Brutalist architecture

{{Short description|Architectural style}} {{Redirect2|Brutalist|Brutalism|the 2024 film|The Brutalist|other uses|Brutalism (disambiguation)}} {{Use British English|date=April 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Infobox art movement |name = Brutalist architecture |image = {{photomontage |photo1a = Park Hill Samarkanda.JPG |photo1b = Talnakh.jpg |photo1c = Vista Teatro teresa carreño.jpg |photo2a = The National Theatre, South Bank, London (3).jpg |photo2b = 1981 BostonCityHall byLebovich8 HABS MA1176.jpg |photo2c = Soviet apartment.jpg |photo3a = Guajolote.jpg |photo3b = Barbican Lakeside on a summer evening.jpg |photo3c = Alexandra Road Estate.jpg |size = 300 |color_border = #AAAAAA |color = #F9F9F9 |caption = |foot_montage = }} |alt = |caption = '''Top row''': Park Hill flats in Sheffield, England; Soviet-era housing in Talnakh, Russia; Teresa Carreño Cultural Complex in Caracas, Venezuela. <br>'''Middle row''': Royal National Theatre in London; Boston City Hall; Soviet-era housing in Saint Petersburg.<br> '''Bottom row''': Robarts Library in Toronto, Canada; Barbican Centre in the City of London; Alexandra Road Estate in London. |yearsactive = 1950s – early 1980s |country = International |major figures= |influences= |influenced= |commons = yes }}

'''Brutalist architecture''' is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 October 2018 |title=Reclaiming Polish Brutalism: Discover the Emblems of Communism |url=https://www.archdaily.com/904788/reclaiming-polish-brutalism-discover-the-emblems-of-communism |access-date=18 October 2023|website=ArchDaily |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Larsson |first=Naomi |date=6 August 2023 |title=Socialist modernism: remembering the architecture of the eastern bloc |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/aug/06/socialist-modernism-remembering-the-architecture-of-the-eastern-bloc |access-date=18 October 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of BRUTALISM|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brutalism|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en|access-date=2019-07-11}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Citation|last=Bull|first=Alun|title=What is Brutalism?|date=8 November 2013|url=https://vimeo.com/78931268|access-date=10 October 2018}}</ref><ref>Đorđe, Alfirević & Simonović Alfirević, Sanja: [https://www.academia.edu/31574816/Brutalism_in_Serbian_Architecture_Style_or_Necessity_Brutalizam_u_srpskoj_arhitekturi_stil_ili_nu%C5%BEnost_ Brutalism in Serbian Architecture: Style or Necessity?] ''Facta Universitatis: Architecture and Civil Engineering'' (Niš), Vol. 15, No. 3 (2017), pp. 317–331.</ref> Brutalist buildings are known for minimalist construction showcasing the bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design.<ref name="Dezeen2">{{cite web|title=The Dezeen guide to Brutalist architecture|url=https://www.dezeen.com/2014/09/10/dezeen-guide-to-brutalist-architecture-owen-hopkins/|last1=Hopkins|first1=Owen|website=Dezeen|date=10 September 2014|access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="AD2">{{cite web|title=Brutalist architecture – a retrospective|url=https://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/features/list/a-look-at-brutalist-architecture|last1=Editorial Staff|website=Architecture and Design|access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref> The style commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette;<ref name="AD2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Brutalist Architecture London {{!}} A Guide To Brutalism|url=https://20bedfordway.com/news/guide-to-brutalist-architecture-london/|date=2014-06-23|website=20 Bedford Way|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> other materials, such as steel, timber, and glass, are also featured.<ref name="bbcarts">{{cite web |last1=Harwood |first1=Elain |title=The concrete truth? Brutalism can be beautiful |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2KYNVdPBLTYC99f18wsZPQy/the-concrete-truth-brutalism-can-be-beautiful |website=BBC Arts |access-date=11 May 2020}}</ref>

