Brutalist Architecture Walking Tour at UMass on October 13

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Tobin Hall, UMass Amherst. Photo: umass.edu

Source: UMass News and Media

Timothy Rohan, Associate Professor and chair of the history of art and architecture department, and UMass Brut will host a walking tour for the UMass Amherst community highlighting campus structures built during the university’s ambitious post-World War II building campaign on Friday, October 13.

Herter Hall Exterior
Herter Hall

Guests will meet in the lobby of the Lincoln Campus Center (Marcel Breuer, 1970) and the tour – led by Rohan with assistance from Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, senior campus planner – will depart at 2 p.m. and last approximately one hour.

After World War II, UMass Amherst embarked upon one of the most ambitious academic building programs in the United States. Following a 1963 master plan by renowned landscape architect Hideo Sasaki, UMass employed some of the most distinguished architects of the time, including Marcel Breuer, Kevin Roche, and Edward Durell Stone. The tour will investigate their distinctive Brutalist buildings and how they are now being reimagined after serving generations of students.

The tour will include viewing buildings such as the Randolph W. Bromery Center for the Arts (Kevin Roche, 1973) and its newly renovated Arts Bridge, Herter Hall (Coletti Brothers, 1968), Whitmore Hall (Campbell & Aldrich, 1967), Tobin Hall (Coletti Brothers, 1972) and the iconic W.E.B. DuBois Library (Edward Durell Stone, 1972).

Bromery Center for the Performing Arts. Photo: flckr.com

Other events include an art walk, joy of art after party with Laudable Productions and UMass Student Life pond fire. The tour and events are held in partnership with the Docomomo Tour Day U.S.A. program, an international group that advocates for the preservation of modernist buildings, especially through educational events, such as tour days and conferences.

UMass Brut is a collaborative advocacy group of faculty, staff and students from UMass Amherst and UMass Dartmouth dedicated to celebrating, preserving and reimagining their campuses’ Brutalist architecture. During the tour, UMass Brut invites guests to view their new “Breuer Window” installation on the Bromery Center’s plaza.

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2 thoughts on “Brutalist Architecture Walking Tour at UMass on October 13

  1. Sigh, interesting article, but no pix of the World’s Tallest Brick Library, and the Giant Concrete Waffle Iron, I.e. the Campus Center, where my wife Ruth and I met, and later held our wedding reception, respectively; 40 years ago this summer.
    Steven and Ruth Barrett, Summerville, SC

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