8/25/06 Contact: Scott Bishop-Wagoner, 334/844-7014 (bishogs@auburn.edu)
David M. Granger, 334/844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)

AU’S JULE COLLINS SMITH MUSEUM OF FINE ART PRESENTS “PAUL RUDOLPH: THE FLORIDA HOUSES” THROUGH OCT. 15.

AUBURN - The designs of internationally acclaimed architect and Auburn alumnus Paul Rudolph are on display at Auburn University’s Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art through Oct. 15.
“Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses” highlights the architect’s early residential work in Florida, and provides a critical introduction to a body of work that is relatively unknown to many architects today.

Early residential work in Florida proved to be a productive testing period for Rudolph’s theoretical and material contributions to postwar domestic architecture. The Florida houses were widely published at their time of conception, and played a significant role in articulating an American style in architecture.

Born in 1918 in Elkton, Ky., Rudolph graduated from Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University) in 1940 and in 1941 entered Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. His studies there were interrupted by three years of service in the U.S. Navy, after which he returned to Harvard to earn his master’s degree in 1947.

Rudolph had a successful career designing private residences primarily in the South. In 1958 he was named chairman of the department of architecture at Yale University. Rudolph left Yale in 1965 to open his own firm, continuing to design inventive and original buildings for both the public and private sectors.

This world-known artist, who died in 1997, also left his mark on Auburn by designing the old Kappa Sigma house on the AU campus as well as residences in the Auburn area.
“Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses” was curated by Christopher Domin and Joe King of the University of Arizona School of Architecture.

The exhibit was co-sponsored by AU’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction.
For more information about the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, visit www.jcsm.auburn.edu . Museum hours are Tuesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $4 for senior citizens. Admission is free for college students, AU faculty and staff, children under 18 and members of the museum.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Scott Bishop-Wagoner.)
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