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Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the
post-war era In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...
. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design. The style commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette; other materials, such as
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...
, timber, and
glass Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenchin ...
, are also featured. Descending from the
modernist movement Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
, Brutalism is said to be a reaction against the nostalgia of architecture in the 1940s. Derived from the Swedish phrase ''nybrutalism,'' the term "New Brutalism" was first used by British architects
Alison and Peter Smithson Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutalis ...
for their pioneering approach to design. The style was further popularised in a 1955 essay by architectural critic
Reyner Banham Peter Reyner Banham Hon. FRIBA (2 March 1922 – 19 March 1988) was an English architectural critic and writer best known for his theoretical treatise ''Theory and Design in the First Machine Age'' (1960) and for his 1971 book ''Los Angeles: Th ...
, who also associated the movement with the French phrases ''
béton brut ''Béton brut'' () is a French term that translates in English to “raw concrete”. The term is used to describe concrete that is left unfinished after being cast, displaying the patterns and seams imprinted on it by the formwork.''Exposed concr ...
'' ("raw concrete") and ''
art brut Art Brut are a Berlin-based English and German indie rock band. Their debut album, '' Bang Bang Rock & Roll'', was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, '' It's a Bit Complicated'', released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter J ...
'' ("raw art"). The style, as developed by architects such as the Smithsons, Hungarian-born Ernő Goldfinger, and the British firm Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, was partly foreshadowed by the modernist work of other architects such as French-Swiss Le Corbusier, Estonian-American
Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. W ...
, German-American Mies van der Rohe, and Finnish Alvar Aalto. In the United Kingdom, Brutalism was featured in the design of utilitarian, low-cost social housing influenced by socialist principles and soon spread to other regions around the world. Brutalist designs became most commonly used in the design of institutional buildings, such as
universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
, libraries,
court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
s, and city halls. The popularity of the movement began to decline in the late 1970s, with some associating the style with urban decay and totalitarianism. Brutalism has been polarising historically; specific buildings, as well as the movement as a whole, have drawn a range of criticism (often being described as "cold" or "soulless") but have also elicited support from architects and local communities (with many Brutalist buildings having become cultural icons, sometimes obtaining
listed status In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
). In recent decades, the movement has become a subject of renewed interest. In 2006, several Bostonian architects called for a rebranding of the style to "Heroic architecture" to distance it from the negative connotations of the term "brutalism".


