Brutalist architecture is a movement in architecture that flourished from the 1950s to the mid-1970s,
descended from the modernist architectural movement of the early 20th century.
Brutalism became popular with governmental and institutional clients, with numerous examples
in Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the United States, Canada, Brazil, the Philippines, and
Australia.
Examples are typically massive in character, fortress-like, with a predominance of exposed
concrete construction, or in the case of the "brick brutalists" ruggedly detailed brickwork
and concrete together.
There is often an emphasis on graphically expressing in the external elevations and
in the whole-site plan the main functions and people-flows of the buildings.
Brutalism became popular for educational buildings, but was relatively rare for corporate projects.
Brutalism became favoured for many government projects, high-rise housing, and shopping
centres to create an architectural image that communicated strength, functionality, and
frank expression of materiality.
In its ruggedness and lack of concern to look comfortable or easy, Brutalism can be seen
as a reaction by a younger generation to the lightness, optimism, and frivolity of some
1930s and 1940s architecture.
In one critical appraisal Brutalism was posited not as a style at all but as the expression
of an atmosphere among architects of moral seriousness.
"Brutalism" as an architectural critical term was not always consistently used by critics;
architects themselves usually avoided using it altogether.
More recently, "brutalism" has become used in popular discourse to refer to buildings
of the late twentieth century that are large or unpopular – as a synonym for "brutal"
– making its effective use in architectural historical discourse problematic.
The term "brutalism" is not derived from the word "brutal", but originates from the French
béton brut, or "raw concrete", a term used by Le Corbusier to describe his choice of
material.
British architectural critic Reyner Banham adapted the term into "brutalism" to identify
the emerging style.
History
The term "brutalism" was originally coined by the Swedish architect Hans Asplund to describe
Villa Göth in Uppsala, designed in 1949 by his contemporaries Bengt Edman and Lennart
Holm.
He originally used the Swedish-language term nybrutalism, which was picked up by a group
of visiting English architects, including Michael Ventris.
In England, the term was further adopted by architects Alison and Peter Smithson.
The term gained wide currency when the British architectural historian Reyner Banham used
it in the title of his 1966 book, The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic?, to characterise
a somewhat recently established cluster of architectural approaches, particularly in
Europe.
The best known early Brutalist architecture is the work of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier,
in particular his Unité d'Habitation and the 1953 Secretariat Building in Chandigarh,
India.
Brutalism gained considerable momentum in the United Kingdom during the mid-twentieth
century, as economically depressed communities sought inexpensive construction and design
methods for low-cost housing, shopping centres, and government buildings.
Nonetheless, many architects chose the Brutalist style even when they had large budgets, as
they appreciated the 'honesty', the sculptural qualities, and perhaps, the uncompromising,
anti-bourgeois, nature of the style.
Combined with the socially progressive intentions behind Brutalist streets in the sky housings
such as Corbusier's Unité, Brutalism was promoted as a positive option for forward-moving,
modern urban housing.
Characteristics
Brutalist buildings are usually formed with repeated modular elements forming masses representing
specific functional zones, distinctly articulated and grouped together into a unified whole.
Concrete is used for its raw and unpretentious honesty, contrasting dramatically with the
highly refined and ornamented buildings constructed in the elite Beaux-Arts style.
Surfaces of cast concrete are made to reveal the basic nature of its construction, revealing
the texture of the wooden planks used for the in-situ casting forms.
Brutalist building materials also include brick, glass, steel, rough-hewn stone, and
gabions.
Conversely, not all buildings exhibiting an exposed concrete exterior can be considered
Brutalist, and may belong to one of a range of architectural styles including Constructivism,
International Style, Expressionism, Postmodernism, and Deconstructivism.
Another common theme in Brutalist designs is the exposure of the building's functions—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 included placing the facility's
water tank, normally a hidden service feature, in a prominent, visible tower.
Brutalism as an architectural philosophy was often also associated with a socialist utopian
ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially Alison and Peter
Smithson, near the height of the style.
This style had a strong position in the architecture of European socialist countries from 1965
to 1989.
In Czechoslovakia brutalism was presented as an attempt to create a "national" but also
"modern socialist" architectonic style.
Figures In the United Kingdom, Architects associated
with the Brutalist style include Ernő Goldfinger, wife-and-husband pairing Alison and Peter
Smithson, some of the work of Sir Basil Spence, the LCC/GLC Architects Department, Owen Luder,
John Bancroft, and, arguably perhaps, Sir Denys Lasdun, Sir Leslie Martin, Sir James
Stirling with his early works.
In Australia, examples of the Brutalist style are Robin Gibson's Queensland Art Gallery,
Ken Woolley's Fisher Library at the University of Sydney, the High Court of Australia by
Colin Madigan in Canberra, and WTC Wharf.
