The beauty of brutalism - BBC News

Brutalist buildings are most easily recognised by their heavy use of concrete and striking, modernist shapes. 'This Brutal World' is Peter Chadwick's visual love letter to an oft maligned architectural style. His book features over 200 photographs of brutalist buildings from around the world. He told Dan Damon about why he finds concrete so appealing.
(Picture: Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego, California, USA Credit: University of California)
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[@YOSUP315]

Problem is, I don't like being depressed. My high school looked like this, with concrete inside and outside, and it felt like a prison every day. It was so dark and cold and lifeless that it a relief to have a class in the portables.

[@combatantezoteric2965]

Same...this is why I want to study to Sapienza university in Rome!

[@giantasparagus]

Strange because I would have loved this instead mine was set up like an office building.

[@zloktopod]

i doubt concrete has anything to do about kids being depressed in school but ok

[@f-liiiz]

@@zloktopod This. I went to traditional-looking private and public schools and every other kid was depressed and felt like they were in a prison in those..

[@curanki8868]

my school building is build in a neoclassical style and it's still depressing as shit... it's about so much more than just the style of architecture

[@Skyelanderr]

I agree to the people that say that it feuels depression, It's dark, grey and has sharp edges (lifeless). Yet this post modern, dark, gritty and minimalist Vision of the future especially on big buildings is quite fascinating.. I find this beautiful in it's own darker way. But hundreds of people living in an Art experiment is not healthy in long term..

[@leonoraerskine5848]

It's so beautiful.

[@jeukheiong5499]

it requires green plants to balance the depression.

[@SerpMolot]

Anything but high-tech and deconstructionism. Brutalism can look good but sometimes (especially when not restored on time) can just be an ugly blob in a beautiful city. And that's why we need architects that know what they're doing. No brutalist structures near buildings of the "old" styles (baroque, classicism, etc.) I've noticed that constructivism and brutalism CAN compliment each other by the way.

[@kyokyodisaster4842]

I guess, like most buildings, you should design them with note to the nearby design and try to complement them.

[@hugohaugusto9358]

@@kyokyodisaster4842 and their function

[@asterobiology]

At my university, we have an even mix of "old" and brutalist buildings, and it is quite beautiful

[@SerpMolot]

@@asterobiology if not a secret what university would that be. I'd like to take a look.

[@Emanresuadeen]

The perfect look for dystopian science fiction.

[@user-ti6ix5tn2o]

People immedietly judge them by their looks but they dont know how conveniet they are. I live in a brutalist mixed with minimalist house and less heat gets in, less pests hiding, not difficult to clean and maintain.

[@hoppinggnomethe4154]

@@user-ti6ix5tn2o if the world is full of brutalist architecture, imagine the number of suicides

[@user-ti6ix5tn2o]

@@hoppinggnomethe4154 youre actually right. I lost all my family from suicide. They saw a brutalist architecture and they felt disgusted from looking at it so they took their life away

[@hugohaugusto9358]

@@hoppinggnomethe4154 that has more to do with what is near your house or you can do

[@Ellis_B]

Very futuristic looking

[@theheftheftyguy]

Some brutalist building are very awe inspiring others are just redundant and lazy.

[@Francisco-er4zr]

You clearly have no idea what your talking about... lazy... you crealy have no idea how building things work. And there prepuse was the most important aspect, learn a bit first then comment

[@DK-tv6rk]

@@Francisco-er4zr Remember that in most of modern art "function follows form."

[@AA-gl1dr]

Most*

[@stephengyte8937]

If you remember a building for it's ugliness, you'll miss it for a different reason when it's gone. Brutalist architecture of all has the power to provoke emotion. For some it's a blot on the landscape, for others it has a deeper beauty. Either way, unlike most architecture it will stand tall in criticism and passion. If it moves you it already lives in you

[@raishw6483]

No lol. Remembering it for it's ugliness will only make you feel better after its gone. Thank God we have less brutali-what concrete junk in my neighborhood 😂

[@raishw6483]

The only reason for it's existence is to remind promising architects what you shouldn't do. I guess everything has its purpose huh?

[@stephengyte8937]

@The Stammering Dunce I guess that depends on the individual. For me, it's more than nostalgia, a statement of neccessity in a then less green world. The world has become a better place because of it. A classic example of "keep your eye on where you are going but remember where you have been"

[@dackpixel792]

​@@raishw6483ignorance is the root of every evil. I can tell you must be a classic architecture fanboy.

