I think there was another post on this. The Rudolph building is powerful and it's great that it is back together.
The addition looks like it's part of a hospital campus. The massing is clumsy and the materials look too plain and generic. Why is it so vertical in the emphasis? An additional is definitely difficult but this seems out of place.
it looks like a conventional bid to build like office park building next to rudolph's building. from the exterior.
seems like there is more to it inside but we don't know from the picture.
i would have liked it more if there was an unconventional addition which offset everything.
i doubt it was a right choice of architects to do the job.
for example: they should have bring tadao ando for this one.
^...because they would analyze the situation in interesting ways and take it down to few clear and well studied moves that would make a lot of sense and create equally exciting experience... maybe...
Was just there this weekend. The renovations to the A+A, or as they're now trying to re-label it: Rudolph Hall, couldn't be better. The custom period couches in the library are totally slick, the carpet is way orange, and the new bridges on the 5th floor are these perfect concrete slots. I even liked Minerva. The few modifications made, like raising the floor of some of the review pits for easier access, actually improve the building - did we really need 69 distinct levels?
The best part: it now has working air conditioning.
The worst part: security and egress paranoia: the main stairwell, once kept pretty open, is now closed by fire doors, and the studio trays are now accessible only by keycard - on every floor; meaning you've got to pull the doors open even if your hands are full of lasercut chipboard. In general, it kinda sucks that the building is now so precious where before it was occupied ruin.
The Gwathmey thing is ignorable at best. Laughable at worst. The skylights are cool and the view from the 4th floor tray isn't totally ruined. But there're just so many gratuitous unresolved moves that spotting them just becomes comical.
A kidney shaped seat-cutout thing in the reading room? A bay window bumpout that's tilted in two directions down York Street? A piano-curved interior wall made of glass brick??!! Many of the weird and unnecessary curves and angles just run blindly into each other. Generations of architecture students will have a lot of fun laughing at this building.
Oh, and a green roof on a northwest exposure hemmed in on three sides? I don't think that'll make it, especially the part that's under an overhang!
"A piano-curved interior wall made of glass brick. . ."
Wow -- shades of the old Gwathmey ? DId he figure this was a chance to do his own history, next to Rudolph's icon ?
I really like the idea of what Ando might have done. At least the material palette -- poured-in-place and glass -- would have been sympatico. An addition to a structure like this wants to be some kind of gentle ghost, doesn't it ?
It's the Whitney problem all over again. Too late now. . .
i don't understand how gwathmey could do something so bland. wasn't he a good architect in the past?? maybe those days are long gone - but how can an architect change so much?
i visited it with some friends who go there right before it opened and the studios were way too cold and i got a headache. i think mr. gwathmey must have hired a bad hvac consultant. also, the only thing good about the addition is that there's some nice, if gratuitous, roof porches, something that i think is way too uncommon in buildings. also, it's good that it's for art history so the architects will rarely have to walk into it.
Architects are officially not allowed on the Art History porches and vice versa. There is one porch that we are allowed to share! I forget which one, though.
I'm not sure why. We got an email saying that some porches are for exclusive use of art history, some for exclusive use of architecture, and one porch is to be shared by both departments.
SurfaceS is alive...I have seen her post...and I can only believe Yale would segregate art history people from architecture people....that little bald headed stern guy must have something to do with it. I'm a firm believer that all architectuaral buildings should be open to the public...just better screening. I can't Imagine why the hell anyone would want to blow one up or take an architecture student hostage...unless it was a disgruntled lover. surfaces please pass that along... thanks....and I hope your learning LOTS!
We are also not allowed to use each other's toilets. It's annoying because the art history toilets are far more convenient to the building's central circulation. But there seems to be enough for the building, so it's not a huge issue.
From what I understand, it is not our Dean that wants to keep the department facilities separate. The subtext of the email is that the Art History faculty asked our administration to tell us not to use their bathrooms and porches. No reason was given, so we don't know why.
The buildings are, in fact, open to the public during business hours and for lectures. The doors are unlocked, we have a public gallery with an exhibition in it at all times, and random people can (and do) walk around the buildings.
Review roundup on Rudolph A&A at Yale
What do you think?
I think there was another post on this. The Rudolph building is powerful and it's great that it is back together.
