Topic · across the network

Brutalism

Concrete, honesty and a reputation still being relitigated.

4: briefs
1: subject
8:22: average
33 min: in total

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design.briefs Design

All 4 in design →

8:05

Brutalist architecture

Brutalism isn’t ugly — it’s unbendingly honest about what a building is made of and why it stands there.

4:45

Paulo Mendes da Rocha

Concrete was his civic tool—not his style, not his signature, not his philosophy.

10:18

The Barbican Centre is a Brutalist arts complex in London, designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon. It features a concrete ziggurat form and complex multi-level layout. It was designated Grade II listed in September 2001 for its scale, cohesion, and ambition. It forms part of an integrated urban development including the Barbican Estate and Golden Lane Estate. Its design remains controversial and divisive.

10:20

Kenzō Tange

Tange didn’t rebuild Hiroshima—he reoriented it, using columns, concrete, and an axis as instruments of moral geometry.