[@Randomaited]

I love brutalist buildings. They're gorgeous. Admittedly they aren't always well placed in relation to other buildings of differing architectural styles, but general I think they're the best stylistically. They're honest about their structure and function, not too pompous and bourgeois like many classical or baroque buildings, and not too soul destroyingly cold and corporate like the awful glass towers of the most recent decades. They echo a time of hope and progress, one of social solidarity and community, not self-absorbed atomism. Their warm concrete construction is homely in a way, but an unfortunate presumption of the pre-climate change era's notion of infinite growth and resources. We'll never see another era of brutalism, and maybe that's for the best ecologically, but it is unfortunate. Brutalism was a reflection of the optimism, and belief that we can do anything with technology, of the postwar period. The architecture since has been a sad reflection of the growing pessimism of society, driven by the increasing inequality, and decades of the end of rising living standards from generation to generation. The buildings we leave behind are the most tangible way we can interact with our descendants, what will they say of our postmodernity's socially hollow, alienating structures built in glass and steel? Only time will tell.

[@roddale8412]

Yes. I love brutalism also. Post war concrete is very lovely. I think some people dislike brutalism because it's a case of shock of the new. In some ways brutalism is a bit like hard rock music. What is bleak, loud, scary to some, is awesome to others. I agree about postmodernism. It's shallow, fake, gimmicky & nothingness.

[@gritvelvet5992]

My thinking exactly. I found expression "brutalist" to be misleading. Idea in its core and a good part of actual buildings and environments built under "brutalist style" are more human than almost any glass sky-scraper I ever saw. I am doing the whole film in computer generated brutalist environment-that's how much I like it. If you have some favorite examles of brutalist architecture please do share..:)

[@Randomaited]

If you're looking for brutalist buildings and structures, I'd suggest you search these instagram pages, they have a wealth of images to draw from: new_brutalism brutal_architecture brutopolis brutal_moscow brutalistbudapest brutalistdublin brutalistlondon brutalistdc brutalist_project_sydney thisbrutallife sosbrutalism brutalism_appreciation_society brutalism.jpg grey_campus_brutalism concrete_shores the.concrete.project theconstructivistproject socialistmodernism modernistbrum modernistliving (Yeah, there's a lot of love for brutalism on instagram it seems)

[@roddale8412]

Thanks for the list. Will investigate.

[@gritvelvet5992]

Woooow! First of all I am amazed that there is so much of them. Thank you for that. People I talk to don't care much about this style of architecture. Some of them are disgusted by it. They say that it looks cold and frightening. Again, I don''t understand how is this less human than a square glass building but I didn't find it possible to persuade them so I gave up. To each his own i guess. Anyway, thanks again.

[@jenwhite8832]

I’ve tried, but I can’t see it. I find brutalist architecture depressingly ugly, with no real redeeming qualities.

[@turnip5359]

It also stains because of all the rain we get in the UK, it's bleak and depressing.

[@ned900]

I would refer you to Osho's thoughts on sadness. Not everything needs be happy. I fully appreciate these buildings as bleak and thoroughly enjoy them.

[@ROCKSTAR3291]

It's ugly, and does not age well. I'm glad these buildings are being torn down by the dozens in Sydney

[@kutie216]

Jen White Same. Just wait, the rebar will eventually rust causing weak spots and they'll fall on their own.

[@combatantezoteric2965]

If you dislike brutalist architecture then you haven't seen deconstructionist architecture.

[@pabloheinpereirastolle1887]

Brutalism allows everything. Like plants growing from its concrete, eagles nests, street art and even graffiti.

[@hybrit9881]

If i take a massive crap in your garden it doesn't make the garden better just because I've added something different and bold to it

[@jakekaywell5972]

It actually does make the garden better in your hypothetical scenario, because your excrement would provid nutrients to the flowers around it. Hurrah!

[@hellofellas5661]

I love how cold they look

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold

[@festival3051]

@@SuperGreatSphinx lmao no hello, no how are you.. Just a link to coldness

[@gondwanaman9362]

They work as mere sculptures or places where processing of materials etc can take place. But to live in?

[@boldvankaalen3896]

That is why I hate them.

[@boldvankaalen3896]

@@gondwanaman9362 If architects want to make sculptures they have chosen the wrong profession.

