Tour UMass Southwest – 60 Years of Education, Recreation and Play

This special tour invites members of the UMass community and the general public to (re)discover the Southwest Residential Complex. A city unto itself, complete with skyscrapers, plazas, streets and parks, Southwest was one of the most significant of the modernist projects that transformed the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus in the 1960s and 1970s into the diverse, world-renowned research university it is today. Designed by Hugh Stubbins and Associates and built between 1964 and 1968, Southwest efficiently housed the co-ed postwar baby-boomers and has continued to absorb an ever-increasing student population into the twenty-first century. Today, as in the past, Southwest is a vibrant and unique island of campus culture - a place to live, learn and play – that nurtures individual growth and wellness while supporting the larger community of students who are at the forefront of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ progress.

Tour guides are Timothy M. Rohan, Ph. D., Professor, Department of the History of the Art and Architecture, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, FAIA, Senior Campus Planner and Architect.

Free and open to the public. Advance registration required. RSVP by email to [email protected] with subject “Southwest Tour 2026”.

Photo: Students sitting on grass west of the Southwest Residential Area, undated. University Photograph Collection (RG 110-176). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries