Gwathmey Siegel Completes Yale Arts Complex

The iconic architecture building, originally designed by legendary Yale architect Paul Rudolph in 1963, will be rededicated on November 7 and 8.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 10/20/2008

Yale University arts complex, 2008.

How often does an alumnus get the chance to reshape the educational institution that helped form his professional vision? Just ask Charles Gwathmey, who seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by designing a major new arts complex for Yale University, where he collected his Master of Architecture in 1962.

 
Yale University, Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library, basement; view of the Great Hall,2008. Yale University, Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library; stairway, 2008.

The Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects principal is preparing to return once again to the Ivy League school, now to be feted for his renovation of legendary Yale architect Paul Rudolph's Art & Architecture building, which opened the year after Gwathmey graduated.  Beginning on November 7, the two-day celebration in New Haven, Connecticut will feature three major panel discussions, as well as the first scholarly exhibition of Rudolph's work. 


Yale University, Jeffrey H. Loria Center for the History of Art, seventh-floor terrace, 2008.

Gwathmey restored the building's formerly fractured open spaces, and revived views that had were long blocked by prior renovations. He also introduced new air conditioning technology, and windows made with updated materials. In addition to the refurbishment, Gwathmey also completed the school's department of art history facility, and created an expanded library for art, drama and architecture.

 
Yale University arts complex, view from the east, 2008. Yale University, Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library, basement; view of Great Hall, 2008.

"To see Rudolph's masterpiece restored to its original glory and to see students once again working in its light-filled spaces, is exhilarating,” says Robert A.M. Stern, the prolific architect and dean of the Yale School of Architecture. “We hope that the restoration of this building—designed by one of the most talented, inventive, and important architects of the last century—will call attention to the pressing need to preserve both Paul Rudolph's work in particular, and great modern architecture in general.”

Photography by Richard Barnes. All images courtesy of Yale University.