[@retcon1991]

There's always been a part of me that strangely enjoys the brutalist quality of the concrete jungles built in the 60s and 70s. I simultaneously enjoy and despise them.

[@hoppinggnomethe4154]

I see no problem with minimalism, but not everything should be minimalist. As for brutalism, I absolutely love it when it's in a fictional dystopian authoritarian or totalitarian society as art. Seriously, these buildings give you a feeling of total power and absolute oppression. They have a very negative energy to them. In my very opinion, this architecture only fits well on prisons and any military infrastructures. Imagine schools with this architecture... I generally believe that brutalism is not a good thing since mental health is very important for all of us human beings. Poor mental health forms unwanted byproducts in our society. For example, mass shooters. In order to prevent as much poor mental health, I believe that brutalism should also be reduced. We better leave the historic ones alone. They are history. Let's not build more of them.

[@dukeman8481]

It’s what the elites wants , just one more way to destroy people’s self esteem and hope.

[@hugohaugusto9358]

And that is why you need friends and go to a park (or at least grow mint/chammomille/potatoes)

[@bazspaz1375]

It is a disdainful insult to our species.

[@javierpacheco8234]

Then what kind of architecture should we build.

[@orangemoonglows2692]

i guess i'm weird cuz i love this.

[@idesofmarchUNIAEA]

orange moon glows yes you are

[@zzzmzzz4466]

Me too

[@burtlangoustine1]

Brutalist buildings are beacons of depression, gov cutbacks and poverty. For every 1 nice concrete building there are 1000 disgusting ones.

[@Ucceah]

yet each od the good looking ones actually is brutalist archtecture, not just concrete.

[@hugohaugusto9358]

Remember: good brutalist is not prefab

[@TheBeastInBlack]

Man the guys in these comments suck. Brutish architecture looks awesome. Love how Halo kinda incorporated that look into Forerunner tech in the old games.

[@lebro4401]

If were going to be literal here, they look like unfinished architecture

[@ROCKSTAR3291]

or ugly if we're being honest

[@giovonemendoza6531]

@@ROCKSTAR3291 I like it

[@bboy7656]

@@giovonemendoza6531 me too

[@ProWarAdvocate]

Brutalism is the most horrible architecture ever conceived

[@jakekaywell5972]

I believe that honor would go to High Victorian.

[@ProWarAdvocate]

@@jakekaywell5972 Bad take, nearly every random, average person would completely disagree with you

[@jakekaywell5972]

@@ProWarAdvocate I don't need the validation of other people to know what I like or believe is better. High Victorian is stuffy and emotionally repressive as a whole whereas Brutalism is liberating and futuristic as a whole.

[@ProWarAdvocate]

@@jakekaywell5972 It obviously comes down to opinion which I do respect but you must understand (despite your insistence otherwise) that the average person does not like or want brutalism as they find it oppressive and well - brutal.

[@jakekaywell5972]

@@ProWarAdvocate Brutalism comes from the French "beton brut" which just means "raw concrete". Any associations that the general public may assign to Brutalism as an architectural style with brutality is a product of simple ignorance and primal instinct. More subjectively valid is whether or not people find Brutalism to be oppressive. I don't. I just don't. I love it to the point that I'm designing my own house in such a fashion. For me, the appeal of Brutalism is that its the defining element of Gothic architecture, extracted from its source and distilled. In any such building, you are a small point in a great, geometrically constructed space. Nothing the pure structure of the universe here. This space is absolutely neutral and lifeless, which allows you to make up the life within it without the need for an architectural crutch along the lines of a gaudy McMansion. The use of concrete as a defining part of Brutalism also allows for making shapes that just aren't possible with any other material, with usually fantastic results. In addition, they appear strong and unyielding, stating firmly that the ideas and people contained within are worth protecting and fighting for. Finally, these buildings represent our near-total triumph over the natural world as the human race. We have risen above scrambling around in mud huts in the darkness and it is glorious.

[@thornbird6768]

I love brutalist architecture , for me it’s nostalgic growing up in the late 60’s and 70’s these buildings were new and very modern . Sadly in the UK the residential buildings have been left to rot or pulled down , it’s sad to see as these would still have made great places to live in with better maintenance .