Descended from modernism, brutalism is said to be a reaction against the nostalgia of architecture in the 1940s.<ref name=":32">{{cite book|author=Rasmus Wærn|title=Guide till Sveriges Arkitektur : Byggnadskonst Under 1000 År|publisher=Arkitektur Förlag|year=2001|isbn=9789186050559|location=Stockholm}}</ref> Derived from the Swedish word ''nybrutalism'', the term "new brutalism" was first used by British architects Alison and Peter Smithson for their pioneering approach to design.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name="The NB p10" /> The style was further popularised in a 1955 essay by architectural critic Reyner Banham, who also associated the movement with the French phrases ''béton brut'' ("raw concrete") and ''art brut'' ("raw art").<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Snyder |first1=Michael |title=The Unexpectedly Tropical History of Brutalism |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/t-magazine/tropical-brutalism.html |website=The New York Times |date=15 August 2019 |access-date=11 May 2020}}</ref> The style, as developed by architects such as the Smithsons, Hungarian-born Ernő Goldfinger, and the British firm Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, was partly foreshadowed by the modernist work of other architects such as French-Swiss Le Corbusier, Estonian-American Louis Kahn, German-American Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Finnish Alvar Aalto.<ref name="AD2" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=A Movement in a Moment: Brutalism {{!}} Architecture {{!}} Agenda|url=https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/architecture/articles/2016/march/23/a-movement-in-a-moment-brutalism/|website=Phaidon|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref>

In the United Kingdom, brutalism was featured in the design of utilitarian, low-cost social housing influenced by socialist principles and soon spread to other regions around the world, while being echoed by similar styles like in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Andrei |first=Mihai |date=15 May 2022|title=Brutalist architecture and its unusual, raw appeal |url=https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/culture/culture-society/brutalist-architecture-and-its-unusual-raw-appeal/ |access-date=18 October 2023 |website=ZME Science |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Dezeen2" /><ref name="AD2" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=The history of Brutalist architecture in NYC affordable housing|url=https://ny.curbed.com/2019/11/11/20959515/nyc-architecture-brutalism-affordable-housing-mitchell-lama|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112004811/https://ny.curbed.com/2019/11/11/20959515/nyc-architecture-brutalism-affordable-housing-mitchell-lama|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 November 2019|last=Plitt|first=Amy|date=11 November 2019|website=Curbed NY|language=en|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref> Brutalist designs became most commonly used in the design of institutional buildings, such as provincial legislatures, public works projects, universities, libraries, courts, and city halls. The popularity of the movement began to decline in the late 1970s, with some associating the style with urban decay and totalitarianism.<ref name="AD2" /> Brutalism's popularity in socialist and communist nations owed to traditional styles being associated with the bourgeoisie, whereas concrete emphasized equality.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Levanier |first=Johnny |title=Brutalism in design: its history and evolution in modern websites |url=https://99designs.com/blog/design-history-movements/brutalism/ |website=99designs|date=30 June 2021 }}</ref>

Brutalism has been polarising historically; specific buildings, as well as the movement as a whole, have drawn a range of criticism (often being described as "cold"). There are often public-led campaigns to demolish brutalist buildings. Some people are favourable to the style, and in the United Kingdom some buildings have been preserved.

== History == [[File:Villa Göth crop.jpg|alt=|thumb|Villa Göth (1950) in Kåbo, Uppsala, Sweden. "New Brutalism" was used for the first time to describe this house.]]

The term ''nybrutalism'' (new brutalism)<ref name="A-Z">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/feb/13/jonathan-meades-brutalism-a-z|title=The incredible hulks: Jonathan Meades' A-Z of brutalism|last=Meades|first=Jonathan|date=2014-02-13|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-10-10}}</ref> was coined by the Swedish architect Hans Asplund to describe Villa Göth, a modern brick home in Uppsala, designed in January 1950<ref name=":5">Hans Asplund's letter to Eric De Mare, Architectural Review, August 1956</ref> by his contemporaries Bengt Edman and Lennart Holm.<ref name="The NB p10" /> Showcasing the 'as found' design approach that would later be at the core of brutalism, the house displays visible I-beams over windows, exposed brick inside and out, and poured concrete in several rooms where the tongue-and-groove pattern of the boards used to build the forms can be seen.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digitaltmuseum.org/011034076087/edman-bengt-1921-2000|title=Edman, Bengt (1921–2000)|website=digitaltmuseum.org|language=en|access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The term was picked up in the summer of 1950 by a group of visiting English architects, including Michael Ventris, Oliver Cox, and Graeme Shankland, where it apparently "spread like wildfire, and [was] subsequently adopted by a certain faction of young British architects".<ref name="A-Z" /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Vidler|first=Anthony|title=Another Brick in the Wall|date=October 2011|volume= 136|journal=October|pages= 105–132|doi= 10.1162/OCTO_a_00044|jstor= 23014873|s2cid= 57560154|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23014873|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="The NB p10">The New Brutalism, Reyner Banham, Architectural Press, London 1966, p10</ref>