John Andrews's government and institutional structures in Australia also exhibit the style.
In the United States Paul Rudolph and Ralph Rapson are both noted Brutalists.
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 Argentina Clorindo Testa created the Bank of London and South America, one of the best
examples of the fifties.
More recent Modernists such as I.M.
Pei and Tadao Ando also have designed notable Brutalist works.
In Brazil, the style is associated with the Paulista School and is evident in the works
of Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha.
In the Philippines, Leandro Locsin designed massive brutalist structures, including the
Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Philippine International Convention Center.
In New Zealand, Sir Miles Warren and his practice Warren & Mahoney led the development of the
so-called "Christchurch School" of architecture, which fused Brutalist architectural style
with Scandinavian and Japanese values of straightforwardness.
Warren's buildings have had a significant effect on New Zealand's public architecture.
Architects whose work reflects certain aspects of the Brutalist style include Louis Kahn.
Architectural historian William Jordy says that although Kahn was "[o]pposed 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."
On university campuses In the late 1960s, many campuses in North
America were undergoing expansions and, as a result, there are a significant number of
Brutalist buildings at American and Canadian universities, beginning with Paul Rudolph's
1958 Yale Art and Architecture Building and the 1965 Art Museum at Colgate.
Rudolph's design for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is an example of an entire campus
designed from scratch in the Brutalist style.
Likewise, architect Walter Netsch designed the entire University of Illinois-Chicago
Circle Campus under a single, unified brutalist design.
The University of Chicago's Joseph Regenstein Library, one of the largest libraries in the
world, is designed in the brutalist style.
The University of Minnesota's West Bank campus features several Brutalist buildings, including
Ralph Rapson's performing arts venue, Rarig Center, one of Rapson's most important works
and the best example of Brutalism in the Twin Cities.
Criticism and reception
Brutalism has some severe critics, including Charles, Prince of Wales.
His speeches and writings on architecture have excoriated Brutalism, calling many of
the structures "piles of concrete".
"You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe", said Prince Charles at the Corporation of
London Planning and Communication Committee's annual dinner at Mansion House in December
1987.
"When it knocked down our buildings, it didn't replace them with anything more offensive
than rubble."
Similar sentiment is found in the poem Slough.
Defenders of the style argue that the criticism comes not only from the designs of the buildings,
but also from the fact that concrete façades do not age well in damp, cloudy 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 leaches from the steel reinforcing bars.
Critics of the style find it 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, with some of the angular features
being softened and updated in buildings currently being constructed in Israel and Latin America,
and preservation efforts are taking place in the United Kingdom.
Brutalist appears at its most brutal when placed in a historic context such as next
to a listed building or within a conservation area.
Excellent examples exist in historic university cities such as Edinburgh, Scotland.
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.
In recent years, the bad memories of under-served Brutalist community structures have led to
their demolition in communities eager to make way for newer, more traditionally-oriented
community structures.
Theodore Dalrymple, a British author, physician, and political commentator, has written for
City Journal that Brutalist structures represent an artefact of European 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 today
Although the Brutalist movement was largely dead by the mid-1980s, having largely given
way to Structural Expressionism and Deconstructivism, it has experienced an updating of sorts in
recent years.
Many of the rougher aspects of the style have been softened in newer buildings, with concrete
façades often being 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 Sheffield's Park Hill.
Several Brutalist buildings have been granted listed status as historic and others, such
as Gillespie, Kidd and Coia's St. Peter's Seminary, named by Prospect magazine's survey
of architects as Scotland's greatest post-war building, have been the subject of conservation
campaigns.
The Twentieth Century Society has unsuccessfully campaigned against the demolition of buildings
such as the Tricorn Centre and Trinity Centre Multi-Storey Car Park but successfully in
the case of Preston Bus Garage, the Hayward Gallery, and others as the tide seems to be
turning in a mature appreciation of the style.
Gallery
See also
List of brutalist structures Notes
References Romy Golan, Historian of the Immediate Future:
Reyner Banham – Book Review, The Art Bulletin, June 2003.
Accessed online at FindArticles 23 October 2006.
External links Reflections on Brutalist Architecture in East
London Ontario Architecture: Brutalism
From Here to Modernity includes many Brutalist examples
Tate Gallery Glossary entry for "Brutalism" Walker, John.
"New Brutalism".
Glossary of Art, Architecture & Design since 1945, 3rd.
ed.
"Symbols in Transition" Documentary film regarding the post-89 handling of the political symbols
and buildings of eastern Europe "The New Brutalism" Brutalist, Rationalist,
Modernist architectural photography includes many Brutalist examples
Google Community "Architecture of Brutalism" – many current photographs and links