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK

[@jonnda]

Most of the buildings shown here are best case scenarios. That said... These buildings are often brutal to occupy, difficult to heat, difficult to cool, difficult/expensive to maintain, difficult to find the entrance, and most of them are unwelcoming in appearance because of that last fact. It is one of the most ironic architecture styles ever considered, as it tends to take humanity out of the equation (in an unfriendly way) while these brutalist structures are usually still supposed to be occupied, maintained, and used by people who are supposed to want to do so... But they often don't or can't.

[@downsjmmyjones101]

I love its seemingly blatant disregard for humanity. Looking up at a brutalist building makes me think of an uncaring and indifferent god. It's the closest architectural rendering of a Lovecraftian horror that I can think of. I can certainly see that it's not warm and comforting. I understand that it doesn't feel relatable. However, that is the reason I like it. Brutalism serves a valuable function. It's the modern day cathedral. Much like how Notre Dame can make you feel small and insignificant in relation to the power, scale, and beauty of God, brutalism achieves something similar with the scale and power of an indifferent universe instead of a benevolent deity.

[@FeedBackLoop248]

It's ugly. Soul crushing. I say this as someone living in Tel-Aviv

[@combatantezoteric2965]

@Luka Capuder same :(

[@hugohaugusto9358]

@Luka krushovkas or brezhnevkas?

[@Flaroeon]

Why do we have to make our buildings look as unappealing as possible? Are people trying to make cities look drab and depressing? The only "strong presence" these buildings give off is a feeling of hideousness.

[@user-vw7ig5by9u]

Brutalism was a demonstration of strength. When it faded society became weaker.

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

The Strength of Hercules

[@bethocdunwitty6641]

Its hideous and damaging to the soul

[@Ellis_B]

Like the futuristicness of it. Paint it all white it'll look hundred times better

[@atilamatamoros7499]

Wise, Not all brutal structure is aesthetically pleasant, pleasure as most sculpture is . Some are truly works of art!

[@urbsasusual]

I an't really against Brutalism until I watch this video. Pure ugly! There are many beautiful brutalism structures out there and this video picked the worst.

[@ornature5324]

It’s disgusting and grey

[@lchpdmq]

Hideous

[@artasas009]

What's that beauty at 0:37 ?

[@TheActiveAssault]

Looks like a gulag.

[@hugohaugusto9358]

Gulag time structures are the opposite of brutalism. Check the Moscow metro for reference

[@SBroconis522]

Arte Deco is the real "totalitarian” style as shown by the USRR.

[@celestinekhasatsili9814]

There is no beauty in brutalism

[@kiragoe]

I love it, I like alot of the contempory art of today. So sick of boring photogrpaihc paintings and boring shaped buildings. Buildings like these bring some atmosphere to the place and always become points of interest.

[@MrRooibos123]

The issue is that Brutalist buildings age terribly. They start off looking impressive, but when they get dirty they just become soul crushingly miserable.

[@kxmmentarschreiberrv2810]

I think it looks hideous.

[@firatyildirim2288]

What a shollov impression of brutalism.

[@mysciencenow]

Prefer stone

[@RIXRADvidz]

it's a good thing we all don't think the same about everything, variety surely IS the spice of life, not everybody likes classical architecture, not everybody likes modern architecture, and most don't even know what either of them are......they only know they like a house with a yard and a space to entertain and a man cave and a spa bath and plenty of storage. . . . from what I'm reading here in the comments....

[@Studio2770]

Yeah a lot of people love classical, gothic, or baroque but as someone who has learned some art history, those styles get old fast. If anything, Brutalism pulls from those.

[@kutie216]

Rez In what way does brutalism pull from those?

[@combatantezoteric2965]

Anything later than baroque is decadent. Classicism is responssible for the art of today, even if you like or not modern/contemporary art or architecture. Is it weird that I love rennaisance and baroque architecture but I hate classical architecture, and love mondernist and contemporary architecture but only taken as art?

[@combatantezoteric2965]

But I can't look in any way to the deconstructivist arch and like it... No simmetry = not architecture.

[@ManiacalSurgeon]

It’s very interesting that they mention Le Corbusier. He was one of the pioneers of Walter Gropius’ work from the Bauhaus movement during the Weimar Republic.

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic

[@BaddaBigBoom]

I like the idea of brutalist concrete fused to natural stone eg, a mountainside. I bet it would have a low environmental impact especially if the residence was solar/wind powered. I would like to think that plants and mosses could grow on the concrete.

