Inspires a Hotel Design in Texas

Image: Specht Architects

Paul Rudolph’s design of the Orange County Government Center in Goshen, New York may not have been appreciated by some in the local community, but its influence can be felt in a hotel designed by Specht Architects.

Click on one of the images below to see Specht Architect’s design for a hotel in Austin, Texas:

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Images: Specht Architects

According to their website:

The Lamar Boulevard Hotel is a 150 room hotel, designed for a site just blocks from downtown Austin, TX. It features a large internal courtyard, and a series of stacked, terraced room modules that produce an almost organic cliff-like facade. Each room has a unique view, and a unique outdoor terrace.

Its form was inspired by the experimental metabolist architecture of the 1960’s that produced iconic works such as Habitat ’67 in Montreal, and the urban designs of Paul Rudolph.

Paul Rudolph's Orange County Government Center in Goshen, New York. Photo: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Paul Rudolph's Orange County Government Center in Goshen, New York. Photo: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Both the hotel and Rudolph’s design for the Orange County Government Center take a cue from Rudolph’s interpretation of Mies’ use of space. Regarding the government center, Rudolph said,

The building is divided into three areas… These three areas are subdivided but closely grouped around a court, allowing the light to enter through a rather elaborate series of clerestories made possible by higher ceiling heights for the more important and larger rooms. In the interior, the enclosed volume of one room often penetrates the adjacent room, giving a sense of implied space beyond but allowing acoustical insulation. The resulting fragmented scale seems appropriate, since the building will be set in a small park and surrounded by residences relatively small in scale.

Rudolph’s rendering of the Orange County Government Center facade. Image: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Paul Rudolph's 1950 Cocoon House is one of the 'Florida Buildings I Love'

The exterior in 2017. Photo: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Paul Rudolph’s rendering of the exterior. Image: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Harold Bubil, Real Estate Editor Emeritus for the Herald-Tribune, writes in the newspaper that Paul Rudolph’s Healy guest house, known commonly as the Cocoon House, is one of his favorite buildings in Florida.

The exterior in 2017. Photo: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

The reason for the name comes from the use of a technology - new at the time - to waterproof the roof. Writes Bubil:

During World War II, both Twitchell, who commanded an air base in South Carolina, and Rudolph, who was stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, learned about new technologies materials that could be applied to residential construction. Rudolph took note of the sprayed-on vinyl used to mothball ships, called “cocoon.”

Paul Rudolph’s rendering of the exterior. Image: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

While many see the house as a landmark of the Sarasota School of Architecture for its simple structure, use of glass and elevation above the surrounding landscape - Rudolph saw it as a failure. Writes Bubil,

It was “OK on the outside, but the interior space was not successful,” Rudolph, who died in 1997, once told architect Peter Blake in an interview. “The apparent instability of the sagging ceiling and the thrusting of space upward to the perimeter, inviting you to leave — this violated the essential nature of an intimate, domestic space. The Healy Cottage taught me that the physiological nature of the space in every building was really more important than the form of the structure.”

Paul Rudolph’s rendering of the interior. Image: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

The psychological effect of space would continue to occupy the rest of Rudolph’s career - making this important building one that Rudolph fans and followers of modern architecture can share with similar appreciation.

Remembering Paul Rudolph with Metropolis Magazine

Photography by Annie Schlecter, courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Paul Rudolph’s Centenary and the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation’s exhibitions ‘Paul Rudolph: The Personal Laboratory’ and ‘Paul Rudolph: The Hong Kong Journey’ are covered in an online article in Metropolis by A.J.P. Artemel.

