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Why are you glad some are? Signed, A Brutalist Hater

harimau777 7y ago
Human beings are physical creatures and our physical environment can communicate messages that are more powerful than if you just read them in a book. I find that brutalist buildings often communicate a visceral sense of power, profundity, inhuman scale, etc. A Brutalist library can give one the sense that it houses the knowledge of hundreds of generations. From a time when the gigantic heroes of myth necessitated the building's inhuman size. Entering a Brutalist courthouse might feel like walking into a fortress where the forces of law and order make their stand to protect society from the forces of chaos. In short, I agree, at least in part, with the critics of Brutalism who say that it creates in the viewer a feeling of insignificance and the sense that the environment was not fully built for you. Where I disagree is when they say that we should never feel that way. At a time when the comforts of modern technology allow people to live divorced from nature and where social media allows everyone to be at the center of their own world, I think its valuable to occasionally be reminded that we are each a very small part of a world that is very large.
- baked_ziti 7y ago
  > A Brutalist library can give one the sense that it houses the knowledge of hundreds of generations. Or it can resemble a turkey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robarts_Library https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robarts_Library Brutalist structures are hideously ugly and oppressive to the human spirit. Why anyone thinks architects and advocates for the dehumanizingly ugly should be allowed to use public spaces for these projects is a mystery to me. We have to share these spaces, and for people to say things like "sometimes you should feel insignificant" and then impose it on the rest of us in building form is objectionable.
- JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
  I honestly don’t think I will ever recover from Boston City Hall and not see it in every brutalist building I see. It was that traumatizing to even stand near it. If the Empire from Star Wars and Camazotz from A Wrinkle in Time had a baby it would be that building.
harimau777 7y ago
Less poetically, I like the fact that there are different types of architecture which communicate different messages.
- kerakaali 7y ago
  Right? It's architectural prosody and super interesting to see how design can effect the very mood of the environment. I love cyberpunk and find brutalist architecture to be one of the primary styles in the genre that really helps to build the setting. There's a sense of impressive oppression that emanates from well executed brutalist buildings and sometimes mystery like in the case of 33 Thomas Street [0]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street
willisbueller 7y ago
I also disliked brutalist from spending too much time in Ontario University campuses which just did a boring job of brutalist. Then i visited the barbican in London and fell in love. There are very good examples of brutalist out there
IAmEveryone 7y ago
Some people enjoy the emotions Brutalism evokes in the same way that others enjoy watching horror movies even though horror/fear aren't usually considered positive emotions.
seabird 7y ago
The size and striking appearance give a sense of safety, nobility, and a feeling that the structure's purpose exists beyond what people think of it. There isn't the delusion that such a large structure can do anything but permanently change the landscape around it, and no appeal to some lost Great Tradition of Architecture. Brutalist architecture has dignity in its old age; rust streaks, plant growth, and other signs of aging feel like a graceful admission that nothing lasts forever, instead of an inevitable abandonment of the structure. The LA river drainway lets you appreciate the power of the river even when its not completely flooded. Towards the end, where the bed must become dirt, you see the far future of the entire drainway, where it's not a decrepit building, but just rock that has returned to nature.
- crooked-v 7y ago
  I've yet to see an old concrete building that's aged with dignity, rather than aging with 'what's with those big drippy stains, doesn't anybody wash around here?'.

Human beings are physical creatures and our physical environment can communicate messages that are more powerful than if you just read them in a book. I find that brutalist buildings often communicate a visceral sense of power, profundity, inhuman scale, etc. A Brutalist library can give one the sense that it houses the knowledge of hundreds of generations. From a time when the gigantic heroes of myth necessitated the building's inhuman size. Entering a Brutalist courthouse might feel like walking into a fortress where the forces of law and order make their stand to protect society from the forces of chaos. In short, I agree, at least in part, with the critics of Brutalism who say that it creates in the viewer a feeling of insignificance and the sense that the environment was not fully built for you. Where I disagree is when they say that we should never feel that way. At a time when the comforts of modern technology allow people to live divorced from nature and where social media allows everyone to be at the center of their own world, I think its valuable to occasionally be reminded that we are each a very small part of a world that is very large.

baked_ziti 7y ago
> A Brutalist library can give one the sense that it houses the knowledge of hundreds of generations. Or it can resemble a turkey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robarts_Library https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robarts_Library Brutalist structures are hideously ugly and oppressive to the human spirit. Why anyone thinks architects and advocates for the dehumanizingly ugly should be allowed to use public spaces for these projects is a mystery to me. We have to share these spaces, and for people to say things like "sometimes you should feel insignificant" and then impose it on the rest of us in building form is objectionable.
JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
I honestly don’t think I will ever recover from Boston City Hall and not see it in every brutalist building I see. It was that traumatizing to even stand near it. If the Empire from Star Wars and Camazotz from A Wrinkle in Time had a baby it would be that building.

harimau777 7y ago

Less poetically, I like the fact that there are different types of architecture which communicate different messages.

kerakaali 7y ago
Right? It's architectural prosody and super interesting to see how design can effect the very mood of the environment. I love cyberpunk and find brutalist architecture to be one of the primary styles in the genre that really helps to build the setting. There's a sense of impressive oppression that emanates from well executed brutalist buildings and sometimes mystery like in the case of 33 Thomas Street [0]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street

willisbueller 7y ago

I also disliked brutalist from spending too much time in Ontario University campuses which just did a boring job of brutalist. Then i visited the barbican in London and fell in love. There are very good examples of brutalist out there

IAmEveryone 7y ago

Some people enjoy the emotions Brutalism evokes in the same way that others enjoy watching horror movies even though horror/fear aren't usually considered positive emotions.

seabird 7y ago

The size and striking appearance give a sense of safety, nobility, and a feeling that the structure's purpose exists beyond what people think of it. There isn't the delusion that such a large structure can do anything but permanently change the landscape around it, and no appeal to some lost Great Tradition of Architecture. Brutalist architecture has dignity in its old age; rust streaks, plant growth, and other signs of aging feel like a graceful admission that nothing lasts forever, instead of an inevitable abandonment of the structure. The LA river drainway lets you appreciate the power of the river even when its not completely flooded. Towards the end, where the bed must become dirt, you see the far future of the entire drainway, where it's not a decrepit building, but just rock that has returned to nature.

crooked-v 7y ago
I've yet to see an old concrete building that's aged with dignity, rather than aging with 'what's with those big drippy stains, doesn't anybody wash around here?'.