crete was therefore an implicit rejection of Rudolph. The dramatic fire in the Art and Architecture Building at Yale in 1969 was never linked to arson; the fire officer’s report denies that to have been the cause. Nevertheless rumors persist that it might have been the ultimate act of criticism by architectural students. Folklore continues and the impressive building was damned by association.
The third serious difficulty that Rudolph encountered was the inherent technical problems associated with the use of concrete and flat roofs, of water penetration, of concrete decay, of cold bridging and heat loss through the external skin. The whole building industry has experienced these construction difficulties as a result of using concrete, but again Rudolph was known for designing his projects exclusively in this material. High-rise, heavy- density housing were dogged by these technical defects, and so Rudolph’s residential tower blocks were particularly vulnerable to such problems. Crawford Manor in New Haven is now almost entirely coated with black bitumen in a drastic attempt to alleviate the problems of water penetration through the fabric of the apartment buildings.
This accumulation of difficulties and criticisms irreparably damaged Rudolph’s reputation and his morale and left him isolated from the mainstream of American designers; it took over a decade before the quality of his projects and consistent Late-Modernist work was properly recognized. During this period of estrangement he did flirt with glass curtain-wall design and produced two twin towers, first at Fort Worth, Texas and then in the Bond Centre, Hong Kong. In both of these schemes he lacked his normal design confidence and had difficulty in reconciling his strongly asserted convictions. He was unable to express his spatial ideals or his contextual principles, but most notable was the absence of the normal sculptural qualities found in his facades. surprisingly, found that his design work was still in demand. Several contractor developers commissioned him to apply his design and graphic talents as concept designer and it was in this capacity that he worked on a series of major projects in Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia. It is probably fitting therefore that one of these last projects, in which he designed the headquarters for Wisma Dharmala Sakti in Jakarta, should be the culmination of his distinguished career. It embodies impressively most of his best Late-Modernist theories and resolves the criticisms previously expressed about some of his work.
WISMA DHARMALA SAKTI, JAKARTA
The Dharmala office building rises twenty-six stories out of the pitched roofs of Jakarta, in a modern design which reflects the historic parts of the city where it is located. Its relationship with the existing bustle of small-scale buildings at the ground level is achieved by a multi-layered skirt of public rooms around an entrance courtyard. Rudolph planned this open atrium and its surrounds to be, ‘like a village, with all the ease of access and variety that villages always possess’. (13) The context and sense of place so important to Rudolph in his architecture has been achieved with the interaction of these spaces at these lower levels where the occupants walk into the building.
The Indonesian climate is hot and humid, and shade and breezes are welcome. So in this context, Rudolph has produced an architectural design system for this building which reflects the beautiful traditional roofs in this area, incorporating deep overhanging eaves and cantilevered spandrels with 45 degree slopes that shield all floors from direct sunlight.
The tower is heavily sculptured and twists and turns every three floors as it ascends to the top, a changing geometry that allows the faceted glass windows to form balconies and shrubbery boxes with these sloping spandrels. The visual balance between the vertical twin columns and the horizontal spandrels creates a richly sculptured tower which could have been built even higher, as it was originally designed. Frank Lloyd Wright also twisted various f