History

The term Nybrutalism (New Brutalism) was coined by the Swedish architect Hans Asplund to describe Villa Göth, a modern brick home in Uppsala, designed in January 1950Hans Asplund's letter to Eric De Mare, Architectural Review, August 1956 by his contemporaries Bengt Edman and Lennart Holm. Showcasing the 'as found' design approach that would later be at the core of Brutalism, the house displays visible
I-beam An I-beam, also known as H-beam (for universal column, UC), w-beam (for "wide flange"), universal beam (UB), rolled steel joist (RSJ), or double-T (especially in Polish, Bulgarian, Spanish, Italian and German), is a beam with an or -shap ...
s over windows, exposed brick inside and out, and poured concrete in several rooms where the tongue-and-groove pattern of the boards used to build the forms can be seen. The term was picked up in the summer of 1950 by a group of visiting English architects, including Michael Ventris, Oliver Cox, and Graeme Shankland, where it apparently "spread like wildfire, and assubsequently adopted by a certain faction of young British architects".The New Brutalism, Reyner Banham, Architectural Press, London 1966, p10 The first published usage of the phrase "New Brutalism" occurred in 1953, when Alison Smithson used it to describe a plan for their unbuilt
Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...
house which appeared in the November issue of '' Architectural Design''. She further stated "It is our intention in this building to have the structure exposed entirely, without interior finishes wherever practicable." The Smithsons'
Hunstanton School Smithdon High School (formerly known as Hunstanton Secondary Modern School and Hunstanton School) is a small comprehensive school (ages 11–16) academy, with 627 students in Hunstanton, Norfolk. Its buildings are Grade II* listed. It changed i ...
completed in 1954 in Norfolk, and the Sugden House completed in 1955 in Watford, represent the earliest examples of New Brutalism in the United Kingdom. Hunstanton school, likely inspired by Mies van der Rohe's 1946 Alumni Memorial Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, United States, is notable as the first completed building in the world to carry the title of "New Brutalist" by its architects. At the time, it was described as "the most truly modern building in England". The term gained increasingly wider recognition when British architectural historian
Reyner Banham Peter Reyner Banham Hon. FRIBA (2 March 1922 – 19 March 1988) was an English architectural critic and writer best known for his theoretical treatise ''Theory and Design in the First Machine Age'' (1960) and for his 1971 book ''Los Angeles: Th ...
used it to identify both an ethic and aesthetic style, in his 1955 essay ''The New Brutalism''. In the essay, Banham described Hunstanton and the Soho house as the "reference by which The New Brutalism in architecture may be defined." Reyner Banham also associated the term New Brutalism with
Art Brut Art Brut are a Berlin-based English and German indie rock band. Their debut album, '' Bang Bang Rock & Roll'', was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, '' It's a Bit Complicated'', released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter J ...
and ''
béton brut ''Béton brut'' () is a French term that translates in English to “raw concrete”. The term is used to describe concrete that is left unfinished after being cast, displaying the patterns and seams imprinted on it by the formwork.''Exposed concr ...
'', meaning raw concrete in French, for the first time.British Brutalism.
''World Monument Fund''.
The best-known ''béton brut'' architecture is the proto-Brutalist work of the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, in particular his 1952 '' Unité d'habitation'' in
Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
, France; the 1953 Secretariat Building ( Palace of Assembly) in
Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...
, India; and the 1955 church of Notre Dame du Haut in
Ronchamp Ronchamp () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is located between the Vosges and the Jura mountains. Mining Museum Mining began in Ronchamp in the mid-18th century and ...
, France. Banham further expanded his thoughts in the 1966 book, ''The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic?'', to characterise a somewhat recently established cluster of architectural approaches, particularly in Europe. In the book, Banham says that Le Corbusier's concrete work was a source of inspiration and helped popularise the movement, suggesting "if there is one single verbal formula that has made the concept of Brutalism admissible in most of the world's Western languages, it is that Le Corbusier himself described that concrete work as ' béton-brut'". He further states that "the words 'The New Brutalism' were already circulating, and had acquired some depth of meaning through things said and done, over and above the widely recognised connection with ''béton brut''. The phrase still 'belonged' to the Smithsons, however, and it was their activities above all others that were giving distinctive qualities to the concept of Brutalism."


Characteristics

New Brutalism is not only an architectural style; it is also a philosophical approach to architectural design, a striving to create simple, honest, and functional buildings that accommodate their purpose, inhabitants, and location. Stylistically, Brutalism is a strict, modernistic design language that has been said to be a reaction to the architecture of the 1940s, much of which was characterised by a retrospective nostalgia. Peter Smithson believed that the core of Brutalism was a reverence for materials, expressed honestly, stating "Brutalism is not concerned with the material as such but rather the quality of material", and "the seeing of materials for what they were: the woodness of the wood; the sandiness of sand." Architect John Voelcker explained that the "New Brutalism" in architecture "cannot be understood through stylistic analysis, although some day a comprehensible style might emerge", supporting the Smithsons' description of the movement as "an ethic, not an aesthetic". Reyner Banham felt the phrase "the New Brutalism" existed as both an attitude toward design as well as a descriptive label for the architecture itself and that it "eludes precise description, while remaining a living force". He attempted to codify the movement in systematic language, insisting that a Brutalist structure must satisfy the following terms, "1, Formal legibility of plan; 2, clear exhibition of structure, and 3, valuation of materials for their inherent qualities 'as found'." Also important was the aesthetic "image", or "coherence of the building as a visual entity". Brutalist buildings are usually constructed with reoccurring modular elements representing specific functional zones, distinctly articulated and grouped together into a unified whole. There is often an emphasis on graphic expressions in the external elevations and in the whole-site architectural plan in regard to the main functions and people-flows of the buildings. Buildings may use materials such as concrete, brick, glass, steel, timber, rough-hewn stone, and gabions among others. However, due to its low cost, raw concrete is often used and left to reveal the basic nature of its construction with rough surfaces featuring wood 'shuttering' produced when the forms were cast in-situ. Examples are frequently massive in character (even when not large) and challenge traditional notions of what a building should look like with focus given to interior spaces as much as exterior. A common theme in Brutalist designs is the exposure of the building's inner-workings—ranging from their structure and services to their human use—in the exterior of the building. In the Boston City Hall, designed in 1962, the strikingly different and projected portions of the building indicate the special nature of the rooms behind those walls, such as the mayor's office or the city council chambers. From another perspective, the design of the
Hunstanton School Smithdon High School (formerly known as Hunstanton Secondary Modern School and Hunstanton School) is a small comprehensive school (ages 11–16) academy, with 627 students in Hunstanton, Norfolk. Its buildings are Grade II* listed. It changed i ...
included placing the facility's water tank, normally a hidden service feature, in a prominent, visible tower. Rather than being hidden in the walls, Hunstanton's water and electric utilities were delivered via readily visible pipes and conduits. Brutalism as an architectural philosophy was often associated with a socialist
utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island soc ...
n ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially by
Alison and Peter Smithson Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutalis ...
, near the height of the style. Indeed, their work sought to emphasize functionality and to connect architecture with what they viewed as the realities of modern life. Among their early contributions were " streets in the sky" in which traffic and pedestrian circulation were rigorously separated, another theme popular in the 1960s. This style had a strong position in the architecture of European communist countries from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s (
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
,
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
, East Germany,
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...
,
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
). In Czechoslovakia, Brutalism was presented as an attempt to create a "national" but also "modern socialist" architectural style. Such prefabricated socialist era buildings are called panelaky.


