News

A Public Launch and Celebration of the Virtual Tour of Paul Rudolph’s Iconic Brutalist Campus, UMass Dartmouth

AHA! Night, Thursday May 11, 2023 from 6:30 p.m.

Location

Star Store Campus Lecture Hall (Downtown New Bedford) UMass Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts, 715 Purchase Street, New Bedford, MA 02740

Tour Link

www.umassd.edu/virtual-tour/architecture

For the first time, the public and enthusiasts of Paul Rudolph's and modernist architecture can participate in an online or in-person self-guided virtual tour of the nationally renowned Brutalists campus, UMass Dartmouth. Come and celebrate the public launch of this multi-year initiative to develop an architectural walking tour of Paul Rudolph's monumental mid-century modern campus. Art History professor Anna Dempsey, and librarian Allison Cywin will present their interactive tour (www.umassd.edu/virtual-tour/architecture), including a question and answer session to be followed by a celebratory reception, a part of the popular AHA! Night festivities in New Bedford, Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. at UMass Dartmouth Star Store Campus in Downtown New Bedford.

Attendees will learn about the life and career of internationally renowned architect Paul Marvin Rudolph, explore Rudolph's urbanist campus, and become familiar with his aesthetic and design approaches that made Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute (now UMass Dartmouth) an iconic university. The tour exemplifies Rudolph's singular vision for a public university, as did Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College and the Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia, national landmarks. Through this tour, University students, parents, alums, faculty, staff, and the greater public community will gain an appreciation for this Brutalist treasure representing an age of optimism and idealism in public education.

Kelvin Dickinson Paul Rudolph Poetics at UMass

This interactive tour is available through the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth website at prudolph.lib.umassd.edu, www.umassd.edu/virtual-tour/architecture, and UMassBrut. It is approximately 45 minutes and includes thirteen video stops as well as links to arts and cultural organizations and tourist designations to encourage visitation and commerce in the region.

For those interested in supporting this effort to promote, educate and advocate for our Brutalist campus, please consider joining UMassBrut, This advocacy group that celebrates, preserves, and re-imagines the mid-century Brutalist public architecture of the University of Massachusetts system.