[@hugohaugusto9358]

You could look for yugoslavian era hotels near the cost. Something growing in concrete is bad for the structure, but something like wall gardens or plants in the roof would have a similar effect

[@DMaclellan101]

I remember a time when the BBC was actually pretty good. Now, not so much.

[@riyadhf1rdausehh]

I think, what brutalism lacking is details such as decals and natural looking curves

[@hugohaugusto9358]

Go inside for them

[@wolfgang4043]

I'm from a country where soc realistic and brutalist buildings were forcefully stuffed between romantic secession houses which were demolished to give place to these abominations. We also lived in soc realistic apartment buildings that were built with the same amount of sense for beauty as white shoe boxes. The architects should be punished for these by forcing them to live in those hen cages they invented. In the capital they spent a week blowing up a big portion of an Ancient Roman Wall in order to make one of these sick buildings. All these plans were granted to the few chosen architects who proved to be ultra loyal to the commie government, regardless of talent or having any taste in art. And they still tap these lunatics on the shoulders in TV docs. They think they're incredibly important but in reality they have turned our romantic capital into a mess. We hated those buildings but had no word in it. They feel as rude, aggressive, dirty words in the middle of a romantic poem. This sudden praising of this disgusting architecture is a great surprise to me. It is a sign of total bad taste, privileges for the obedient dumb architects and ugly panorama. I hope the tons of iron in these concrete monstrosities rot as soon as possible and they all collapse.

[@jakekaywell5972]

Personally, I find most forms of traditional architecture to be needless frippery, with their details tacked-on instead of molded-in. Brutalism is much better for me, to the point that I'm designing my own house in such a fashion.

[@thirdrockjul2224]

Brutalim needs.to go. It’s a blight on the landscape.

[@shaunkearney8951]

It's disgusting no other way around it. Architecture and art in general is the worst it's been for generations IMO.

[@kiragoe]

You're one of those who prefers photograph like paintings I suppose, an ignorant person who preaches about contempory art "there's no skill involved in this, how is it art". The usual crap.

[@GoldieDawn]

Most of those buildings were built in the 60's & 70's Shaun. x :)

[@josephallison4302]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[@shaunkearney8951]

Goldie Dee Thanks for the information, Hun :) x

[@GoldieDawn]

Yer welcome hun. x :)

[@veruzzzz]

Insanely beautiful. For me, there is nothing more powerful when it comes to architecture or aesthetics than brutalism.

[@manbro3260]

The Beauty of literal big rectangles hobbled together with glass.

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass

[@20cdesign]

Great Video!!

[@Hero101010]

Most such buildings look like shite

[@bazookaboss332]

How can anybody like this? It is bland, pale, monotone, depressing.

[@dohcvtec217]

God Emperor but also clean, minimalist, elegant and avant-garde. It’s a matter of taste. To some people including me such industrial concrete monoliths are a wet dream

[@boldvankaalen3896]

You can archisplain all you want, but it remains a depressing, grey, and inhumane type of architecture.

[@jakekaywell5972]

In your opinion. I have no problem with people who don't like it, but I don't like seeing them impose their taste in this comment section. That's completely subjective.

[@boldvankaalen3896]

@@jakekaywell5972 The thing is that architects impose their taste on everybody. I just produce words, but architects create physical things that the rest of us have to live with. If normal people do not like their brain farts (because it is impractical, lacks human scale, does not fulfill the human need for colour, texture, details and variation) then normal people have "bad taste" or do not understand the architect. Where as I see it, if so many people dislike a building or a building style, it is the architect that failed, not the users or passers by. The problem as I see it, is that architects see themselves as artists, where they should look at themselves as service providers.

[@jakekaywell5972]

@@boldvankaalen3896 Why shouldn't architects look at themselves as artists, though? Color, material, everything has to be just right to meet both their own personal tastes as well as the practical specifications of the design. I would argue that they have the right to do that as creatives and that in general we as the general public benefit. I also disagree with the notion of the "human need" for color, texture, and variation. They are simply unnecessary. Could possibly be used, but only with great care and in limited quantities. I would also say that the general public is wrong for their hatred (not even dislike) of Brutalism because they look at is as "oppressive" and "dystopian" because of the USSR. It's more that we have come to this bright modern future and that the ideas and people inside such a building are worth protecting and fishing for.