The first published usage of the phrase "new brutalism" occurred in 1953, when Alison Smithson used it to describe a plan for their unbuilt Soho house which appeared in the November issue of ''Architectural Design''.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="bbcarts" /> She further stated: "It is our intention in this building to have the structure exposed entirely, without interior finishes wherever practicable."<ref name="The NB p10" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine|url=https://medium.com/on-architecture-1/the-new-brutalism-6601463336e8|title=The New Brutalism|first=Reyner|last=Banham|magazine=Architectural Review|date=9 December 1955|via=On Architecture|access-date=2018-10-10}}</ref> The Smithsons' Hunstanton School completed in 1954 in Norfolk, and the Sugden House completed in 1955 in Watford, represent the earliest examples of new brutalism in the United Kingdom.<ref name=":12" /> Hunstanton school, likely inspired by Mies van der Rohe's 1946 Alumni Memorial Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, United States, is notable as the first completed building in the world to carry the title of "new brutalist" by its architects.<ref>''The New Brutalism'', Reyner Banham, Architectural Press, London 1966, p. 19</ref><ref>''Brutalism: Post-War British Architecture'', Alexander Clement, Second Edition, Chapter 3</ref> At the time, it was described as "the most truly modern building in England".<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/1954-august-school-at-hunstanton-norfolk-by-alison-and-peter-smithson/8625095.article|title=School at Hunstanton, Norfolk, by Alison and Peter Smithson|first=Philip|last=Johnson|journal=Architectural Review|date=19 August 1954|access-date=24 September 2019}}</ref>

The term gained increasingly wider recognition when British architectural historian Reyner Banham used it to identify both an ethic and aesthetic style, in his 1955 essay ''The New Brutalism''. In the essay, Banham described Hunstanton and the Soho house as the "reference by which The New Brutalism in architecture may be defined."<ref name=":0" /> Reyner Banham also associated the term "new brutalism" with art brut and ''béton brut'', meaning "raw concrete" in French, for the first time.<ref name="A-Z" /><ref>McClelland, Michael, and Graeme Stewart, "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=GQwx1SorMocC&q=beton Concrete Toronto]: A Guide to Concrete Architecture from the Fifties to the Seventies'', Coach House Books, 2007, p. 12.</ref><ref name="British Brutalism">[https://www.wmf.org/project/british-brutalism British Brutalism.] ''World Monument Fund''.</ref> The best-known ''béton brut'' architecture is the proto-brutalist work of the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, in particular his 1952 ''Unité d'habitation'' in Marseille, France; the 1951–1961 Chandigarh Capitol Complex in India; and the 1955 church of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France.

Banham further expanded his thoughts in the 1966 book, ''The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic?'', to characterise a somewhat recently established cluster of architectural approaches, particularly in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0422/is_2_85/ai_104208984/pg_3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830232044/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0422/is_2_85/ai_104208984/pg_3|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-08-30|title=Historian of the Immediate Future: Reyner Banham – Book Review Art Bulletin, The – Find Articles|date=2007-08-30|access-date=2019-07-04}}</ref> In the book, Banham says that Le Corbusier's concrete work was a source of inspiration and helped popularise the movement, suggesting "if there is one single verbal formula that has made the concept of Brutalism admissible in most of the world's Western languages, it is that Le Corbusier himself described that concrete work as 'béton-brut{{'"}}.<ref>''The New Brutalism'', Reyner Banham, Architectural Press, London 1966 p. 16</ref> He further states that "the words 'The New Brutalism' were already circulating, and had acquired some depth of meaning through things said and done, over and above the widely recognised connection with ''béton brut''. The phrase still 'belonged' to the Smithsons, however, and it was their activities above all others that were giving distinctive qualities to the concept of Brutalism."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Brutalism|last=Banham|first=Reyner|publisher=Architectural Press|year=1966|location=London|page=41}}</ref>

