The Architecture of Paul Rudolph

I've been a fan of Rudolph's work for 35 years and thought I knew everything about him. However, this excellent book by Timothy Rohan presents information I've never heard before, especially about Rudolph's heartbreaking fall from prominence and his constant grief over the state of the A&A building.Architecture trends will come and go, and critics can complain about Rudolph's individualism, but the man was incapable of designing a boring building. In a world of glass boxes, isn't that what matters most?

Gave it to my sister who is a HUGE Paul Rudolph fan( he designed our high school, which our city leaders decided to tear down!!) and she LOVED it. Said she had seen it and wanted to buy it. Beautiful book!!

I'm not generally a fan of brutalism, but this book provides much information and good arguments.

This is perhaps the most thorough and complete book on Paul Rudolph but I suspect in the future we may see a more thorough and detailed monograph.The book covers his whole career but focuses much more on his solo work from the 60s onward. There is another coffee table book that covers his early residential houses which is a nice supplement.Many projects and competed buildings are featured with many illustrations and photos. In addition, the accompanying text is very easy to read and goes into detail with analysis and interpretation of the era but also looking back from a current perspective. Rudolph was certainly flawed and the author does not resort to just praising everything he created. It comes across as well-researched without being a difficult to read book for the non-academic reader.The book is divided up by time periods/milestone projects. The end has a complete list of projects as well.The overall quality of the book could be better though. I was hoping for more color photographs and more current photos showing what the buildings look like now whether restored or not. In addition, the page quality is very odd. It is a matte, textured paper as opposed to a glossy or semi-glossy slick stock you would typically find in more “artsy” books. This did sent o be more of an extension of an academic study so perhaps that’s the reason.Overall a 4.5, rounded to 5 stars. It’s a great resource for learning about Paul Rudolph but as is the case with most architects and mode sorts, you will need to seek out more info from other publications.I also highly recommend the Paul Rudolph Institute for Modern Architecture which has a huge archive of info, photos, and drawings that is a great supplement to this volume.

There are just a handful of books on the work of Paul Rudolph – and most of those are catalogs of his work. To my knowledge, this is the first critical study of the work of this complex architect. Rudolph’s ideas and personal life is placed in the context of the time in which he lived. His work as a late modernist form-giver was at first lauded but soon discredited as “out of touch” with prevailing architectural tastes. Using his major projects to illustrate, Timothy Rohan notes Rudolph’s professional struggles, disappointments and ambitions and how he continued to produce innovative building right up until his death. This book is a rich piece of scholarship that finally makes Rudolph approachable. It has opened my eyes to see his work anew and makes me want to search out more of his buildings. I highly recommend this book.

Excellent, deeply-researched and beautifully illustrated account of this weird artist.