[@boldvankaalen3896]

@@jakekaywell5972 Artists make their art to express themselves and their ideas. If their work is ugly, umpleasant or inpractical it can be ignored. Buildings on the other hand have a huge impact on the users and the environment of the building. Satisfying the needs of the users (one of these is to be aesthtically pleased with the building) and the people in the neighbourhoods should be in first place. The self-expression of the architect as an artist should be at the last place. Using decoration, texture and colour in a harmonious and pleasing way is indeed not easy, it is a skill that architects seem to have lost after modernism took over. If most people hate your buildings you are doing something wrong as an architect. It is the job of the architect to serve the users of the buildings and the people in the neighbourhood. It is NOT the job of the public to understand the architect. Brutalism is not unpopular because communists also used it. It is unpopular because the buildings are oppressing all by themselves.

[@jakekaywell5972]

@@boldvankaalen3896 See, that's where we fundamentally disagree. I believe architecture is first and foremost a creative exercise with practical applications being considered as they are needed. You believe that architecture is a public service and any artistic considerations are largely irrelevant. Also, Modernism as an art movement is generally defined as taking place from the end of WW1 through the late 1950s. Are you sure you want to paint that broadly of a brush of ugliness over literally every piece from that era? Finally, I don't see Brutalism as oppressive. I just don't. If anything, they are liberating because they don't have to follow natural constraints to make truly out-of-this-world sculptures of buildings, which I believe to be the ideal scenario.

[@jakekaywell5972]

When I look at a Brutalist building, I see confidence and security. A building that dares nature to even attempt to destroy it, even after we're long gone. A reminder that we have finally triumphed over the natural world.

[@cjaquilino]

Thanks for saying the quiet part loud. It's more evidence that those with authoritarian tendencies love brutalism.

[@SBroconis522]

@@cjaquilinoPower is beautiful.

[@thornbird6768]

Most of these examples are in the ex eastern bloc !! USSR and former Yugoslavia have the best 👍🏻

[@bazspaz1375]

And really.... why the symmetry phobia?

[@Studio2770]

Um there's symmetry, watch it again.

[@mangere7748]

Why not? There’s symmetry in asymmetry :)

[@combatantezoteric2965]

Brutalism uses simmetry. Deconstructivism on the other hand... The problem I find with brutalism ( and maybe the reason why many people like it! ) is that those innovative forms and their combination would look a lot better on more normally sized buildings. A huge dimension in one axis will only make the construction objectively ugly due to how we humans perceive beauty. The axiom of Protagoras: "Man is the measure of all things" is certainly true in this way.

[@sizanogreen9900]

I actually think this kind of architecture looks really faszinating ^^

[@JasonGastrich]

This reminds me of my visit to Arcosanti, Arizona.

[@Gamer_2047_]

sad depressing designs

[@BaddaBigBoom]

Sad depressing comment.

[@leoaksil4085]

Ugly not beautiful

[@hugohaugusto9358]

Yugoslavian war memorials disagree with you

[@Landauh]

Horrible modernist nonsense. Wish whoever designed these would save some of the concrete and go swimming with it.

[@nekocekoBiHMK]

Read a book, Landau.

[@otnoirhc]

They are ugly but cool

[@algraham7177]

Beauty? What pretentious nonsense. This is the very opposite of everything beauty is.

[@jakekaywell5972]

According to you, sure. Me? I love it! Concrete and hard angles, ho!

[@javierpacheco8234]

@@jakekaywell5972 this is bad it is just gray and ugly looking on the outside. Did you smoke weed?

[@omkr0122]

That's Brutal!

[@Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

[@javierpacheco8234]

No it's not beauty is objective.

[@Lilly-bo1mi]

I love brutalism. Because I love the strong and geometric shapes and I would love to see another brutalist building I have no problem with people who don't like it, but I don't like seeing them impose their taste in this comment section. It is a totally subjective taste "It's depressing", "It's totalitarian"... your opinion. My opinion is different

[@jakekaywell5972]

Honestly same. You've ever seen the Giesel Library in California or the Petrodvorets Watch Factory in St. Petersburg? Beautiful examples of good Brutalism.

[@EximiusDux]

how to make a building style sound like a bdsm movie... djees that name is seriously out of place. But it is a positive video thus thumbs up.

[@ThePhantomKing]

The Former is possessing one of the buildings.

