Noted Modernist architect Charles Gwathmey died in Manhattan on August 3, 2009. Among his many works was his award-winning renovation of the Art & Architecture Building by Paul Rudolph at Yale University which was rededicated as Paul Rudolph hall in November, 2008.
Gwathmey had been very active in the effort to save Riverview High School in Sarasota. He made trenchant comments about the preservation of modernist buildings which are noted in this article.
On New York City, 1959 “We need sequences of space which arouse one’s curiosity, give a sense of anticipation, which beckon and impel us to rush forward and find that releasing space which dominates, which climaxes and acts as a magnet and gives direction. This is well illustrated by the Fifth Avenue entrance to Rockefeller Plaza, where one strides forward in anticipation of seeing the sunken court and its activities. Most important of all we need those outer spaces which encourage social contact, again well illustrated by Rockefeller Plaza, the best outdoor living room in America.”
Rudolph, Paul Marvin, 1918-1997. "The Changing Face of New York." American Institute of Architects. Journal 131 (April 1959): 39.