The addition looks like it's part of a hospital campus. The massing is clumsy and the materials look too plain and generic. Why is it so vertical in the emphasis? An additional is definitely difficult but this seems out of place.
it looks like a conventional bid to build like office park building next to rudolph's building. from the exterior.
seems like there is more to it inside but we don't know from the picture.
i would have liked it more if there was an unconventional addition which offset everything.
i doubt it was a right choice of architects to do the job.
for example: they should have bring tadao ando for this one.
that's what i think...
Having Ando's smooth concrete next to Rudolph's rough, raked finish... That's interesting!
OMA would have been a good choice too.
^...because they would analyze the situation in interesting ways and take it down to few clear and well studied moves that would make a lot of sense and create equally exciting experience... maybe...
Was just there this weekend. The renovations to the A+A, or as they're now trying to re-label it: Rudolph Hall, couldn't be better. The custom period couches in the library are totally slick, the carpet is way orange, and the new bridges on the 5th floor are these perfect concrete slots. I even liked Minerva. The few modifications made, like raising the floor of some of the review pits for easier access, actually improve the building - did we really need 69 distinct levels?
The best part: it now has working air conditioning.
The worst part: security and egress paranoia: the main stairwell, once kept pretty open, is now closed by fire doors, and the studio trays are now accessible only by keycard - on every floor; meaning you've got to pull the doors open even if your hands are full of lasercut chipboard. In general, it kinda sucks that the building is now so precious where before it was occupied ruin.
The Gwathmey thing is ignorable at best. Laughable at worst. The skylights are cool and the view from the 4th floor tray isn't totally ruined. But there're just so many gratuitous unresolved moves that spotting them just becomes comical.
A kidney shaped seat-cutout thing in the reading room? A bay window bumpout that's tilted in two directions down York Street? A piano-curved interior wall made of glass brick??!! Many of the weird and unnecessary curves and angles just run blindly into each other. Generations of architecture students will have a lot of fun laughing at this building.
Oh, and a green roof on a northwest exposure hemmed in on three sides? I don't think that'll make it, especially the part that's under an overhang!
"A piano-curved interior wall made of glass brick. . ."
Wow -- shades of the old Gwathmey ? DId he figure this was a chance to do his own history, next to Rudolph's icon ?
I really like the idea of what Ando might have done. At least the material palette -- poured-in-place and glass -- would have been sympatico. An addition to a structure like this wants to be some kind of gentle ghost, doesn't it ?
It's the Whitney problem all over again. Too late now. . .
i don't understand how gwathmey could do something so bland. wasn't he a good architect in the past?? maybe those days are long gone - but how can an architect change so much?
i visited it with some friends who go there right before it opened and the studios were way too cold and i got a headache. i think mr. gwathmey must have hired a bad hvac consultant. also, the only thing good about the addition is that there's some nice, if gratuitous, roof porches, something that i think is way too uncommon in buildings. also, it's good that it's for art history so the architects will rarely have to walk into it.
I think the porches are cool.
Architects are officially not allowed on the Art History porches and vice versa. There is one porch that we are allowed to share! I forget which one, though.
why?
I'm not sure why. We got an email saying that some porches are for exclusive use of art history, some for exclusive use of architecture, and one porch is to be shared by both departments.
SurfaceS is alive...I have seen her post...and I can only believe Yale would segregate art history people from architecture people....that little bald headed stern guy must have something to do with it. I'm a firm believer that all architectuaral buildings should be open to the public...just better screening. I can't Imagine why the hell anyone would want to blow one up or take an architecture student hostage...unless it was a disgruntled lover. surfaces please pass that along... thanks....and I hope your learning LOTS!
We are also not allowed to use each other's toilets. It's annoying because the art history toilets are far more convenient to the building's central circulation. But there seems to be enough for the building, so it's not a huge issue.
From what I understand, it is not our Dean that wants to keep the department facilities separate. The subtext of the email is that the Art History faculty asked our administration to tell us not to use their bathrooms and porches. No reason was given, so we don't know why.
The buildings are, in fact, open to the public during business hours and for lectures. The doors are unlocked, we have a public gallery with an exhibition in it at all times, and random people can (and do) walk around the buildings.
They're afraid Architecture will challenge Art History to a keg stand contest, and win!Or a pissing contest?
This is what worries me about the widespread use of proximity keycards - fine grained control through the continuous modulation of access.
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