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HoA - HART 3 > Brutalism > Flashcards

Brutalism Flashcards

1
Q

Brutalism is characterised by

A
  • Harsh and aggressive style
  • Lacks ornamentation
  • Concrete as the main material
  • Monumental in scale
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2
Q

Le Corbusier’s phrase meaning raw concrete

A
  • Béton brut

- Buildings of the style show a raw expression of material, with functional elements made visible

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3
Q

Typical purposes of brutalist buildings

A
  • Social living in the form of high rise apartments
    OR
  • Government or education buildings
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4
Q

How the style related to the end of WW2

A
  • 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
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5
Q

The Brutalist philosophy summed up (and by who)

A

Reyner Banham: “more ethic than aesthetic”

- he also coined the phrase ‘new brutalism’ for the style in specifically in England

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6
Q

Hunstanton School: architects and date

A

Peter and Alison Smithson

1954

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7
Q

Hunstanton School: relevant history leading up to the building of the school

A
  • 1944 Education act: lead to set up of the welfare state

- Post-war years: 2,5000 schools built in a decade

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8
Q

Hunstanton School: Reason for architects

A

Alison and Peter Smithson won a competition to design the building (chosen from 56)

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9
Q

Hunstanton School: how is it characteristic of the style

A
  • No obscuring the function
  • No romancing
  • Simplicity of form and unadorned industrial materials
  • Became an icon of Britalist architecture
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10
Q

Hunstanton school composition

A
  • Symmetrical
  • Pavilion-like form
  • Feeling of openness
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11
Q

Hunstanton School materials

A
  • 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
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12
Q

Hunstanton School: Criticism of the building

A
  • uninviting, prison-like look

- Huge glass windows caused temp problems (though black panels later added)

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13
Q

Hunstanton School: How is the feeling of openness created

A
  • Large glass windows

- Hall, dining and entrance spaces flow into each other

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14
Q

Hunstanton School: What gives it its skeletal appearance

A
  • Structural and service elements (e.g. water tower) left exposed
  • and makes it look industrial
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15
Q

Hunstanton School: Inspired by which building and why

A
  • Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe’s Illinois Institute of Technology which emphasised the ‘honest’ use of materials
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16
Q

Hunstanton School: how was it innovative in its planning

A
  • 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
17
Q

Hunstanton School legacy

A
  • Became the the blueprint for school architecture of the following decades
18
Q

Trellick tower Architect and dates

A

Ernö Goldfinger

1968-72

19
Q

Trellick tower location

A

Cheltenham Estate, North Kensington

20
Q

What did Trellick tower (and often brutalism as a whole) often become synonymous with

A
  • Terror and crime, nicknamed the ‘tower of terror’

- associated with stories of rape and murder that supposedly happened there

21
Q

Trellick tower scale

A

31 storeys, 322 feet tall altogether

22
Q

Trellick tower: what was done with the service and dwelling spaces

A
  • Separated:
  • main section has flats
  • thin service tower at the side has stairs, lift, mechanical plant
  • the two are connected at every third floor
23
Q

Trellick tower; Examples of form follows function

A

Space used as economically as possible: e.g. sliding doors used for entrance to bathroom (space saving)

24
Q

Trellick tower: What else influenced the growing fear towards these kinds of buildings

A
  • 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)
25
Q

Trellick tower influence from Le Corbusier

A

Influenced by his idea of ‘living units’ / unité d’habitation - a modernist, residential housing design

26
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette:

architect and dates

A

1957-1960

Le Corbusier

27
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette:

aim of the building

A
  • 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
28
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette: How is it true to Brutalism’s lack of ornamentation

A

“Does not show off” - true to brutalism’s lack of ornamentation

29
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette: Relationship with the ground

A
  • ## Seems to sink into the ground because the slender piers that support the building’s 3rd floor
30
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette: key words

A

Reinforced concrete slabs: walls, floors, cantilevered enclosed balconies, piers; weathered over time; raw; exposed concrete

31
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de La Tourette: name some indoor features - different rooms etc

A

100 sleeping cells for teachers and students, a library, a church

32
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: variety of treatment of the material

A

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

33
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: composition

A

Asymmetrical composition, horizontal/vertical but also sloping ramp, geometric forms

34
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: contrasts within the building

A

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

35
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: in what was is it not typical of Brutalism

A
  • Its function is something other than public housing or a state building
36
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: How is it fortress-like

A

Slim horizontal slit windows run into the landscape; defensive protecting from gaze of outside monastery

37
Q

Convent Saint-Marie de la Tourette: Details of the cells

A
  • Measured to be enough space for the human form

- Acoustically isolated to allow for meditation

HoA - HART 3 (2 decks)

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