Not brutalist but since we're talking concrete... I've long been a fan of Japanese architect Tadao Ando[0]. A lot of brutalist buildings are imposing blocky st

Not brutalist but since we're talking concrete... I've long been a fan of Japanese architect Tadao Ando[0]. A lot of brutalist buildings are imposing blocky structures but Ando's buildings are poetry in concrete. The looming mass of negative space in the Chikatsu Asuka Museum[1] is one of the spookiest and most awesome architectural experiences I've had (it's dedicated to ancient tombs in the area). I used to love hanging out at Galleria Akka[2] and I treasure the afternoon I spent at the Church of Light[3]. For me a defining feature of Japanese aesthetics is appreciation of the materials from which a thing is made (there's a word for it but I've forgotten). A wooden spoon should not hide the fact that is made of wood. A clay tea bowl should celebrate its "clay-ness" rather than try to cover itself with glazing, unless the point is to celebrate the materiality of the glaze. (This aesthetic is the exact opposite of skuemorphism.) Ando applied this concept to concrete. In some of his buildings the concrete is rough and you can see the stones embedded in it; in other buildings it is smooth as glass. All that said, I've heard from architects and occupants that his buildings leak like sieves. They're mostly not practical buildings. They're intended to make a visual statement. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadao_Ando https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadao_Ando [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Prefectural_Chikatsu_Asuka_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Prefectural_Chikatsu_Asu... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Galleria_%EF%BD%81%EF%BD%8B%EF%BD%8B%EF%BD%81.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Galleria_%EF%BD%81%EF%BD%... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Light https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Light Update: edited for formatting (why can't HN just use Markdown or RestructuredText??)