2023 2023: UMassBrut to unveil modernist virtual tour at AHA! Night

Public launch will celebrate new virtual tour of Paul Rudolph’s iconic brutalist campus Thursday, May 11, at 6:30pm

For the first time, enthusiasts of Paul Rudolph and modernist architecture can participate in an online or in-person self-guided virtual tour of UMass Dartmouth's nationally renowned brutalist campus. The UMassBrut group will celebrate the launch of the tour at AHA! Night Thursday, May 11, at 6:30pm at the Star Store campus in downtown New Bedford.

Art History Professor Anna Dempsey and Librarian Allison Cywin will present the interactive tour, including a question-and-answer session to be followed by a celebratory reception. 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 campus.

Dempsey and Cywin hope this tour provides students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and the greater public community with an appreciation for this brutalist treasure that represents an age of optimism and idealism in public education.

The interactive tour is approximately 45 minutes long 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.

Those interested in supporting the effort to promote, educate, and advocate for brutalist architecture are encouraged to join UMassBrut, an advocacy group that celebrates, preserves, and re-imagines the mid-century brutalist public architecture in the University of Massachusetts system.