Brutal competition

Bob Handelman

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Rudolph Hall: home of the Yale School of Architecture. World-famous architectural masterpiece of Brutalism. Badminton court?

This fourth-floor space, known as “the Pit,” is the site of both design critiques and a sporting event. Each semester, about 50 teams of architecture students compete here for the coveted badminton championship, playing nearly 100 games in the course of the tournament. Teams with names like “Gus is on the Bus” and “Fast and Tafurious” design pun-filled posters to rally support. The grand prize changes every year; past prizes have included a hand-crafted birdie and a gift card from Hull’s Art Supply and Framing. 

Here, Benji Rubenstein ’18 MArch/MBA and Nadeen Safa ’18MArch (foreground) battle Samantha Monge Kaser ’20MArch and David Bruce ’20MArch in Round Two. (Rubenstein and Safa emerged victorious, 2–1.) Especially in the finals, says Pik-Tone Fung ’19MArch, one of this year’s commissioners, “the competition can get very heated.” 

But not everyone gets badminton fever. Behind the white screens on each side of the room, the tables were filled with students, all working at computers throughout the match.