Designers

Architects whose work reflects certain aspects of the Brutalist style include
Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. W ...
. Architectural historian
William Jordy William H. Jordy (1917 – 10 August 1997) was a leading American architectural historian. At the time of his death, Jordy was Henry Ledyard Goddard Professor Emeritus of Art History at Brown University, where he taught for many years. Jordy rec ...
says that although Kahn was " posed to what he regarded as the muscular posturing of most Brutalism", some of his work "was surely informed by some of the same ideas that came to momentary focus in the Brutalist position." In
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, examples of the Brutalist style are Robin Gibson's
Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galler ...
,
Ken Woolley Kenneth Frank Charles Woolley, AM B Arch, Hon DSc Arch Sydney LFRAIA, FTSE, Architect, (29 May 1933 – 25 November 2015) was an Australian architect. In a career spanning 60 years, he is best known for his contributions to project housing with ...
's Fisher Library at the University of Sydney (his State Office Block is another), the High Court of Australia by Colin Madigan in Canberra, the MUSE building (also referred to as C7A MUSE) which was the original
Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...
at Macquarie University before the new library replaced it, and WTC Wharf (World Trade Centre in Melbourne). John Andrews's government and institutional structures in Australia also exhibit the style.
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
possesses numerous examples of Brutalist architecture. In the years leading to the 100th anniversary of the Confederation in 1967, the Federal Government financed the construction of many public buildings. Major Brutalist examples, not all built as part of the Canadian Centennial, include the Grand Théâtre de Québec, the
Édifice Marie-Guyart The Édifice Marie-Guyart, previously and still commonly known as Complexe G, is a 31-storey, office skyscraper completed in 1972 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The brutalist style tower is the tallest building in the city, as well as the talle ...
(formerly Complex-G),
Hôtel Le Concorde Hôtel Le Concorde Québec is a skyscraper hotel in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It contains 405 rooms over 26 floors. Le Concorde is known for its revolving restaurant, Ciel! (formerly L'Astral), which is situated on the top floor of the hotel ...
, and much of the Laval University campus in Quebec City; Habitat 67,
Place Bonaventure Place Bonaventure is an office, exhibition, and hotel complex in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, adjacent to the city's Central Station. At in size, Place Bonaventure was the second largest commercial building in the world at the time of ...
, the
Maison de Radio-Canada Maison Radio-Canada (English: ''CBC House'') is the broadcast headquarters, studios and master control for all French-language radio and television services of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as ''Société Radio-Canada''/S ...
, and several metro stations on the Montreal Metro's Green Line; the
Confederation Centre of the Arts Confederation Centre of the Arts (french: Centre des arts de la Confédération) is a cultural centre dedicated to the visual and performing arts located in the city of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. History Construction of Confede ...
in Charlottetown; the National Arts Centre in Ottawa; the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston; the
Ontario Science Centre The Ontario Science Centre, formally the Centennial Museum of Science and Technology, is a science museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the Don Valley Parkway about northeast of downtown on Don Mills Road just south of ...
, Robarts Library,
Rochdale College Rochdale College was an experiment in student-run alternative education and co-operative living in Toronto, Canada from 1968 to 1975. It provided space for 840 residents in a co-operative living space. It was also an informal, noncredited free ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
; and the church of the
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
in British Columbia. In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
, architects associated with the Brutalist style include Ernő Goldfinger, wife-and-husband pairing
Alison and Peter Smithson Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutalis ...
, some of the work of Sir Basil Spence, the
London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...
/ Greater London Council Architects Department, Owen Luder, John Bancroft, and, arguably perhaps, Sir Denys Lasdun, Sir Leslie Martin, Sir James Stirling and James Gowan with their early works. Some well-known examples of Brutalist-influenced architecture in the British capital include the Barbican Centre (
Chamberlin, Powell and Bon Chamberlin, Powell and Bon was a British firm of architects whose work involved designing the Barbican Estate. They are considered one of the most important modernist architectural firms in post-war England. Formation The practice was founded ...
) and the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre ( Denys Lasdun). In the United States, Paul Rudolph (architect), Paul Rudolph and Ralph Rapson were both noted Brutalists. Evans Woollen III, a pacesetter among architects in the Midwestern United States, Midwest, is credited for introducing the Brutalist and Modernist architecture styles to Indianapolis, Indiana. Walter Netsch is known for his Brutalist academic buildings. Marcel Breuer was known for his "soft" approach to the style, often using curves rather than corners. In Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, the architectural style was introduced to Buckhead's affluent Peachtree Street, Peachtree Road with the Ted Levy-designed Plaza Towers and Park Place on Peachtree condominiums. Many of the stations of the Washington Metro, particularly older stations, were constructed in the Brutalist style. In Serbia, Božidar Janković was a representative of the so-called "Belgrade School of residence", identifiable by its functionalist relations on the basis of the flat and elaborated in detail the architecture. Known example, Western City Gate also known as the Genex Tower is a 36-storey skyscraper in Belgrade, Serbia, which was designed in 1977 by . It is formed by two towers connected with a two-storey bridge and revolving restaurant at the top. It is tall (with restaurant ) and is the second-tallest high-rise in Belgrade after Ušće Tower. The building was designed in the brutalist style with some elements of Structuralism (architecture), structuralism and Constructivism (art), constructivism. It is considered a prime representative of the brutalist architecture in Serbia and one of the best of its style built in the 1960s and the 1970s in the world. The treatment of the form and details is slightly associating the building with postmodernism and is today one of the rare surviving representatives of this style's early period in Serbia. The artistic expression of the gate marked an entire era in Serbian architecture.