New brutalism is not only an architectural style; it is also a philosophical approach to architectural design, a striving to create simple, honest, and functional buildings that accommodate their purpose, inhabitants, and location.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Heuvel|first=Dirk van den|date=2015-03-04|title=Between Brutalists. The Banham Hypothesis and the Smithson Way of Life|journal=The Journal of Architecture|volume=20|issue=2|pages=293–308|doi=10.1080/13602365.2015.1027721|s2cid=219641726|issn=1360-2365|url=https://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:062a1bed-804e-4af6-8a30-5e5a9122002d}}</ref> Stylistically, brutalism is a strict, modernistic design language that has been said to be a reaction to the architecture of the 1940s, much of which was characterised by a retrospective nostalgia.<ref name=":3">{{cite book|author=Rasmus Wærn|title=Guide till Sveriges Arkitektur: Byggnadskonst Under 1000 År|publisher=Arkitektur Förlag|year=2001|isbn=9789186050559|location=Stockholm}}</ref> Peter Smithson believed that the core of brutalism was a reverence for materials, expressed honestly, stating "Brutalism is not concerned with the material as such but rather the quality of material",<ref>Hans Ulrich Obrist, Smithson Time (Cologne, Verlag der Buch- handlung Walther König, 2004), p. 17</ref> and "the seeing of materials for what they were: the woodness of the wood; the sandiness of sand."<ref>A. and P. Smithson, 'The "As Found" and the "Found", in, D. Robbins, ed., The Independent Group, op. cit., p. 201.</ref> Architect John Voelcker said that the "new brutalism" in architecture "cannot be understood through stylistic analysis, although some day a comprehensible style might emerge",<ref>Published Letter, John Voelcker, ''Architectural Design'', June 1957</ref> supporting the Smithsons' description of the movement as "an ethic, not an aesthetic".<ref>{{cite book|last=Davies|first=Colin|title=A New History of Modern Architecture|publisher=Laurence King Publishing|year=2017|isbn=978-1-78627-056-6|location=London|pages=277}}</ref>

Reyner Banham felt the phrase "the new brutalism" existed as both an attitude toward design as well as a descriptive label for the architecture itself and that it "eludes precise description, while remaining a living force". He attempted to codify the movement in systematic language, insisting that a brutalist structure must satisfy the following terms, "1, Formal legibility of plan; 2, clear exhibition of structure, and 3, valuation of materials for their inherent qualities 'as found'."<ref name=":0" /> Also important was the aesthetic "image", or "coherence of the building as a visual entity".<ref name=":0" />

Brutalist buildings are usually constructed with recurring modular elements representing specific functional zones, distinctly articulated and grouped together into a unified whole. There is often an emphasis on graphic expressions in the external elevations and in the whole-site architectural plan in regard to the main functions and people-flows of the buildings.<ref name="GRIDS">{{cite web|url=http://www.grids-blog.com/wordpress/plan-of-the-month-smithsons-golden-lane-project-1952/|title=Featured Plan: Smithsons' Golden Lane Project (1952) – GRIDS blog|last1=Dutton|first1=John|date=26 July 2013|website=GRIDS blog|publisher=USC School of Architecture|access-date=11 November 2017|archive-date=13 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613101420/http://www.grids-blog.com/wordpress/plan-of-the-month-smithsons-golden-lane-project-1952/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Buildings may use materials such as concrete, brick, glass, steel, timber, rough-hewn stone, and gabions among others.<ref name=":4" /> However, due to its low cost, raw concrete is often used and left to reveal the basic nature of its construction with rough surfaces featuring wood "shuttering" produced when the forms were cast in situ.<ref name=":4" /> Examples are frequently massive in character (even when not large) and challenge traditional notions of what a building should look like with focus given to interior spaces as much as exterior.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" />

A common theme in brutalist designs is the exposure of the building's inner-workings—ranging from their structure and services to their human use—in the exterior of the building. In the Boston City Hall, designed in 1962, the strikingly different and projected portions of the building indicate the special nature of the rooms behind those walls, such as the mayor's office or the city council chambers. From another perspective, the design of the Hunstanton School included placing the facility's water tank, normally a hidden service feature, in a prominent, visible tower. Rather than being hidden in the walls, Hunstanton's water and electric utilities were delivered via readily visible pipes and conduits.<ref name=":0" />

