. Each generation developed its own architecture with its own contemporary technology. As a committed Modernist he of course believed the integrity of the building and its structure was generated from its internal function and space. He could not countenance the relevance of applying a superficial style to the exterior of a building, which was not derived from the internal and external spaces or functions: ‘To ignore what is intrinsic to the buildings by putting extraneous elements over the exterior is so anti-architecture that I can see no justification for it at all. It leads to world-fairism. Cities like Tokyo are turning into Disneyland.’ (11)
He obviously considered style to be superficial; fashionable to some degree, and often the clothing which reflected the personality and convictions of the designer. To illustrate this point graphically, Rudolph once entertained a graduate class by designing an identical building and enclosing it in the mantle of different styles, as it would have developed in the hands of several famous architects. Using his endless roll of yellow detail paper like some Greek scroll, he first drew a rectangular fat-roofed house with elegant Miesian details, then a sculptured courtyard with Le Corbusier cones and spheres, followed by a Wright residence growing naturally out of a hillside, and then an articulated Kahn castle, and concluded with an organized spatial house which he designed on many levels, which he claimed was superior to the others and his preference. The students knowingly noted that Rudolph had confidently placed himself alongside the elite of modern architecture, but by using this example he had skillfully illustrated the important point that style was only skin deep and a building can be designed in many different ways depending on the priorities and prejudices of the designer.
At about this time, in 1965, Rudolph told the Yale administration that he would like to leave the university as he would prefer to devote himself entirely to designing buildings and developing his practice. He had come to the conclusion that he could ‘not tolerate being two different people’. Architecture was, of course, his passion.
‘To be a teacher or head of a school is totally different from being an architect which is a highly personal affair involving a considerable degree of emotion and which needs a great strength of personal conviction, assuredness and passion. To be a critic, a teacher or to determine the course of a school is the exact opposite, you must be totally objective and try to understand what the student is after and to put that in context that is helpful to him and that means clarifying what other people have done throughout history as well as today and not really let one’s own prejudices interfere at all. So one has to be two different people if one wants to practice architecture and teach.'(12)
Continuing, Rudolph expressed his respect for Walter Gropius as his gifted teacher whom he considered had inherent qualities that made him a natural academic, but from this analysis he underscored, later repeated and always demonstrated in his work that he disagreed with Gropius over the mechanism of the design process. Rudolph believed that designing was a personal and prejudiced creative act that could not be achieved by the goal of objective team work at that time central to Gropius’ ethos.
Although Rudolph had decided that he would not make a life- time career in education, the period at Yale University had been very effective in consolidating his reputation. It had crystallized his design ideas and had helped him acquire an impressive portfolio of commissions. While carrying out his educational responsibilities he was still steadily building up his architectural practice. However, he obviously found this dual role exhausting, as each demanded a full-time commitment. He often worked in his office well into the night. Nevertheless the time he spent with the students was doubly beneficial to them because his authoritative teaching was based not only on the current application of his desig