Writes Artemel,

There was a time when Paul Rudolph was the most famous architect, if not in the world, then at least in the United States. As the leading emissary of “heroic” Modernism, he was responsible for some of the most innovative and audacious concrete buildings of the 1960s. Current stars Richard Rogers and Norman Foster went to Yale to learn from him. But after the devastating, epoch-ending fire at Rudolph’s Art and Architecture Building at Yale and multiple broadsides penned by Postmodern critics, Rudolph’s stream of projects, as well as his American following, seemed to evaporate overnight. Though much of Rudolph’s work from his early period in Sarasota, Florida, and from the height of his career in the ’60s has been rehabilitated and rediscovered by new audiences, his later work—roughly defined, those buildings completed between 1970 and his death in 1997—remains relatively unknown.

Two exhibitions organized by the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation to mark the architect’s centenary aim to address this blind spot.

It is indeed an exciting time to examine this material, not only in light of the anniversary but because of what this collection of buildings and designs may come to illustrate: a daring and often lonely effort to continue the Modernist project.

For more information about the current exhibition ‘Paul Rudolph: The Personal Laboratory’ at the Modulightor building, and the upcoming ‘Paul Rudolph: The Hong Kong Journey’ go to the Centennial page here.

Rudolph's LOMEX project featured in new Renderings

View from a terrace in the high-rises. Image: Lasse Lyhne-Hansen

Paul Rudolph’s Lower Manhattan Expressway project (LOMEX) has been digitally recreated by Danish designer Lasse Lyhne-Hansen. As featured on design websites Archdaily and Designboom, the work was created to celebrate Paul Rudolph’s 100th birthday.

Rudolph’s proposal for the Lower Manhattan Expressway. Image: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Robert Moses originally conceived of the Lower Manhattan Expressway project in 1941 and given the authorization to proceed in 1960. After numerous protests, including notable figures such as Jane Jacobs, the project which was to be an elevated highway was replaced by a sunken highway with adjacent parks and housing.

Then, writes Phil Patton in the Architects Newspaper:

In 1967 the Ford Foundation, whose new head was McGeorge Bundy (formerly National Security Advisor during escalation in Vietnam), asked Rudolph—known for large-scale projects—to imagine a development that ameliorated the impact of the highway. He proposed topping the sunken freeway with a series of residential structures, parking, and plazas, with people-mover pods and elevators to subways. The shapes of the buildings echoed the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges, and also recalled Hugh Ferriss’ ideas of bridge/buildings from 1929. Rudolph’s idea was organizing a new city core around modes of movement.

“This plan, unlike most, does not propose to tear down everything in sight; it suggests that we tear down as little as possible,” Rudolph said about the project at the time.

Rather than challenging the need for a massive highway that would have destroyed most of SoHo and Tribecca, Rudolph believed architecture could make the most of the given situation.

Rudolph’s original section perspective. Image: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

In 1971, the project was ended by Governor Nelson Rockefeller.

Decades later, a similar scale project - the 'Big Dig' in Boston - would install the 1.5 mile-long Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway series of parks and public spaces above its new underground highways.

To see more renderings of what might have become of New York, click the links below:

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Celebrate your (or someone else's...) Inner Brutalist this holiday season

Photo: Jonathan Thai & Mike Yim of Aggregate Watches

Are you a fan of Brutalism (and who isn’t, really?) Looking for a cool gift for yourself or a friend that shows your love of all things concrete? Introducing the Masonic - the first watch to feature a lightweight concrete dial and bezel.

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Launched in August of 2017, the watch is the centerpiece of a kickstarter campaign setup by Aggregate Watches. Designers Jonathan Thai & Mike Yim joined Hendson Lin and Alexandra Burton to start the campaign. According to the kickstarter site:

Aggregate was conceived from the idea of experimenting with concrete in unconventional ways. We believed that we could create beautiful products using concrete, re-imagined in a different context.

The honest design approach is the best approach, where the material and form serve to captivate the audience. Concrete is the medium, and the medium is the message. The design is concrete, in its raw form.

The concrete used in ‘The Masonic’ is a special, proprietary cement blend that we have developed, so we can manufacture the components of the watch to be both lightweight and durable for daily wear.

Photo: Jonathan Thai & Mike Yim of Aggregate Watches

The watches are now available at Aggregate’s website in 6 colors: Gravel Gray, Oat Brown, Charcoal Black, Pacific Navy, Bay Brown, and Rose Gold.

