Exhibition

  • Obdurate Space: Architecture of Donald Judd
    Center for Architecture, New York
    Nov 14, 2017 to Mar 05, 2018
  • GRANTEE
    Claude Armstrong & Donna Cohen
    GRANT YEAR
    2016

Donald Judd, interior view of nine-meter Concrete Building (drawing by Claude Armstrong), Marfa, Texas.

The exhibition reveals a significant body of Judd's work in architecture from 1984 to 1994. Beyond the attitudes made evident between the works of art, building design, and writings, these building projects show both his conformance and non-conformance with prevalent architecture cultures. Towards this, the projects are viewed within a three-fold thematic framework: Drawing Abstractions, which traces influences on modes of representation in original drawings of the works; Concrete Expressions, which investigates material and structural experiments among the projects; and Swiss Situation, which narrates encounters and interactions within a particular design culture. Five projects are presented through archival and new documentation in graphic and model form: Eichholteren, Judd's Swiss base of operation; the Concrete Buildings, structures for art installations in Marfa, TX; Bregenz, a new archive and office for the Kunsthaus Bregenz; Cleveland, an alternative proposal for the downtown lakefront; and Bahnhof Ost, completed urban architecture with Zwimpfer Architekten in Basel, Switzerland.

Claude Armstrong is an architect, teacher, researcher, and partner in Armstrong + Cohen Architecture. His projects have been built in New York, New Mexico, New Jersey, Florida, and Tanzania. A graduate of the City College School of Architecture and Columbia University’s GSAPP, he has previously designed for communities, non-profits, schools, and artists, has taught at the University of Florida and at Preservation Institute Nantucket. Armstrong was introduced to Donald Judd in 1982 by architect Lauretta Vinciarelli, and collaborated on projects in Marfa (TX), New York, and Switzerland. Armstrong + Cohen Architecture has continued work with Judd Foundation on historic preservation and new programs.

Donna Cohen is associate professor of architecture at the University of Florida. She teaches design studios and history in Florida and Italy, as well as an interdisciplinary seminar on design anthropology with the UF Center for African Studies, where she founded the Architecture/Africa Initiative. A graduate of Smith College, the Cooper Union, and the University of Florida, Cohen is a partner with Armstrong + Cohen Architecture, where she specializes in community initiated projects. Their work has been published in New Architecture on Indigenous Lands (University of Minnesota Press, 2013), and The Green Braid: Towards an Architecture of Ecology, Economy, and Social Equity (Routledge, 2007), and recognized with awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, the National Endowment for the Arts, Premio Dedalo-Minosse, and the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. Her research on Judd is based on her experience assisting the artist.