Dartmouth, Massachusetts is home to one of the most remarkable examples of brutalism in college campus design: the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth). In this post, you will learn about the history and design of this MCM campus by architect Paul Rudolph.
An Ambitious Project in Campus Design
Back in the 1960s, UMass Dartmouth was known as the Southeastern Massachusetts Technological Institute (SMTI). When it came time to build a campus for SMTI, the institute commissioned the firm Desmond and Lord of Boston. This firm in turn hired renowned architect Paul Rudolph.
Rudolph took charge of creating a master plan for the design and layout of the campus, as well as its individual buildings. He began this ambitious work in 1963. Although Joseph Driscoll, President of SMTI, was very pleased with his work, the state governor took Rudolph off the project in 1966.
Rudolph explained, “The then Governor of Massachusetts [John Volpe] felt very strongly that I should resign, so I had no alternative but to do so. This was essentially over questions of cost, but his staff, as I understand it, reported that our buildings were little, if any, more expensive than others the state of Massachusetts was erecting. But the good governor, as I understand it, retorted that it didn’t matter really what they cost, they looked expensive, which I thought was a very nice compliment.”
This did not prevent Desmond and Lord from keeping Rudolph onboard as an advisor. Through the remainder of the decade and into the early 70s, they continued to follow Rudolph’s plan, executing his designs. In fact, they were even able to hire him again in 1968 for the Campus Center design.
Rudolph continued to be involved in the UMass Dartmouth campus project during the 1980s, when Whitney Atwood Norcross Associates invited him to design the Dion Building.
Ultimately, Rudolph designed all of these buildings at UMass Dartmouth (current names are in parentheses):
- Power Plant (Public Safety)
- Group 1 Building (Liberal Arts)
- Group II Building (Science and Engineering)
- Textile Technology Building
- Administration Building (Foster)
- Campus Center (MacLean)
- Auditorium
- Library Communications Center and Amphitheater (Claire T. Carney Library)
- Campanile
- Group 6 Building (Center for Visual and Performing Arts)
- Dion Building (Dion Science and Engineering)
Additional buildings on campus were designed by other architects.
A Central Core of Living and Learning
When coming up with the master plan for UMass Dartmouth’s campus, Rudolph drew inspiration from the University of Virginia. While UVA’s architecture is very different, the campus design featured what Rudolph referred to as a “fixed, well-defined, marvelous central core.”
In the design of UMass Dartmouth, Rudolph created a similar core through which the dynamic life of campus could flow.
The Campus as a “Building”
Another of Rudolph’s design philosophies was that a campus should be viewed as a single interconnected “building.” He said in an interview in 1996:
“From my viewpoint the idea of the campus is that the spines are there and that they might be fleshed out in many different ways, but that the principle of it being one building, i.e. connected, and that the spaces in between are thereby formed on a relatively large scale. You see, I am back to the Piazza San Marco which doesn’t have a tree in sight, and all buildings are literally connected with all other buildings, and there are many different uses, and there is focus, a tremendous sense of space, and scale. It remains the greatest outdoor living room in Europe, I believe. Its vitality is there, it has little to do with style, it has little to do with materials, it has to do with the psychology of architectural space.”
The “psychology of architectural space” was an important concept for Rudolph. This is especially evident in his design of the Boston Government Service Center. His architecture is often not fully appreciated or understood by his critics. But he showed great commitment in all of his works to creating imaginative and thoughtful spaces that could help people to live better.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy Boston City Hall: A Controversial Brutalist Landmark and Endo Laboratories: The “Fortress for Pharmaceuticals”. And of course, don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube for more Atomic Ranch articles, house tours, and ideas!
