Postwar Architecture
Introduction
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom in reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterized by minimalist constructions that show bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design. a predominantly monochromatic color palette;[6][5] Other materials are also included, such as steel, wood, and glass.[7].
Descended from the modern movement "Modernism (philosophical and cultural movement)"), Brutalism is said to be a reaction against the nostalgia of architecture in the 1940s. It was further popularized in a 1955 essay by architecture critic Reyner Banham, who also associated the movement with the French expressions "béton brut" ("exposed or raw concrete") and "art brut" ("raw art"). modern work of other architects such as the Franco-Swiss Le Corbusier, the Estonian-American Louis Kahn, the German-American Mies van der Rohe or the Finnish Alvar Aalto.[5][13].
In the United Kingdom, Brutalism appeared in the design of low-cost, utilitarian social housing influenced by socialist principles and soon spread to other regions of the world.[4][5][14] Brutalist designs were most frequently used in the design of institutional buildings, such as universities, libraries, courts, and town halls. The movement's popularity began to decline in the late 1970s, and some associated the style with urban decay and totalitarianism.[5].
Brutalism has been polarizing historically; Specific buildings, as well as the movement as a whole, have generated a variety of criticisms (often described as "cold" or "soulless"), but have also garnered support from architects and local communities (with many Brutalist buildings becoming cultural icons, sometimes gaining landmark status).[4].
In recent decades, the movement has become a topic of renewed interest.[4] In 2006, several Bostonian architects called for a rebranding of the style to "heroic architecture" to distance themselves from the negative connotations of the term "brutalism."[15].
History
The term Nybrutalism ('New Brutalism')[16] was coined by the Swedish architect Hans Asplund") to describe Villa Göth, a modern brick house in Uppsala, designed in January 1950[9] by his contemporaries Bengt Edman and Lennart Holm.[10] Showcasing the 'as-found' design approach that would later be at the heart of Brutalism, the house displays double-T beams visible above the windows, exposed brick inside and out, and concrete poured in several rooms where you can see the tongue-and-groove pattern of the boards used to construct the formwork.[17][11] The term was picked up in the summer of 1950 by a group of visiting English architects, including Michael Ventris, Oliver Cox and Graeme Shankland, where it apparently "spread like wildfire and [it was] later adopted by a certain faction of young British architects.