Modernist architect Ralph Rapson died March 29 of a heart attack at his home in Minneapolis at the age of 93. Best known for such projects as the Greenbelt House in Los Angeles, which was one of the Case Study Houses sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine, and Minneapolis' original Guthrie Theater—built in 1963 and torn down two years ago—Rapson served as dean of the University of Minnesota's College of Design from 1954 to 1984. His Minneapolis-based practice designed embassies (including the U.S. embassies in Denmark and Sweden), schools, churches, and residences, mainly in the upper Midwest.
Rapson continued to work up to his death. Recently, a Florida-based prefabricated housing developer began production on a house based on the Greenbelt design, with Rapson's blessing.
The AIA Minnesota maintains a traveling study fellowship in Rapson's name, the 2008 finalists for which were chosen the evening before his death. Rapson is survived by his two sons—Toby, an architect, and Rip, president of the Kresge Foundation—and their families.