On university campuses

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, many North American universities constructed campus buildings in the Brutalist style due to their low cost and ease of construction, beginning with Paul Rudolph (architect), Paul Rudolph's 1958 Rudolph Hall, Yale Art and Architecture Building. Rudolph's design for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is an example of an entire campus designed in the Brutalist style. Walter Netsch designed the entire University of Illinois-Chicago Circle Campus (now the East Campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago) under a single, unified Brutalist design. John M. Johansen and Evans Woollen III's Brutalist-style Clowes Memorial Hall, a performing arts facility that opened in 1963 on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, was praised for its bold and dramatic design. In 1964, Brigham Young University inaugurated the Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center, which features a largely Brutalist style of architecture. The University of Chicago's Regenstein Library, Joseph Regenstein Library, one of the largest libraries in the world, is designed in the Brutalist style, as is the Northwestern University Library; both are the work of architect Walter Netsch. The University of Minnesota's West Bank campus features several Brutalist buildings, including the performing arts venue, Rarig Center, one of Ralph Rapson's most important works and the best example of Brutalism in the Twin Cities. Brown University's two largest libraries and Graduate Center are significant brutalist works. The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library and the Sciences Library (Brown University) were designed by Danforth Toan, whose firm also designed the Robarts Library at the University of Toronto. The Boston Architectural College's main building, designed by Ashley, Myer & Associates, was completed in 1966. The design uses cantilevered, suspended masonry masses and accentuated vertical "slits" in the exterior by which some of the building's core functions can be seen from the outside. Open studio floors allow students to look in on one another's classes and studios, and the ground floor, open to Newbury Street, invites the general public into the McCormick Gallery. The building also features administration offices and two libraries. Litchfield Towers at the University of Pittsburgh was completed in 1963 and is composed of three cylindrical Brutalist towers. The university's largest academic building, Wesley W. Posvar Hall, is a Brutalist structure completed in 1978. The University of Louisville Belknap Campus has several Brutalist buildings, including the Bingham Humanities Building and the Interfaith Center. The Andrews Building at the University of Toronto Scarborough was built in a Brutalist architectural style and completed in 1964. In 1965, Mid-century modern, Desert Modern architect E. Stewart Williams was commissioned to design a new campus for the San Bernardino Community College District. Construction of Crafton Hills College began a year later, and the last building that was part of his original campus plan was completed in 1976. Williams' Brutalist design contrasts with the steep terrain of the area and was chosen in part because it provided a firebreak from the surrounding environment. The Iowa State Center at Iowa State University originally consisted of five buildings in the Brutalist style, including a theatre, auditorium, coliseum, stadium, and events centre, as well as connecting elevated promenades. Eliot Hall, the remaining half of a pair of brutalist buildings built in 1972 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis was demolished in 2012. At the same period in the United Kingdom, similar expansion of higher education led to the construction of many Brutalist university buildings, notable examples being the Edinburgh University Library, Main Library at the University of Edinburgh, designed by Sir Basil Spence, the Boyd Orr Building at the University of Glasgow, the University of Essex, and Denys Lasdun's halls of residence at the University of East Anglia and Christ's College, Cambridge. The exterior of the University of St Andrews's Andrew Melville Hall was used as the set for Dover Recovery Centre in the film Never Let Me Go (2010 film), ''Never Let Me Go''. In countries other than North America and the United Kingdom examples of brutalist university campuses can be found, such as the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit, located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. A common complaint is that windows cannot be opened anywhere in the building.


