4 ms·

I have a weird fascination with bruatlist architecture. It seems that everybody else hates it, but I like (some of) it. It's a bit the architecture of the 60s

I have a weird fascination with bruatlist architecture. It seems that everybody else hates it, but I like (some of) it. It's a bit the architecture of the 60s in general, universally hated in germany. But I find the optimism and futurism very interesting. The often neglected facades have something tragic, like a broken promise of a future straight out of comic-books. There are definitily bad examples, but I define them by being boring, not brutalist. I think it's an interesting expression of a epoch that's worth preserving and also complements the architecture of the city. Of course, you don't have to preserve everything. I think the difference is that I don't think a building has to be good or pleasant looking for me to like it (not that there are not example of good/pleasant looking brutalist buildings!).

souprock 8y ago
Here is one that I think is a prime example: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olsen_Hall.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olsen_Hall.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/42803091@N07/5577837230 https://www.flickr.com/photos/42803091@N07/5577837230 A search for it by name will show many more pictures. It's from 1974. It is really all thick concrete, inside and out. It used to feature brutalist landscaping consisting of mostly-dead grass, but that has obviously changed.
olcor 8y ago
Brutalist architecture, by itself is fine (example all of the UCSD campus). But when architects decide to put a brutalist building right in the middle of a city where the rest of the architecture is not Brutalist is when it rankles (example Boston City Hall).
hawkweed 8y ago
@LeanderK I have facionation with sci-fi / cyber punk movies, but would I like to live in such world? I'm so sure about that. It's same with the eastern bloc architecture. I'm guessing that you don't live in one of those countries. Believe me it's not that fun at all. Here is one interesting instagram channel with hand drawings of Belgrade architecture: https://www.instagram.com/brutalizam_i_renesansa/ https://www.instagram.com/brutalizam_i_renesansa/
- keiferski 8y ago
  Not the OP but I’m an American guy that has been living in ex-Communist countries (Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Etc.) for a few years. I don’t mind the brutalist stuff - it beats mindless suburban America any day.
TomMarius 8y ago
I learned to like it by making fun of it. > like a broken promise of a future straight out of comic-books. Yeah, especially the spomeniks[1] in former Yugoslavia look exactly like that. [1] https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/ https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/

souprock 8y ago

Here is one that I think is a prime example: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olsen_Hall.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olsen_Hall.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/42803091@N07/5577837230 https://www.flickr.com/photos/42803091@N07/5577837230 A search for it by name will show many more pictures. It's from 1974. It is really all thick concrete, inside and out. It used to feature brutalist landscaping consisting of mostly-dead grass, but that has obviously changed.

olcor 8y ago

Brutalist architecture, by itself is fine (example all of the UCSD campus). But when architects decide to put a brutalist building right in the middle of a city where the rest of the architecture is not Brutalist is when it rankles (example Boston City Hall).

hawkweed 8y ago

@LeanderK I have facionation with sci-fi / cyber punk movies, but would I like to live in such world? I'm so sure about that. It's same with the eastern bloc architecture. I'm guessing that you don't live in one of those countries. Believe me it's not that fun at all. Here is one interesting instagram channel with hand drawings of Belgrade architecture: https://www.instagram.com/brutalizam_i_renesansa/ https://www.instagram.com/brutalizam_i_renesansa/

keiferski 8y ago
Not the OP but I’m an American guy that has been living in ex-Communist countries (Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Etc.) for a few years. I don’t mind the brutalist stuff - it beats mindless suburban America any day.

TomMarius 8y ago

I learned to like it by making fun of it. > like a broken promise of a future straight out of comic-books. Yeah, especially the spomeniks[1] in former Yugoslavia look exactly like that. [1] https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/ https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/