Paul Rudolph celebrated in Architectural Digest

Pool with slatted wood “umbrella” canopy, Rudolph’s Umbrella House. Photo: Anton Grassl

Paul Rudolph’s Centennial and the upcoming SarasotaMOD Weekend in November are featured in the latest online version of Architectural Digest. The article features photos of Rudolph’s Sarasota High School, Healy Guest House and the Umbrella (Hiss) Residence. We couldn’t agree more with the article’s conclusion:

“A century after his birth, Rudolph is finally getting his full due for the residences he designed in Florida.”

— Architectural Digest

Paul Goldberger to deliver keynote at Sarasota's MODweek

Harold Bubil writes in the Herald Tribune, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Goldberger will deliver the keynote address titled “The Rudolph Legacy” at the upcoming Sarasota MOD Weekend architecture festival on November 9-11.

Mr. Goldberger has spoken before at Modulightor about Rudolph’s work, and also in the 1984 documentary “Spaces: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph”. He also led a panel discussion about Rudolph at the Rededication of Rudolph Hall at Yale and wrote numerous articles about Rudolph for the New York Times.

Mr. Goldberger will deliver the keynote address at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at Holley Hall in the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center, 709 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. For more information about the upcoming MOD Weekend festival, go to the Sarasota Architectural Foundation’s website here: sarasotaarchitecturalfoundation.org and sarasotamod.com

PRHF celebrates Paul Rudolph with the Library of Congress

Kelvin Dickinson, President and Eduardo Alfonso, Exhibition Coordinator of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation with Liz Waytkus, Executive Director of Docomomo US visiting the Paul Rudolph collection at the Library of Congress

Members of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation traveled on Friday to attend a day-long Paul Rudolph Centenary Symposium about Paul Rudolph’s life and work at the James Madison building of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

Photo: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

The event featured numerous speakers including former Dean of the Yale School Architecture Robert A.M. Stern, members of the Library of Congress Center for Architecture, Design, and Engineering in the Prints & Photographs Division and architects who had renovated or built additions to significant Rudolph buildings.

The highlight of the event was the chance to view original materials from the collection, including a special surprise by Mari Nakahara, Curator of Architecture, Design & Engineering of the original model of the Modulightor Building facade which is the headquarters of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation.

Photos: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Happy 100 Paul Rudolph!

Paul Rudolph was born on October 23rd, 1918 and would have turned 100 years old today. Numerous events are planned to celebrate the occasion over the next year, including exhibitions at the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation at Modulightor, the Center for Architecture, MOD Week in Sarasota, Florida and the Library of Congress.

10 Years Later: The Yale School of Architecture & what might have been

Model of Richard Meier’s proposed addition to the Yale School of Architecture.
Renderings: Richard Meier & Partners Architects, Model Photography: Jock Pottle

As a result of a 1996 planning study, Yale University decided to undertake the exterior and interior renovation of Paul Rudolph’s iconic Yale School of Architecture building along with a seven-story addition.

A number of proposals were generated from well-known architects such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Richard Meier, and Beyer Blinder Belle. Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman Architects were finally awarded the $126 million project which included renovation of Rudolph’s original 116,000 sf building along with a 87,000 sf addition to be known as the Jeffrey H. Loria Center for the History of Art. The project was completed in 2008 and won many awards including the AIA NY State - Award of Excellence for Historic Preservation in 2009.

Rudolph meets Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman Architects
Photo: Kelvin Dickinson, Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

To see what might have been, Richard Meier & Partners Architects has a page on their website that describes their original 2001 - 2004 proposal:

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The proposed new building for the Department of the History of Art and for an expanded Arts Library is located adjacent to the Art and Architecture Building by Paul Rudolph of 1963. The two will be closely interconnected, and this integration reflects the time-honored interaction between the arts and architecture. Encompassing a total gross area of some 175,000 square feet, the new building rises seven floors above the street and has two levels below grade, following the sectional precedent of the Rudolph building.