Brutalism as an architectural philosophy was often associated with a socialist utopian ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially by Alison and Peter Smithson, near the height of the style. Indeed, their work sought to emphasize functionality and to connect architecture with what they viewed as the realities of modern life.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=https://www.archdaily.com/645128/spotlight-alison-and-peter-smithson|title=Spotlight: Alison and Peter Smithson|last=Goodwin|first=Dario|date=22 June 2017|website=www.archdaily.com}}</ref> Among their early contributions were "streets in the sky" in which traffic and pedestrian circulation were rigorously separated, another theme popular in the 1960s.<ref name="GRIDS" /> This style had a strong position in the architecture of European communist countries from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, USSR, Yugoslavia).<ref>{{cite book|author1=Kulić, Vladimir |author2=Mrduljaš, Maroje |author3=Thaler, Wolfgang |year=2012|title=Modernism In-Between: The Mediatory Architectures of Socialist Yugoslavia| publisher= Jovis | location=Berlin|isbn=978-3-86859-147-7 |language=English}}</ref> In Czechoslovakia, brutalism was presented as an attempt to create a "national" but also "modern socialist" architectural style. Such prefabricated socialist era buildings are called panelaky.

A sub-genre of brutalism is "brick brutalism" or "brickalism", where the dominant structural material is brick rather than concrete. Examples range from the Smithson's house in Soho (1952) to Colin St John Wilson's British Library (1982–1998).<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=icO3DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT96|pages=96 et seq|chapter=Brickalism|title=Redefining Brutalism|author=Simon Henley|publisher=Routledge|date=18 October 2019|isbn=978-1-000-70138-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.archdaily.com/771230/londons-brutalist-british-library-given-listed-status|title=London's Brutalist British Library Given 'Listed' Status|author=James Taylor-Foster|date=3 August 2015|work=Arch Daily}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohDfCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT192|title=The Rough Guide to London| page=192|publisher=Penguin|date=2016|isbn=978-0-241-25841-5}}</ref>

== Designers == === United Kingdom === In the United Kingdom, architects associated with the brutalist style include the wife-and-husband team of Alison and Peter Smithson, who pioneered the style, Ernő Goldfinger, some of the work of Sir Basil Spence, the London County Council/Greater London Council Architects Department, Owen Luder, John Bancroft, Norman Engleback, who designed the Hayward Gallery, and, arguably perhaps, Sir Denys Lasdun, whose work included the brutalist National Theatre, Sir Leslie Martin, Sir James Stirling and James Gowan with their early works. Partnerships included Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, who designed the Barbican Centre.

=== United States === [[File:Milwaukee County War Memorial Center (3772105889).jpg |thumb|The Milwaukee County War Memorial (1957) is an example of the brutalist architecture of Eero Saarinen.]] Evans Woollen III is credited for introducing the Brutalist and Modernist architecture styles to Indianapolis, Indiana.<ref>{{cite journal| author=Trounstine, Philip J.| title =Evans Woollen | journal =[Indianapolis] Star Magazine | page=18 | location =Indianapolis, Indiana | date =9 May 1976}} See also: {{cite journal| title =Prominent local architect Woollen Dies at 88 | journal =Indianapolis Business Journal | location =Indianapolis | date =19 May 2016| url = https://www.ibj.com/articles/58673| access-date =18 December 2017}}</ref> Walter Netsch is known for his brutalist academic buildings. Marcel Breuer was known for his "soft" approach to the style, often using curves rather than corners. In Atlanta, Georgia, the architectural style was introduced to Buckhead's affluent Peachtree Road with the Ted Levy-designed Plaza Towers and Park Place on Peachtree condominiums. Architectural historian William Jordy said that although Louis Kahn was "[o]pposed to what he regarded as the muscular posturing of most Brutalism", some of his work "was surely informed by some of the same ideas that came to momentary focus in the brutalist position".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Impact of European Modernism in the Mid-twentieth Century |series=American Buildings and Their Architects |volume=5 |last=Jordy |first=William |author-link=William Jordy |year=1972 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, Oxford |isbn=0-19-504219-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanbuilding00will/page/363 363] |url=https://archive.org/details/americanbuilding00will/page/363 }}</ref>

=== Australia === In Australia, architects working in the brutalist style included Robin Gibson, designer of the Queensland Art Gallery, Ken Woolley, designer of the Fisher Library at the University of Sydney, Christopher Kringas, who built the High Court of Australia Building. John Andrews's government and institutional structures in Australia also exhibit the style. Daryl Jackson and Kevin Borland designed one of the first brutalist buildings in Melbourne, the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre in Malvern, in 1967.

