d University, where Walter Gropius had taught him the ideas of the International Style. These early residences followed a strict adherence to function, clarity of form and the articulation of individual components of the buildings.
For all the functional honesty and structural integrity expressed by his Florida houses, Rudolph was still not satisfied with their quality. On reflection he considered that they lacked sufficient psychological control of light and space. He started, therefore, to question the fundamentals of the International Style and re-examined these rigid principles: ‘And the experience of space was found wanting.’ (4) He probably felt that these ideas were too constricting for his design talent and too inhibiting for his graphic presentation techniques. He considered that there were lessons to be learnt from historical buildings, which often controlled light and space with solids and voids in a more interesting manner and were able to create a more dynamic atmosphere than most modern buildings. From studying historical examples and the work of modem masters he concluded that for him a central guiding principle should be the creation of human-scale space. It was indeed the spatial aspect of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and the sculptural quality of Le Corbusier’s projects that he found meaningful and particularly appealing.
Rudolph explained that his goal in architecture was by now: ‘to wed the programmatic and spatial concepts of the International Style to Wright’s more suitable handling of interior volumes of space.’ (5)
This preoccupation with forming space, both internally and externally, was henceforth to be a lasting theme in Rudolph’s work. He had the opportunity to develop these ideas in his major public building, which he carried out to great effect. His Milam Residence in Jacksonville, Florida was a new departure, in that it was the first residence in which he introduced a central space as its heart and an independent sunscreen detached from the structure. To explain the importance space now held in his designs, he enthusiastically exaggerated the laws of nature: ‘The movement of space has velocity, for space flows much in the manner of water from one volume to another. Especially important are the ”connections” between one spatial volume to another.’ (6)
He was of course emphasizing that these architectural spaces should be visually interlinked so they did not appear to leak out at the corners, something to which he often referred to in his teaching. The contrasting effect of a narrow corridor or pathway, which then dramatically opens up into a courtyard or an atrium, created a theatrical effect by controlling the movement through such spaces in a time-honored manner which had often been used to good effect in interior design. He also applied these same spatial principles to urban design and felt that buildings around a public square should be carefully positioned so that the corners of the space should not leak visually, but were contained – unless, of course, there was a meaningful purpose for doing otherwise, such as if the space led to an exit or a view or a feature or a focal building.
Rudolph was concerned to establish the appropriate relationship between the height of the buildings around courtyards and the appropriate width of the open space. Based on historical precedent, he considered a 1:3 ratio was usually comfortable. His reference points for these principles were often Classical and related to European examples.
The formation of exterior spaces was considered by Rudolph to be almost a lost art, and the ability to create an environment appropriate to its activities to be seldom well achieved in modern architecture and urban design. He believed that: ‘These exterior ”rooms” should have varying characteristics: solemn, awesome, refined, quiet, hectic, dynamic, good-time . . .’ (7)and of course the atmosphere in these areas was dependent on the activities of the occupants and their uses. The designed environment needed color, texture and materials as well as the architectural featur