BRUTAL LEGACY is a collaborative research project with Sean Hemmerle that employs photography and archival investigation to document Paul Rudolph’s Orange County Government Center in Goshen, New York.

The Orange County Government Center has been the focus of an ongoing public debate concerning the viability and relevance of Brutalist architecture. Opened in 1971 at a time of civic optimism, the building was quickly beset by recessions, political reversals, and negligent maintenance, leaving it damaged and unpopular.

Recently, local politicians, who consider the complex an economic and visual burden, have forced the building’s evacuation and continue to lobby for its full or partial demolition. BRUTAL LEGACY aims to understand the Government Center through the materials and disposition that will bring about its preservation or its demise.