3 ms·

You'd love walking round the South Bank of the Thames or the Barbican in London.

TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
The most successful Brutalist designs always seem to be softened with trees, curves, and water - which are the opposite of bare concrete. The South Bank Centre is on the Thames and is decorated with trees, and the Barbican has a central water feature and garden. They're also fairly opulent on the inside. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F5d1b1d76-70fa-11eb-bd2f-f33f509764cd.jpg?crop=3600%2C2400%2C0%2C0 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fti... Trellick and Balfron Towers have some trees now, but didn't have much greenery when they originally opened. https://designanthologyuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web01-Balfron-Tower-Rowlett-Street-Poplar-London-%C2%A9-RIBA-Collections.jpg https://designanthologyuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web... The order/variety observation is absolutely right, and a core feature of practical aesthetics across all domains. Successful aesthetics are a fine balance between surprise and predictability. Even something as basic as proportion is based on comprehensible non-random relationships. The Wundt Curve describes how too much order and too much chaos are both unsettling/boring. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/files/8060373/COXj_2017_cright_MDE_Variety_in_the_video_game_industry.pdf https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/files/8060373/COXj_2017_cr...
- ehnto 4y ago
  It's a great point. Singapore and Japanese cities can be built quite raw and oppressive because of the wild density, but in both nature is snuck into every nook and cranny. In Singapore it has been a strong architectural design choice, and in Japan it's the cumulative actions of everyone putting pot plants all over the place and leaving "weeds" and moss to grow through on fences and walls.
  - msrenee 4y ago
    So I know that pot plants is the term outside of the US for potted plants. Pot plant here means marijuana and I'm dying at the idea of Japanese apartments being covered, inside and out, with various strains of cannabis. I'd like to imagine there's dwarf varieties, lovingly shaped and maintained in the corners of the living space.
- pledg 4y ago
  As a resident of the Barbican, it is part of our lease that we maintain plants on the balcony. This significantly softens the exterior and adds variety the linked article discusses. Coincidentally the fountains were fixed yesterday after years of being turned off.
  - rogy 4y ago
    living the dream!
  - balfirevic 4y ago
    Are you allowed to use fake plants?
  - gadders 4y ago
    What date does the central heating get turned off this year?
    - pledg 4y ago
      Probably end of April, but usually depends on the weather a bit.
- vilhelm_s 4y ago
  Similarly, in recent years people have been talking about "Tropical Brutalism" (e.g. https://www.dezeen.com/2022/11/28/architecture-project-talk-a-brutalist-tropical-home-in-bali/ https://www.dezeen.com/2022/11/28/architecture-project-talk-... , https://somethingcurated.com/2019/10/24/the-evolution-of-tropical-brutalism/ https://somethingcurated.com/2019/10/24/the-evolution-of-tro...), and I think a lot of what is appealing about it is the contrast between bare concrete and lush greenery.
  - twic 4y ago
    That combination is also extremely Bond villain, and who doesn't dream of being a Bond villain?
- kevinmchugh 4y ago
  I'm reminded of Habitat 67, which looks like a utopian future in most pictures with greenery: https://s3-ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/building-ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/17160945/94240478_s.jpg https://s3-ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/building-ca/wp-content... And like shipping containers stacked haphazardly in pictures taken in the winter: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Habitat_panorama.jpg/1280px-Habitat_panorama.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Ha...

The most successful Brutalist designs always seem to be softened with trees, curves, and water - which are the opposite of bare concrete. The South Bank Centre is on the Thames and is decorated with trees, and the Barbican has a central water feature and garden. They're also fairly opulent on the inside. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F5d1b1d76-70fa-11eb-bd2f-f33f509764cd.jpg?crop=3600%2C2400%2C0%2C0 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/%2Fmethode%2Fti... Trellick and Balfron Towers have some trees now, but didn't have much greenery when they originally opened. https://designanthologyuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web01-Balfron-Tower-Rowlett-Street-Poplar-London-%C2%A9-RIBA-Collections.jpg https://designanthologyuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web... The order/variety observation is absolutely right, and a core feature of practical aesthetics across all domains. Successful aesthetics are a fine balance between surprise and predictability. Even something as basic as proportion is based on comprehensible non-random relationships. The Wundt Curve describes how too much order and too much chaos are both unsettling/boring. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/files/8060373/COXj_2017_cright_MDE_Variety_in_the_video_game_industry.pdf https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/files/8060373/COXj_2017_cr...

ehnto 4y ago
It's a great point. Singapore and Japanese cities can be built quite raw and oppressive because of the wild density, but in both nature is snuck into every nook and cranny. In Singapore it has been a strong architectural design choice, and in Japan it's the cumulative actions of everyone putting pot plants all over the place and leaving "weeds" and moss to grow through on fences and walls.
- msrenee 4y ago
  So I know that pot plants is the term outside of the US for potted plants. Pot plant here means marijuana and I'm dying at the idea of Japanese apartments being covered, inside and out, with various strains of cannabis. I'd like to imagine there's dwarf varieties, lovingly shaped and maintained in the corners of the living space.
pledg 4y ago
As a resident of the Barbican, it is part of our lease that we maintain plants on the balcony. This significantly softens the exterior and adds variety the linked article discusses. Coincidentally the fountains were fixed yesterday after years of being turned off.
- rogy 4y ago
  living the dream!
- balfirevic 4y ago
  Are you allowed to use fake plants?
- gadders 4y ago
  What date does the central heating get turned off this year?
  - pledg 4y ago
    Probably end of April, but usually depends on the weather a bit.
vilhelm_s 4y ago
Similarly, in recent years people have been talking about "Tropical Brutalism" (e.g. https://www.dezeen.com/2022/11/28/architecture-project-talk-a-brutalist-tropical-home-in-bali/ https://www.dezeen.com/2022/11/28/architecture-project-talk-... , https://somethingcurated.com/2019/10/24/the-evolution-of-tropical-brutalism/ https://somethingcurated.com/2019/10/24/the-evolution-of-tro...), and I think a lot of what is appealing about it is the contrast between bare concrete and lush greenery.
- twic 4y ago
  That combination is also extremely Bond villain, and who doesn't dream of being a Bond villain?
kevinmchugh 4y ago
I'm reminded of Habitat 67, which looks like a utopian future in most pictures with greenery: https://s3-ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/building-ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/17160945/94240478_s.jpg https://s3-ca-central-1.amazonaws.com/building-ca/wp-content... And like shipping containers stacked haphazardly in pictures taken in the winter: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Habitat_panorama.jpg/1280px-Habitat_panorama.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Ha...