Revisiting Architect Paul Rudolph’s Hong Kong Years

As America cooled on Paul Rudolph’s designs at the end of the 1970s, Asia gave the polarizing architect—responsible for such concrete masterworks as Yale’s Art & Architecture Building and the Orange County Government Center—new life. In the U.S., funding for large-scale, publicly funded projects had dried up, and patience had worn thin with Rudolph’s perceived arrogance in the face of construction problems, cost overruns, and related litigation. Meanwhile, architectural tastes were shifting away from his aggressive brand of Modernism. So Rudolph spent much of the ‘80s traveling across the Pacific for new work, collaborating with local firms and mentoring some of its younger architects. Now, one of those local architects has put together a new show dedicated to Rudolph’s work in Hong Kong.

“Paul Rudolph: The Hong Kong Journey,” on exhibit through March 9 at New York’s Center for Architecture, is curated by Nora Leung, who worked with Rudolph while she was employed by a large Hong Kong firm up until his death in 1997. The show features previously unseen drawings, sketches, and renderings by Rudolph for three projects: Bond (now Lippo) Centre, Harbor Road Tower, and residences for Plantation Road.