[@nub9688]

When Marxism meets architecture.

[@ManiacalSurgeon]

You bring up a good point! The Bauhaus movement, which was well before Brutalism, progressed towards Marxist ideology and Le Corbusier had contributed toward the end of its life. The school closed down at its final location in Berlin when the Nazi declared its art to be ‘decadent’ or ‘bulshavistic’. When it closed the alumni were forced to leave. It’s quite possible that Le Corbusier had been influenced by Marxist teaching when developing the brutalist style.

[@ManiacalSurgeon]

@@combatantezoteric2965 the Nazis actually used the Bauhaus style in one of their concentration camps. They hired an alumni member of the Gropius school and he designed the gate at the entrance. They also had plans to design guard barracks but didn't get around to it. The camp was Buchenwald, and the architect was Ehrilich who had been initially arrested as a Communist. He worked hard labor and then told the camp administration that he was an architect and was in Gropius' Berlin school, and he got the position.

[@antivorg1239]

Eww

[@Gamer_2047_]

pathetic title

[@somersetdc]

Some of them are amazing...true...but some are AWFUL. Just take a look at the FBI building in Washington, DC.

[@JbtSveZauzeto1]

Yeah, sure. They look great on your architectural portfolio or on a photograph. But living near or even in those is just depressing.

[@WyldeBlues]

Does anyone know what's the bulding in 1:04?

[@dominospizza4386]

Grzegorz Patyk think its the svalbard global seed vault but thats probably wrong

[@chemickykanalpanatitrmana2392]

It looks like shit. I say demolish

[@postit5725]

quite impractical designs, not very sturdy for long term, unbalanced and just weird

[@hugohaugusto9358]

Have you ever seen a plant in a concrete pot?

[@JulieBall-dg2ci]

'Sense of place'? It's an affront to nature and humanism. God awful, Marxist nihilism. Only place this trash belongs is in a dystopian nightmare. Organic architecture from the culture is human, welcoming and beautiful, not top down elitist narcissism. Keep to your salons and don't defile the public space.

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

i think some of the most beautiful/amazing building are brutalist buildings

[@tadeuszkowalski6911]

Outside London UK looks like shit compare to Australia or Europe. Brutal fact ;)

[@turnip5359]

Have you visited every square KM of the UK?

[@user-bj9zz3tv4v]

These buildings are quite depressing but I like it

[@fullride1588]

I would really like to visit all the basses

[@OlaNordmann123]

Depressing, not beautiful. Do they even know what the word beautiful implies? Beautiful is something you wanna be around, live with. Sure, it's an objective thing and I can understand that some think brutalism is cool at first glance, but living amongst those dull gray identity lacking structures will make you depressed in the long run. It's like the designers only think of them self. "Hey, this is cool and trendy and this is what I want to design", They don't care about the culture it is being placed into or the people who are going to live with it for a 100+ years.

[@turnip5359]

I think the people who design this stuff never actually have to set foot in where these buildings are placed, give me a town or city that's full of heritage over any of this stuff any day.

[@jazzman5115]

Ola Nodmann It's like living in a huge car park.

[@BaddaBigBoom]

Ola, it seems as though you have only partly grasped the definition of the term "objective".

[@hugohaugusto9358]

The coliseum is made of concrete. Addition: It's only depressing if you can't do anything there, not if it looks gargantuan

[@OlaNordmann123]

For some reason I said objective here, when it's a fully subjective if these are beautiful or not.

[@georgefinch8835]

Awful

[@hugohaugusto9358]

Not if done with oversight

[@tou7331]

Brutalism only works when all the rules are bent to the limit and begin to slowly blur the lines between modernism, post mordernism, internationalism and brutalism. This isn't found in any other style thats why it fails. You have to bend the rules so much they might aswell not be there

[@melissaroscher1080]

Brutalist churches, Nope

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_(building)

[@hugohaugusto9358]

There is a brutalist mosque in the balkans. Its lightning is a beautiful work

[@solmanovigor5993]

bbc, f..europe has brutal buildings.... Where is your brutal men?

[@BaddaBigBoom]

Marvel ;-)

[@williampichardo1485]

I dropped a serving of architectural semen in my pants just from looking at the first few building..

[@George-jn7qn]

first

[@xbb1024]

38th

[@Etheldreda-]

Oxymoron.