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Paul Rudolph & His Architecture

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Jewett Arts Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, 1955-1958

Dedicated, October 18, 1958

‘Built in association with Anderson, Beckwith & Haible, and commissioned at a time when Rudolph had never designed anything larger than a three-bedroom house, the Wellesley Arts Center represents his tour de force of integration with an existing style – in this case pseudo-gothic. Careful study of proportion and massing led him to create a design combining the dimensional basis of the original with a novel massing and use of materials – including the use of porcelain-enameled aluminum sun-screens conceived as a kind of ‘built-in ivy’. The structure of the extension is in reinforced concrete and the facing materials are brick and limestone. The art department itself is linked to a classroom and auditorium block by a bridging exhibition gallery. The conical skylights – much criticized by opponents of Rudolph’s eclecticism – are intended to echo the repeated gables of the existing building.”

Spade, Rupert. Paul Rudolph. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971. P. 124.

Images of Mary Cooper Jewett Art Center, Wellesley College

Perspective Rendering
Mary Cooper Jewett Arts Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Arts Center with Music Wing in Foreground. Photograph
Detail. Corner Window, Music Wing. Photograph
Detail. Corner. Photograph
Detail. East Facade and Sun Screens. Photograph
Gallery Showing Column and Stairway. Photograph
Gallery Showing External Sun Screens. Photograph
Passageway Between Music and Art Wings. Photograph
Perspective From Lower Level (Southwest Corner). Photograph
Photograph
Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, Jewett Arts Center.


Paul Rudolph & His Architecture
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