When it comes to easy-to-spot styles, Brutalist architecture is one of the few that comes to mind. After all, it is simple in both appearance and composition: block-like concrete structures that are often stacked on top of each other. The style came into vogue after World War II, when some architects were drawn to creating monumental and highly functional structures. Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseille is considered the building that first sparked the style, which emphasizes the raw beauty of materials such as concrete, brick and wood.
Brutalism was particularly prominent in England, which needed to rebuild quickly after the war. Architects such as Peter and Alison Smithson, Ernő Goldfinger and the firm Chamberlin, Powell & Bon helped pioneer the style, and British architecture critic Reyner Benham formalized the key elements of the style in his 1955 essay “The New Brutalism”.
But there is something unique about Brutalism that its more traditional counterparts lack. There is an element of futurism that makes looking away from a typical Brutalist monolithic structure rather difficult. Principal at her eponymous firm, AD100 Architect Elizabeth Roberts would agree when it comes to the unexpected attraction to brutalism. “My first real encounter with Brutalist architecture was during my years studying architecture at UC Berkeley’s School of Environmental Design in Bauer Wurster Hall,” explains Roberts. “The building is an unadorned concrete structure and was designed by the then Dean, William Wurster.”
The 1964 building is not famous for its looks, to say the least. In fact, Roberts admits that some consider it one of the university’s least attractive structures, “But for many of us, myself included, the building and its deliberate lack of decoration, and honesty in form and materials, seem to us the environment perfectly neutral to learn. everything you need to know about architecture”, he continues.
That’s the case with Brutalism: it’s not loved the way Baroque or mid-century modernism is, but there’s such an obvious beauty in its rigid geometry and unquestionable simplicity. down, ADVERTISEMENT looks at 24 of the most beautiful Brutalist buildings from around the world.