=== Canada === Vancouver-based architect Arthur Erickson was responsible for several notable brutalist developments including Simon Fraser University's main campus building, the MacMillan Bloedel Building, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Law Courts.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sciarpelletti |first=Laura |date=June 29, 2019 |title=Reflecting on the designs and legacy of architect and urban planner Arthur Erickson |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/reflecting-on-the-designs-and-legacy-of-architect-and-urban-planner-arthur-erickson-1.5192133 |agency=CBC}}</ref>

The city of Winnipeg is noted for significant contributions to brutalist archiecture in Canada, including the Winnipeg Civic Centre (City Hall and Administrative Building) (1962–1963, Green Blankstein Russell)<ref>{{Cite web |title=510 Main Street |url=https://winnipegarchitecture.ca/ |access-date=2025-10-07 |publisher=Winnipeg Architecture Foundation |language=en-ca}}</ref> as well as the University of Manitoba Students' Union Building (1966–1969) and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (1969–1970), both by Waisman Ross Blankstein Coop Gillmor Hanna (now Number Ten Architectural Group).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brutalist Architecture in Winnipeg |url=https://winnipegarchitecture.ca/digital-tours/brutalist/ |access-date=2025-10-07 |publisher=Winnipeg Architecture Foundation |language=en-ca}}</ref>

=== Argentina === [[File:Banco hipótecario - Ex Banco de Londres.jpg|thumb|The Banco de Londres y América del Sur Headquarters by Clorindo Testa, in Buenos Aires, Argentina]]

In Argentina, the main representative of brutalism was Clorindo Testa, who designed the Banco de Londres y América del Sur Headquarters, and the National Library of Argentina. Federico Peralta Ramos was responsible for the Entel (now Telefónica) building.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bell |first=Vanessa |date=2017-06-12 |title=An ode to Buenos Aires Brutalism |url=https://thespaces.com/buenos-aires-brutalism/ |access-date=2025-08-15 |website=The Spaces |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Serbia === In Serbia, Božidar Janković was a representative of the so-called "Belgrade School of residence", identifiable by its functionalist relations on the basis of the flat<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stanovanje.yolasite.com/katalog-stanova.php|title=Centar za stanovanje – Center for Housing | website=stanovanje.yolasite.com|access-date=14 July 2017}}</ref> and elaborated in detail the architecture. Mihajlo Mitrović designed the Western City Gate, also known as the Genex Tower, a 36-storey skyscraper in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1977.<ref>{{cite web|title=Genex Tower, Belgrade|url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/110978/genex-tower-belgrade-serbia|website=EMPORIS|access-date=22 July 2017}}{{dead link|date=August 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> It is formed by two towers connected with a two-storey bridge and revolving restaurant at the top. It is {{convert|117|m|abbr=on}} tall<ref name=arhi /> (with restaurant {{convert|135|-|140|m|abbr=on}}) and is the second-tallest high-rise in Belgrade after Ušće Tower. The building was designed in the brutalist style with some elements of structuralism and constructivism. It is considered a prime representative of the brutalist architecture in Serbia and one of the best of its style built in the 1960s and the 1970s in the world. The treatment of the form and details is slightly associating the building with postmodernism and is today one of the rare surviving representatives of this style's early period in Serbia. The artistic expression of the gate marked an entire era in Serbian architecture.<ref name=arhi>{{cite news | author = Daliborka Mučibabić | title = Архитекте траже заштиту Западне капије | trans-title = Architects ask for the protection of the Western Gate | newspaper = Politika | page = 15 | language = Serbian | date = 8 May 2019 | url = https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/429066/Beograd/Arhitekte-traze-zastitu}}</ref>

