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“The truck is consumerist, whereas brutalism’s monumentality is civic. The truck’s boldness serves the bravado of an individual, whereas brutalism’s visual powe

“The truck is consumerist, whereas brutalism’s monumentality is civic. The truck’s boldness serves the bravado of an individual, whereas brutalism’s visual power was meant to project the shared dignity of the public realm.” Literally no product you can buy would meet this definition. I guess you could make a brutalist city bus?

toasterlovin 7y ago
> "the shared dignity of the public realm" That is a peculiar way to describe what Brutalism projects. I've always thought that it projected the sinister power of bureaucracy, and that was why government officials fell for it as hard as they did. (I know you're just quoting the author.)
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > That is a peculiar way to describe what Brutalism projects By the express wording of the quote, it doesn't describe what Brutalism projects but what Brutalism was meant to project.
et2o 7y ago
Not to mention a major motivation for electric vehicles is the public good and preservation of the public realm.
- cagenut 7y ago
  its better to think of it more as public harm reduction than public "good"
  - et2o 7y ago
    Same thing really
  - sintaxi 7y ago
    If people didn't see vehicles as a net positive compared to the alternative they wouldn't own them.
    - ken 7y ago
      Not really. I see them as a necessary evil. Everyone else has one and expects me to be able to get around, so I have one too. If public transit were decent, I wouldn’t own a car.
      - egdod 7y ago
        necessary evil == net positive compared to the alternative
    - kolinko 7y ago
      People own them because of a net positive for themselves, not for the society.
74ls00 7y ago
I definitely think it could be argued that there are many examples of brutalistic public transport - a great comparison would be New York City’s aluminium cans (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/MTA_NYC_Subway_J_train_leaving_Lorimer_St..JPG/1920px-MTA_NYC_Subway_J_train_leaving_Lorimer_St..JPG https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/MT...) versus London’s tube trains with their curves and glass (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Shiny_and_new%2C_%27S%27_Stock_at_Farringdon._-_panoramio.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Shiny_an...)
criddell 7y ago
The word brutalist ultimately means whatever it is that it communicates.

toasterlovin 7y ago

> "the shared dignity of the public realm" That is a peculiar way to describe what Brutalism projects. I've always thought that it projected the sinister power of bureaucracy, and that was why government officials fell for it as hard as they did. (I know you're just quoting the author.)

dragonwriter 7y ago
> That is a peculiar way to describe what Brutalism projects By the express wording of the quote, it doesn't describe what Brutalism projects but what Brutalism was meant to project.

et2o 7y ago

Not to mention a major motivation for electric vehicles is the public good and preservation of the public realm.

cagenut 7y ago
its better to think of it more as public harm reduction than public "good"
- et2o 7y ago
  Same thing really
- sintaxi 7y ago
  If people didn't see vehicles as a net positive compared to the alternative they wouldn't own them.
  - ken 7y ago
    Not really. I see them as a necessary evil. Everyone else has one and expects me to be able to get around, so I have one too. If public transit were decent, I wouldn’t own a car.
    - egdod 7y ago
      necessary evil == net positive compared to the alternative
  - kolinko 7y ago
    People own them because of a net positive for themselves, not for the society.

74ls00 7y ago

I definitely think it could be argued that there are many examples of brutalistic public transport - a great comparison would be New York City’s aluminium cans (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/MTA_NYC_Subway_J_train_leaving_Lorimer_St..JPG/1920px-MTA_NYC_Subway_J_train_leaving_Lorimer_St..JPG https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/MT...) versus London’s tube trains with their curves and glass (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Shiny_and_new%2C_%27S%27_Stock_at_Farringdon._-_panoramio.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Shiny_an...)

criddell 7y ago

The word brutalist ultimately means whatever it is that it communicates.