Online Encyclopedia
Brutalism
Brutalism is an architectural style that spawned from the Modernist architectural movement and which flourished from the 1950s to the 1970s. The early style was largely inspired by the work of Swiss architect, Le Corbusier (in particular his Unité d'Habitation building) and of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The term originates from the French béton brut, or "raw concrete" - the style being characterised by exposed rough concrete often proudly revealing the textures of the wooden forms in which it had been poured, and large blockish designs. Poured concrete freed architecture from posts and beams, and the best brutalist architecture expressed this. At the same time, theories of Brutalism raised disregard for the social, historic, and architectural environment to a fashion statement; consequently Brutalism took a lot of heat for the decay of urban centres that accompanied this phase of Modernism.
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Style
Brutalism is related and similar to (and often confused with) the Modernist, Minimalist and Internationalist styles of architecture. All of these styles make heavy use of repetition and regularity in their features, but brutalist designs also often incorporate striking, abject irregularities as well.
Another common theme in brutalist designs is the exposition of the building's functions -- ranging from their structure and services to their actual human use -- in the exterior of the building. In the Boston City Hall (illustration, left), 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 of this theme, the design of the Hunstanton Secondary School included placing the facility's water tank, a normally hidden service feature, in a prominently placed and visible tower. At the same time, critics noted that brutalism is often aggressively uncommunicative about how it should be negotiated by its visitor: the entrance for instance is rarely exhibited in an obvious way.
History
Brutalism gained large momentum in Britain during the middle 20th century, as economically depressed (and WWII-ravaged) communities sought inexpensive construction and design methods for low-cost housing, shopping centers, and government buildings. Combined with the socially progressive intentions behind brutalist "streets in the sky" housings like Corbusier's Unité, brutalism was promoted as a positive option for forward-moving, modern urban housing. In practice however, many of the buildings lacked many of the community-serving features of Corbusier's vision, and instead developed into claustrophobic, crime-ridden tenements. Some such buildings took decades to develop into positive communities. The rough coolness of concrete lost its appeal under a damp and gray northern sky, and its fortress-like material touted as vandalproof soon proved vulnerable to spray-can graffiti.
Brutalist designs were also often initially criticised as eyesores. the current Fodor's guide to london mentions the Home office structure as "hulking." Because the style is essentially that of poured concrete it tends to be inexpensive to build and maintain (but very difficult to modify). However, in the case of Trellick Tower, the design has ultimately proved very popular with both tenants and owner-occupier residents. In time, many brutalist structures become appreciated as landmarks by their communities for their uniqueness and eye-catching appearance.
In recent years, the bad memories of underserved Brutalist community structures have led to their eager demolition to make way for newer, more traditionally oriented community structures. Despite a nascent Modernist appreciation movement, and the identified success that some of this style's offspring have had, many others have been or are slated to be demolished.
Figures
Architects associated with the brutalist style include Erno Goldfinger, husband-and-wife pairing Peter and Alison Smithson, and, to a lesser extent perhaps, Sir Denys Lasdun. Outside of Britain, Louis Kahn's government buildings in Asia and John Andrews 's government and institutional structures in Australia exhibit the creative height of the style. More recent Modernists such as I.M. Pei and Tadao Ando have also designed notable Brutalist works.
List of brutalist structures
(Structure name, location, architect(s), year built)
- Balfron Tower, West London, UK (Erno Goldfinger, 1971)
- Boston City Hall , Boston, Massachusetts (I.M. Pei/Kallmann, McKinnell & Knowles/Campbell, Aldrich & Nulty, 1969)
- Brantford City Hall, Brantford, Ontario (Michael Kopsa, 1966)
- Brunswick Shopping Centre, London, UK
- Buffalo City Court, Buffalo, New York (Phohl, Roberts and Biggie, 1964)
- Cameron Offices, Canberra, Australia (John Andrews, 1972) (demolished 2002)
- Chapel on Mount Rokko, Kobe, Japan (Tadao Ando, 1986)
- Chapel on the Water, Hokkaido, Japan (Tadao Ando, 1989?)