Criticism and reception

Brutalism has some severe critics, including Charles III, whose speeches and writings on architecture have criticised Brutalism, calling many of the structures "piles of concrete" and likening them to "a monstrous carbuncle". A 2014 article in ''The Economist'' noted its unpopularity with the public, observing that a campaign to demolish a building will usually be directed against a Brutalist one. In 2005, the British TV program ''Demolition (TV series), Demolition'' ran a public vote to select twelve buildings that ought to be demolished, and eight of those selected were Brutalist buildings. One argument is that this criticism exists in part because concrete façades do not age well in damp, cloudy Oceanic climate, maritime climates such as those of northwestern Europe and New England. In these climates, the concrete becomes streaked with water stains and sometimes with moss and lichens, and rust stains from the rebar, steel reinforcing bars. Critics of the style find the style unappealing due to its "cold" appearance, projecting an atmosphere of totalitarianism, as well as the association of the buildings with urban decay due to materials weathering poorly in certain climates and the surfaces being prone to vandalism by graffiti. Despite this, the style is appreciated by others, and preservation efforts are taking place in the United Kingdom. At the University of Oregon campus, outrage and vocal distaste for Brutalism led, in part, to the hiring of Christopher Alexander and the initiation of ''The Oregon Experiment'' in the late 1970s. This led to the development of Alexander's ''A Pattern Language'' and ''The Timeless Way of Building''. Theodore Dalrymple, Anthony Daniels, a British author, physician, and conservative political commentator, has written for ''City Journal (New York City), City Journal'' that Brutalist structures represent an artefact of European Totalitarianism, philosophical totalitarianism, a "spiritual, intellectual, and moral deformity." He called the buildings "cold-hearted", "inhuman", "hideous" and "monstrous". He stated that the reinforced concrete "does not age gracefully but instead crumbles, stains, and decays", which makes alternative building styles superior.


Brutalism now

Although the Brutalist movement was largely over by the late 1970s and early 1980s, having largely given way to High-tech architecture, Structural Expressionism and Deconstructivism, it has experienced a resurgence of interest since 2015 with the publication of a variety of guides and books, including ''Brutal London'' (Zupagrafika, 2015), ''Brutalist London Map'' (2015), ''This Brutal World'' (2016), ''SOS Brutalism: A Global Survey'' (2017) as well as the lavish ''Atlas of Brutalist Architecture'' (Phaidon, 2018). Many of the defining aspects of the style have been softened in newer buildings, with concrete façades often being Abrasive blasting, sandblasted to create a stone-like surface, covered in stucco, or composed of patterned, pre-cast elements. These elements are also found in renovations of older Brutalist buildings, such as the redevelopment of Park Hill, Sheffield, Sheffield's Park Hill. Villa Göth was listed as historically significant by the Uppsala county administrative board on 3 March 1995. Several Brutalist buildings in the United Kingdom have been granted Listed Building, listed status as historic and others, such as Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's St Peter's Seminary, Cardross, St. Peter's Seminary, named by ''Urban Realm, Prospect'' magazine's survey of architects as Scotland's greatest post-war building, have been the subject of conservation campaigns. Similar buildings in the United States have been recognized, such as the Pirelli Building in New Haven's Long Wharf. The Twentieth Century Society has unsuccessfully campaigned Long Wharf (New Haven)#Buildings and features, against the demolition of British buildings such as the Tricorn Centre and Trinity Square, Gateshead, Trinity Square multi-storey car park, but successfully in the case of Preston bus station garage, London's Hayward Gallery and others. Notable buildings that have been demolished include the Smithson's Robin Hood Gardens (2017) in East London, John Madin's Birmingham Central Library (2016), Marcel Breuer's American Press Institute Building in Reston, Virginia, Araldo Cossutta's Third Church of Christ, Scientist (Washington, D.C.), Third Church of Christ, Scientist in Washington, D.C. (2014), and the Welbeck Street car park in London (2019). Notable buildings which are threatened include the Sirius building in Sydney and Atlanta–Fulton Public Library System#Central Library, Atlanta Central Library in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.


