Brutal Architecture - an Open Thread

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Hi, District Administration in Schwelm/D :

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To make the building look friendlier, coloured concrete art was added :

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With the building in the back, one has an interesting view of Schwelm:

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This kind of architecture, which one can find brutal today, shows how tastes have changed over the years. In the 60s and early 70s, when these buildings were created,
they were considered modern, at a time when modern was seen as a positive property.

I wonder what future generations, in 50 years, call our present style(s). Post-Industrial-Blandism ? We shall see ... (At least, some of us ---)
 
We saw this building a couple of winters back in Fuerteventura, which I believe to be a music school and library. Seen from above, the building is round, but from the side it looks like a gigantic black carbuncle, dropped beside the beach.

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Another London example from the "Barbican" Estate.Barbican Tower.jpg
It appears that the planners had a fascination with the "brutalist" architectural style around the mid-sixties, since most of the London buildings in this style seem to have been constructed around this period.
The Barbican Estate is now Grade II listed.
 
I posted these on the Fujifilm thread, they are of a concrete skatepark in my local town, early morning. I think they just about make it into the category (?)










 
Hi, Ruhr-Universität Bochum/D :


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And a few details :

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I find it difficult to show pics of my dear alma mater here, because I experienced these buildings in the early 1970s not as brutal. They were modern and functional.

It was one of the new campus universities at the time in Germany, called a learning factory by some ...

I spent the happiest days of my life there (so far), laying the foundations for my professional career ---
 
Another London example from the "Barbican" Estate.
It appears that the planners had a fascination with the "brutalist" architectural style around the mid-sixties, since most of the London buildings in this style seem to have been constructed around this period.
The Barbican Estate is now Grade II listed.

Isn't there something similar city side of the blackwall tunnel next to the main road?
 
Isn't there something similar city side of the blackwall tunnel next to the main road?

Robin Hood Gardens, due to be demolished as part of the Blackwall Reach regeneration project
 
Hi, I went to Frankfurt-Niederrad/D to find buildings for this thread. Niederrad is a business district outside the city with many office buildings erected from the mid 1960s on.

However I did find not find much there. Older buildings have either been demolished or renovated. (I used to work there from 1989 to 1995. Much has changed since then.)

This fits here, I think :


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We saw this building a couple of winters back in Fuerteventura, which I believe to be a music school and library. Seen from above, the building is round, but from the side it looks like a gigantic black carbuncle, dropped beside the beach.

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That really is gross. Totally out of proportion with its surroundings. I suppose there is a place for this style of architecture but surely it is the city, not by the beach!
 
That really is gross. Totally out of proportion with its surroundings. I suppose there is a place for this style of architecture but surely it is the city, not by the beach!

'Art' is a big thing there, and I think they'd see this as an expression of creativity (while overlooking the insensitivity). OTOH they do have some good wall paintings on some buildings.
 
Hi, when I present buildings here, it is not only about them, but also about my taste ...

To show a few examples, let's have a look from the library in Birmingham/UK :

#1
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#2
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#3
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#4
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#5
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I find the tall grey buildings in #5 to belong to the brutalism style category. They look like council flats from the 1960s to me, reminding me of Our friends from the North.

Of course, one could say that I am looking at these buildings from a cozy Cotswolds cottage perspective.

But the other buildings from my Birmingham overview I find simply modern, which is a neutral term for me ...
 
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Hi, in Frankfurt-Niederrad/D. Interestingly, it belongs to HOCHTIEF, a building company :


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Hi, the uploading did not work. - So, I went to your flickr account and saw lots of your lovely pictures ! (y)
 
Birmingham

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Les :)

Birmingham's "Silver Arse" (the Selfridges Building) isn't exactly brutal, come on! It's smooth, elegant, like a er ... well, bottom.

If you want brutal or Bauhaus you don't have to go far from the Selfridges buidling (unless they've redone the entire town centre and Digbeth - l've not been in yonks). In fact Birmingham city centre was the poster kid for postwar concretism.
 
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Hi, when I present buildings here, it is not only about them, but also about my taste ...

To show a few examples, let's have a look from the library in Birmingham/UK :

#1
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#2
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#3
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#4
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#5
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I find the tall grey buildings in #5 to belong to the brutalism style category. They look like council flats from the 1960s to me, reminding me of Our friends from the North.

Of course, one could say that I am looking at these buildings from a cozy Cotswolds cottage perspective.

But the other buildings from my Birmingham overview I find simply modern, which is a neutral term for me ...

Correct with #5 but the other pics are what's actually replacing the old concrete brutalism!!!
 
Correct with #5 but the other pics are what's actually replacing the old concrete brutalism!!!

Hi, unfortunately, I am not familiar with Birmingham's architectural history. So, I simply presented my impressions .... ---

A clear case for brutalism. Benidorm/ESP 1971:


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Brutalism appears to have (at least) 2 different sets of connotations. 1) big, bold, impressive 2) big, ugly, oppressive.
 
Hi, unfortunately, I am not familiar with Birmingham's architectural history

Basically, Hitler got wind that Brum was a manufacturing centre so he bombed central and eastern parts extensively, probably other parts too. He "Coventrated" Coventry too, for what it's worth. So, vast swathes were rebuilt with concrete.

I think i'd call (1) bold, impressive, utilitarian "Bauhaus" or suchlike.
Benidorm's tower blocks look alright actually. It encourages adrenaline, whereas a heap of bungalows and statics would have ruined the resort. I would class that as (1) not (2).

Just my 2p: a lot of this thread is actually beautiful Bauhaus architecture.
 
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The brutalist architecture style was developed from about 1951 to 1975.
The Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier was an early exponent of the style.
The brutalism term actually originates from the French word for “raw”, as Le Corbusier described his choice of material beton brut, meaning "raw concrete" in French.
The style goes popular around the world but London, UK, Boston, Chicago, Kansas city are popular places, where you can see examples of brutalism.
Brutalist style building generally uses brick, glass, steel in combination with bare concrete, which is often imprinted with the wood grain of the shuttering used to cast it
 
Just seen this thread. A building in Liverpool which popped into my head immediately, and I think fits the bill, is the Liverpool Echo building, apparently called The Capital Building.

I don't have any pics of it personally, which may become obvious as to why when you see it. :oops: :$ :puke: ;) Amazing what can be achieved with just a ruler and set square. :LOL:


The website I have linked is called Brutalist Constructions - Exploring Concrete Forms, and has other examples of the 'style'. ;)
 
Not sure if it is brutalist, but the Al Ibrahimi building in Abu Dhabi is one of the ever-diminishing older buildings that hasn't been demolished in the UAE. It is covered in an inter-woven concrete exoskeleton and would have been groundbreaking when it was constructed (there isn't much information but generally it was built sometime between 1975-1984).

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The brutalist architecture style was developed from about 1951 to 1975.
The Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier was an early exponent of the style.
The brutalism term actually originates from the French word for “raw”, as Le Corbusier described his choice of material beton brut, meaning "raw concrete" in French.
The style goes popular around the world but London, UK, Boston, Chicago, Kansas city are popular places, where you can see examples of brutalism.
Brutalist style building generally uses brick, glass, steel in combination with bare concrete, which is often imprinted with the wood grain of the shuttering used to cast it

Hi, thank you for your clarifications! (y) ---

Ruhr-Universität Bochum 1973 (slidescan 2005) :


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The concrete was painted much later ...
 
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