Brutalism Flashcards
Brutalism is characterised by
- Harsh and aggressive style
- Lacks ornamentation
- Concrete as the main material
- Monumental in scale
Le Corbusier’s phrase meaning raw concrete
- Béton brut
- Buildings of the style show a raw expression of material, with functional elements made visible
Typical purposes of brutalist buildings
- Social living in the form of high rise apartments
OR - Government or education buildings
How the style related to the end of WW2
- End of the war brought a new optimistic mentality to Britain
- Deliberate lack of historical cues: totally new, detached from the devastation of the bombings (e.g. the Blitz)
- Soliders returning home given new places to live / any homes destroyed
The Brutalist philosophy summed up (and by who)
Reyner Banham: “more ethic than aesthetic”
- he also coined the phrase ‘new brutalism’ for the style in specifically in England
Hunstanton School: architects and date
Peter and Alison Smithson
1954
Hunstanton School: relevant history leading up to the building of the school
- 1944 Education act: lead to set up of the welfare state
- Post-war years: 2,5000 schools built in a decade
Hunstanton School: Reason for architects
Alison and Peter Smithson won a competition to design the building (chosen from 56)
Hunstanton School: how is it characteristic of the style
- No obscuring the function
- No romancing
- Simplicity of form and unadorned industrial materials
- Became an icon of Britalist architecture
Hunstanton school composition
- Symmetrical
- Pavilion-like form
- Feeling of openness
Hunstanton School materials
- Glass, concrete steel
- Structural materials, steel, precast concrete slabs and bricks > visibly exposed, without plaster and often without paint. Plumbing and electrical conduits also visible
Hunstanton School: Criticism of the building
- uninviting, prison-like look
- Huge glass windows caused temp problems (though black panels later added)
Hunstanton School: How is the feeling of openness created
- Large glass windows
- Hall, dining and entrance spaces flow into each other
Hunstanton School: What gives it its skeletal appearance
- Structural and service elements (e.g. water tower) left exposed
- and makes it look industrial
Hunstanton School: Inspired by which building and why
- Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe’s Illinois Institute of Technology which emphasised the ‘honest’ use of materials
Hunstanton School: how was it innovative in its planning
- Used ‘finger planning’ which became a popular deign strategy in the late 40s for schools
- allowed for the repetition of a prefabricated unit as the classrooms which were placed along ‘finger like’ corridors which ensured that the each space for learning received adequate natural lighting and ventilation
Hunstanton School legacy
- Became the the blueprint for school architecture of the following decades
Trellick tower Architect and dates
Ernö Goldfinger
1968-72
Trellick tower location
Cheltenham Estate, North Kensington
What did Trellick tower (and often brutalism as a whole) often become synonymous with
- Terror and crime, nicknamed the ‘tower of terror’
- associated with stories of rape and murder that supposedly happened there
Trellick tower scale
31 storeys, 322 feet tall altogether
Trellick tower: what was done with the service and dwelling spaces
- Separated:
- main section has flats
- thin service tower at the side has stairs, lift, mechanical plant
- the two are connected at every third floor
Trellick tower; Examples of form follows function
Space used as economically as possible: e.g. sliding doors used for entrance to bathroom (space saving)
Trellick tower: What else influenced the growing fear towards these kinds of buildings
- Features regularly in the tabloids of the 80s
- esp after incidents like the 1972 explosion in the Rowan Point Tower
- Pop-culture: 1974 release of ‘The towering Inferno (about a fire in a 102 storey office tower)
Trellick tower influence from Le Corbusier
Influenced by his idea of ‘living units’ / unité d’habitation - a modernist, residential housing design
Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette:
architect and dates
1957-1960
Le Corbusier
Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette:
aim of the building
- A monastery “to give monks what men today need most: silence and peace”
- self-contained space for studying and silent monks
- Overall calm and serene atmosphere is created
Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette: How is it true to Brutalism’s lack of ornamentation
“Does not show off” - true to brutalism’s lack of ornamentation
Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette: Relationship with the ground
- ## Seems to sink into the ground because the slender piers that support the building’s 3rd floor
Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette: key words
Reinforced concrete slabs: walls, floors, cantilevered enclosed balconies, piers; weathered over time; raw; exposed concrete
Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette: name some indoor features - different rooms etc
100 sleeping cells for teachers and students, a library, a church
Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: variety of treatment of the material
Concrete treated in a variety of ways: Different surface qualities > rough, smooth, bare, grain marks from slip-form shuttering, painted walls, clear glass, coloured glass
Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: composition
Asymmetrical composition, horizontal/vertical but also sloping ramp, geometric forms
Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: contrasts within the building
Emphasis of solid vs void > light and dark, contrast of light surface with shadow in deep recesses
- Reflects the variety of textures of concrete across the building
Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: in what was is it not typical of Brutalism
- Its function is something other than public housing or a state building
Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: How is it fortress-like
Slim horizontal slit windows run into the landscape; defensive protecting from gaze of outside monastery
Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: Details of the cells
- Measured to be enough space for the human form
- Acoustically isolated to allow for meditation
