There is just something oppressive about them. It makes you feel insignificant and the whole thing feels inhospitable. The concrete also gets too hot when sunny

There is just something oppressive about them. It makes you feel insignificant and the whole thing feels inhospitable. The concrete also gets too hot when sunny & too windy due to the long-flat alleyways it creates. UMass Amherst's campus is famously too-brutalist [1] for the university's 21st century tastes. From my years there, the embarrassment was for good reason. The buildings make you feel all of the things I mentioned above. Brutalism works when it either contrasts contrasts with its surroundings. Implant concrete-laden sharp-shapes into nature and the contrasting outcome[2] is beautiful. Even America's most famous house : Fallingwater [3], uses huge concrete slabs exclusively while looking absolutely stunning. Another form of contrast is the Velasca Tower [4] which standout out like a sore thumb when set against its very Italian surroundings. Brutalism wears on you the second it is used as a template for huge repeating projects. It has good shock value. But, do it enough times, and it is exhausting. [1] https://www.darrenbradleyphotography.com/post/umass-amherst-the-reluctant-modernists https://www.darrenbradleyphotography.com/post/umass-amherst-... [2] https://archive.is/P30RD https://archive.is/P30RD [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater [4] https://goo.gl/maps/qo3XGFoabPj1VJa59 https://goo.gl/maps/qo3XGFoabPj1VJa59