- Chateau Granville hotel, Vancouver, British Columbia (unknown, 1977)
- Crosley Tower, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio (A. M. Kinney, 1969)
- Dewan Tunku Canselor, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Datuk Kington Loo, unknown)
- The Evergreen State College, most administrative buildings, Olympia, Washington (unknown, 1971?)
- Front Hi-Rise, St. Paul, Minnesota (Freerks, Sperl, & Flynn, 1969)
- Group Residence for Young Adults, Manhattan (Horace Ginsbern & Associates, 1968) (possibly demolished)
- Habitat 67, 1967 World's Fair, Montreal, Quebec (Moshe Safdie, 1967)
- Hayward Gallery, London, UK (Dennis Crompton/Warren Chalk/Ron Herron, 1968)
- High Court building, Canberra, Australia (Edwards Madigan Torzillo and Briggs, 1980)
- Home Office Building, London, UK (Basil Spence, 1976)
- Hunstanton Secondary School, Norfolk, UK (Peter and Alison Smithson, 1954)
- Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana (I.M. Pei, 1982)
- Islamic Cultural Center, Manhattan
- Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban (Dhaka National Assembly), Dhaka, Bangladesh (Louis Khan, 1982 (designed 1962))
- Kanchanjunga Apartments, Mumbai, India (Charles Correa, 1974)
- King George Tower, Sydney, Australia (John Andrews, 1976)
- Kingsbury Apartments, Trenton, New Jersey
- Lauderdale Tower, London, UK (Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, 1974)
- Manhattan Church of Christ, Manhattan (unknown, 1968)
- Mummers Theater, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (John M. Johansen, 1970)
- Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp , France (Le Corbusier, 1956)
- Pan Am Building, New York (Emery Roth & Sons, 1963)
- Regenstein Library, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (Walter Netsch, 1970)
- John P. Robarts Research Library, Toronto, Ontario (A.S. Mathers and E.J. Haldenby, 1973)
- Monastery of Saint Marie de la Tourette, Eveux-sur-Arbresle, France (Le Corbusier, 1960?)
- Park Hill, Sheffield, UK (Ivor Smith/Jack Lynn, 1961)
- Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, UK (unknown, 1967) (demolition planned)
- Robin Hood Gardens, London, UK (Peter and Alison Smithson, 1972?)
- Rokko Housing One, Kobe, Japan (Tadao Ando, 1983)
- Royal National Theater, London, UK (Sir Denys Lasdun, 1976)
- Simon Fraser University, most buildings and plazas, Burnaby, British Columbia (Arthur Erickson/Geoffrey Massey et. al., 1965)
- Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon, Springfield, Illinois (Wes Corgan?, 1962)
- Tel Aviv City Hall House, Tel Aviv, Israel (unknown, 1966)
- Trellick Tower, London, UK (Erno Goldfinger, 1972)
- Tricorn Centre, Portsmouth, UK (Owen Luder, 1964)(demolished 2004)
- Unité d'Habitation de Marseille, Marseille, France (Le Corbusier, 1952)
- Unité d'Habitation de Briey en Forêt, Briey en Forêt , France (Le Corbusier, 1956)
- Unité d'Habitation de Firminy, Firminy , France (Le Corbusier, 1967)
- University of California, Irvine, most original buildings, Irvine, California (William Pereira and Associates, 1960s)
- University of California, Berkeley, numerous buildings, Berkeley, California (Joseph Esherick?, unknown)
- Student Residences, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia (John Andrews, 1975)
- University of Washington, some dormitories, Seattle, Washington
- Engineering & Math Sciences building, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Grelinger, Rose, Klumb, Jurenec, Hass, 1971)
- Weldon Library, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario (Ronald E. Murphy/John Andrews, 1972)
- Robert W. Woodruff Library (Geoffrey Freeman?, 1969) and other buildings (unknown, 1974-77), Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
- numerous government and office buildings in Basingstoke, UK (unknown, 1970s); also the Basingstoke Town Centre (late 1960s) (demolished)