Brutalist architecture

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.

Related Topics:
Modernist - Architectural - 1950s - 1970s - Swiss - Architect - Le Corbusier - Unité d'Habitation - Ludwig Mies van der Rohe - French - Concrete

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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.

Related Topics:
Utopian - Peter and Alison Smithson - United Kingdom

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