A top-lit atrium, which accommodates the main reading room of the expanded Arts Library, connects the two buildings. It occupies a void adjacent to the existing structure, which Rudolph had envisioned as a courtyard in the potential expansion of his building. While the principal entrance is located in the new building, the original entry into the Rudolph building will be maintained with direct access into the original northeastern stair/elevator tower or indirect access up the adjacent grand staircase.

The ground floor is mainly given over to the reference library, but it also provides an auxiliary semi-public element, a small exhibition space and a café close to the main entrance. There are two lecture halls in the lowest level of the new building, which, together with Hastings Hall in the basement of the Rudolph building, constitute the new lecture complex.

The new building juxtaposes a small number of enclosed volumes – faculty offices and seminar rooms – with expansive spaces mostly clad in either translucent or transparent glass. In contrast to the “corduroy” concrete of the Rudolph building, the curtain walls and glass roofs of the new building act as membranes filtering natural light into the structure and creating a variety of light conditions according to the time of day and the season.

To see more of the proposal by Richard Meier & Partners Architects, click on one of the images below:

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Celebrating Paul Rudolph on National Bath Day

October 7th is known officially as 'National Bathtub Day' to commemorate the introduction of the bathtub in England in 1828.

Paul Rudolph's contribution to the history of the bathtub may be best remembered as the Lucite tub that looked down into the kitchen at his residence at 23 Beekman Place.

What's not as well known is Rudolph's design for two bathrooms that appear in the book 'Sensuous Spaces' by Sivon Reznikoff.

According to Reznikoff::

In the mid-1970’s Paul Rudolph, the world renown architect, was commissioned to design a futurist bath. Recognizing the difference in bathing rituals performed by men and women, combined with the belief that we all need some time alone, he set out to design two baths that are now considered classics of sensuality.

The bath designed for the female involved a very complex use of space. A gentle downward sloping floor simulates a natural outdoor setting complete with a running stream. Water is continually recycled through aluminum pipes embedded into an earth-colored carpet. The natural landscape concept is enhanced by the addition of smooth rocks and soft sponges strategically positioned to allow contact with bare feet. The low partition in the center of the room shields the bidet. A skylight centered within a copper dome allows a restful golden glow to wash the entire space. The large luxuriant tub and a screen for viewing films placed nearby produce an irresistible setting for relaxation. A contoured reclining lounge attached to the wall provides a place to read or enjoy the sun lamps installed above. Circular storage containers are placed along one wall and on another end a makeup counter was surrounded with small round mirrored disks that simulate a sparkling water surface.

Photo: Tom Yee

Photo: Tom Yee

For the man’s bathroom design, Reznikoff continues:

Although the bath designed for the male was organic in form, it did not attempt to simulate the romantic natural setting provided for the female. The large skylight highlights the circular trapeze exercise bars placed directly under the dome. Copper sheeting is used both in the dome and throughout the space. A raised platform that runs along one wall contains the tub and also houses recessed storage.

Lights concealed in the bottom of a circular pit built into the center of the floor are reflected in the soft copper color of the walls and ceilings. Intended to simulate the warmth of glowing coals in an open campfire, it provides an inviting place to relax. When the pit was not in use it was covered with an exercise pad.

Photo: Tom Yee

Photo: Tom Yee

Paul Rudolph: The Personal Laboratory Opens at Modulightor

Thank you everyone for making the Opening Reception of our exhibition 'Paul Rudolph: The Personal Laboratory' a great success! For more information about the exhibition, follow this link: https://www.paulrudolphheritagefoundation.org/centennial-exhibition/

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New T-Shirt features Rudolph's Cocoon House

Check out this beautiful t-shirt featuring illustrator John Pirman's drawing of Paul Rudolph's Cocoon House! T-shirts are on sale at the Sarasota Architectural Foundation's online shop at www.sarasotamod.com/modshop!