ABSTRACT
Although relatively unknown today, Paul Rudolph’s design of the Christian Science Building in Champaign, Illinois, is emblematic of the architect’s work at the apex of his career. Commissioned in 1962, constructed in 1965, and demolished in 1986 after just twenty years of use, the building’s premature destruction marks a significant loss of modern architectural heritage. A major contributing factor in the decision to demolish the building was the reportedly poor thermal performance of its cast-in-place concrete facades, which can be traced back to a fateful decision made during the design process to eliminate thermal insulation from the wall assembly due to cost concerns. This modification had significant impact on the subsequent energy performance of the envelope; eventually the cost of heating and maintaining the building forced its owners to abandonment it. Had it survived, the Christian Science Building would surely be considered a paramount example of 1960s brutalism alongside other contemporaneous Rudolph projects, such as the Art and Architecture Building at Yale University. This chapter relates the potentially significant impact that façade construction techniques may have on the future preservation or destruction of twentieth-century modernist architecture.
