Brutalist Architecture

I learned something new today: the ugly concrete building style of the 50s to the 70s, exemplified by Le Corbusier, has a name. It is called Brutalist Architecture (the term brutalist originates from the French béton
brut
or "raw concrete," but the name does fit the style
well):

The movement was initiated by French architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, known more popularly as Le Corbusier. The Brutalist approach was marked by an unashamed display of building functions and construction using poured concrete in a way that did not disguise the rough materials with which buildings are made. Brutalism [sic] completely rejected the classical norms of beautification and decoration for hard angles, rough surfaces, and exposed plumbing and machinery.

Link | Brutalist Architecture at Wikipedia | Brutalist Architecture Flickr pool

(Photo: Barbican Centre in London by GarySmith70 [Flickr])


Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

I don't like the style at all.
When a building looks like it it's either
1.An orthopedic device
2.Something from the machine room
3.A parking garage (when it's not)
Something is wrong.
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I'm a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.

Our entire college is done in a brutalist style. Consequently, we've been named the 11th ugliest college in the nation by the princeton review for the last decade or so.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIT
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My home town of Melbourne, Australia, is home to lots of brutalist architecture (much now protected) but my favourite has to be my local swimming centre - the Harold Holt Memorial Pool. The amusing thing about that is that it's named after Harold Holt, a former Australian Prime Minister - who went missing, presumed drowned, when swimming...

http://blog.adonline.id.au/brutalist-architecture/
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