Brutalism

Brutalism takes its name from the French béton brut - raw concrete - the material Le Corbusier left bearing the grain of its timber formwork at the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille (1952). In 1950s Britain Alison and Peter Smithson and critic Reyner Banham sharpened it into the 'New Brutalism': buildings whose structure, materials and services were displayed without disguise. Through the 1960s and 1970s the style spread worldwide for civic buildings, universities, museums and mass housing - Paul Rudolph's sculptural American campuses, Ernő Goldfinger's London towers, the fortress-like government quarters of the era. Its colossal, top-heavy forms were meant to express democratic monumentality; later condemned as harsh and inhuman, they are now increasingly protected and admired as the most uncompromising architecture of their time.

Defining characteristics

• Raw, board-marked concrete (béton brut) left exposed, formwork texture and all
• Massive, monolithic forms with top-heavy cantilevers and fortress-like massing
• Structure and services displayed on the exterior - stair towers, ducts, walkways
• Repetitive modular grids and heavy precast elements
• Sculptural geometric boldness at civic scale

Key figures

• Le Corbusier (1887-1965) — Pioneer of béton brut at the Unité d'Habitation
• Alison Smithson (1928-1993) — With Peter Smithson, defined the New Brutalism in Britain (Hunstanton School, Robin Hood Gardens)
• Peter Smithson (1923-2003) — With Alison Smithson, defined the New Brutalism in Britain
• Paul Rudolph (1918-1997) — Sculptural American civic and campus concrete
• Ernő Goldfinger (1902-1987) — London brutalist towers including Trellick Tower

Example works

• Unité d'Habitation — Le Corbusier (1952)
• Hunstanton School — Alison and Peter Smithson (1954)
• Trellick Tower — Ernő Goldfinger (1972)

Sources

• Brutalism - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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