Brutalist Architecture - béton (concrete) brut

Discussion 21 posts |  Only members can post. Join?

About Brutalist Architecture - béton (concrete) brut

Any examples you can find...

No metal structures in any way since brutalism is a style and use of concrete. No brick buildings. Wood buildings.

Read this description carefully before posting please:

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". Brutalist buildings are usually formed with striking blockish, geometric, and repetitive shapes, and often revealing the textures of the wooden forms used to shape the material, which is normally rough, unadorned poured concrete.

"Brutalism as an architectural style was also associated with a social utopian ideology which tended to be supported by its designers, especially Peter and Alison Smithson, near the height of the style. The failure of positive communities to form early on in some Brutalist structures, possibly due to the natural urban decay of the post-WWII period (especially in the United Kingdom), led to the combined unpopularity of both the ideology and the architectural style.

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 other words, Brutalist style is "the celebration of concrete." 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 School included placing the facility's water tank, a normally hidden service feature, in a prominently placed and visible tower.