Gallery

File:Wien - Wotrubakirche (0).JPG, Wotruba Church in Vienna (1974–76) was designed from a model by sculptor Fritz Wotruba and was a collaboration with Fritz G. Mayr, who continued the work after Wotruba's death. File:München - Pharao-Haus (Zugangsweg).jpg, "Pyramide" ("Pharao-Haus" or "Terrassenhochhaus") in Munich, Germany, architect Karl Helmut Bayer, 1974. Apartment building inspired by Le Corbusier's principles of modernism.Deutsches Architekturmuseum 2022 https://www.sosbrutalism.org/cms/19749520 File:Obchodný dom Prior.JPG, Tesco Shopping Centre (1962) in Košice, Slovakia; previously known as Obchodný dom Prior. File:University of Leicester Engineering Building from Victoria Park.jpg, The University of Leicester Engineering Building, Engineering Building (1959–63) at the University of Leicester, England. Designed by James Stirling, it is Grade II* listed. File:Economist building London1.jpg, The City of Westminster's Smithson Plaza (1959–65), formerly known as The Economist Building, served as the headquarters of ''The Economist'' until 2017. On St James's Street in Piccadilly, London, it was designed by
Alison and Peter Smithson Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutalis ...
. File:Universität von East Anglia.jpg, Halls of residence at the University of East Anglia (completed 1966), designed by Denys Lasdun File:Palácio da Justiça (Lisbon), Metro Centric, 2015, 24025730286.jpg, Palace of Justice, Lisbon, Portugal (1970) File:Robin Hood Gardens AP Smithson.jpg, Robin Hood Gardens (1972) housing complex in Poplar, East London. Designed by the Alison and Peter Smithson, Smithsons. File:قصر الزقورة.jpg, Al Zaqura Building, Baghdad (1975) File:METU, Faculty of Architecture (14826813346).jpg, Middle East Technical University Lecture Hall, Turkey (1956) File:METU, Rectorate Building (14849783445).jpg, Middle East Technical University Rector Building, Turkey (1961–1980) File:Smolna 8 in Warsaw.jpg, Młotek in Warsaw (1976) File:Perth concert hall 01 gnangarra.jpg, Perth Concert Hall (Western Australia), Perth Concert Hall, in Perth, Australia (1973) File:Jugotours Beograd Dec 2003.jpg, Western City Gate (1979), Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia File:BYU Harris Fine Arts Center.JPG, BYU's Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center File:Metro Washington 05.jpg, The interior of the Washington Metro.


See also

* Utopian architecture


References


Further reading

* * * * Monzo, Luigi: Plädoyer für herbe Schönheiten. Gastbeitrag im Rahmen der Austellung "SOS Brutalismus – Rettet die Betonmonster". ''Pforzheimer Zeitung'', 27. February 2018, p. 6. * Anna Rita Emili, ''Pure and simple, the architecture of New Brutalism,'' Ed.Kappa Rome 2008 * Anna Rita Emili, ''Architettura estrema, il Neobrutalismo alla prova della contemporaneità'', Quodlibet, Macerata 2011 * Anna Rita Emili, ''Il Brutalismo paulista, L'architettura brasiliana tra teoria e progetto'', Manifesto Libri, Roma ISBN 978872859759, pp. 335


External links


"The incredible hulks: Jonathan Meades' A-Z of Brutalism"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brutalist Architecture Brutalist architecture, Modernist architecture, 20th-century architectural styles American architectural styles British architectural styles Architecture in England by period or style 1950s architecture 1960s architecture 1970s architecture