=== Vietnam === In Vietnam, brutalist architecture is particularly popular among old public buildings and has been associated with the ''bao cấp'' era (lit.: subsidising), the period during which the country followed Soviet-type economic planning. Many Soviet architects, most notably Garol Isakovich, were sent to Vietnam during that time to help train new architects and played an influential role in shaping the country's architectural styles for decades.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Vũ |first=Hiệp |date=19 October 2021 |title=Isakovich và sự biến đổi kiến trúc Liên Xô ở Việt Nam |trans-title=Isakovich and the evolution of Soviet architecture in Vietnam |url=http://tapchisonghuong.com.vn/tap-chi/c455/n30813/Isakovich-va-su-bien-doi-kien-truc-Lien-Xo-o-Viet-Nam.html |access-date=13 May 2023 |website=Tạp chí Sông Hương}}</ref> Isakovich himself also designed some of the most notable brutalist buildings in Vietnam, including the Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Palace of Culture and Labour (1985).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vũ |first=Hiệp |date=13 September 2021 |title=KTS Garol Isakovich và những công trình thời bao cấp ở Hà Nội – Hội Kiến Trúc Sư Việt Nam |url=https://kienviet.net/2021/09/13/kts-garol-isakovich-va-nhung-cong-trinh-thoi-bao-cap-o-ha-noi/ |access-date=13 May 2023 |website=Kiến Việt |language=vi}}</ref> In his later years, Isakovich, who was awarded the Hero of Labor by the Vietnamese government in 1976, is said to have deviated from the brutalist style and adopted Vietnamese traditional styles in his design, which has been referred to by some Vietnamese architects as ''Chủ nghĩa hiện đại địa phương'' (lit.: local modernism) and ''hậu hiện đại'' (postmodernism).<ref name=":6" /> In the former South Vietnam, Ngô Viết Thụ, the first Asian architect to become an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, designed the Independence Palace (1966), which has been said to include brutalist elements.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jain |first=Kripa |date=13 December 2020 |title=10 Reasons why architects must visit Vietnam |url=https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/2020/12/13/a2375-10-reasons-why-architects-must-visit-vietnam/ |access-date=14 May 2023 |website=Rethinking The Future |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Paul |first=Suneet |date=3 February 2023 |title=Vietnam: People with Resilience and Grit |url=https://architecture.live/vietnam-people-with-resilience-and-grit-from-architect-suneet-pauls-travelogue/ |access-date=14 May 2023 |website=ArchitectureLive |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Thuan |first=Nguyen |date=2016-06-23 |title=Ngô Viết Thụ - Người tạo nên biểu tượng Dinh Độc Lập cho Sài Gòn |url=https://designs.vn/ngo-viet-thu-nguoi-tao-nen-bieu-tuong-dinh-doc-lap-cho-sai-gon/ |access-date=14 May 2023 |website=designs.vn |language=vi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230514003814/https://designs.vn/ngo-viet-thu-nguoi-tao-nen-bieu-tuong-dinh-doc-lap-cho-sai-gon/ |archive-date=2023-05-14 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Bosnia and Herzegovina === Bosnian Architect Slobodan Jovandić is known for brutalist buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Balkan countries. Two of his most famous buildings, the Hotel Internacional and the residential building Lamela, Zenica, can be found in the town of Zenica.<ref>{{cite web | title=Sloboda(n) i prostor | url=https://www.jergovic.com/ajfelov-most/slobodan-i-prostor/ }}</ref>

== On university campuses == [[File:The History Faculty, Cambridge (2354442890).jpg|thumb|right|James Stirling's History Faculty Building (1968), University of Cambridge]] Early examples of brutalist architecture in British universities include the 'beehives' at St John's College, Oxford, (Michael Powers of the Architects' Co-Partnership; 1958–1960)<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1278860 |desc=ST JOHNS COLLEGE, THE BEEHIVES |grade=II |accessdate=15 February 2023}}</ref><ref name=Green /> and the extension to the department of architecture at the University of Cambridge in 1959 under the influence of Leslie Martin, the head of the department, and designed by Colin St John Wilson and Alex Hardy, with participation by students at the university.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1049092 |desc=Nos. 1-12 Scroope Terrace, the 1959 rear extension to no. 1 Scroope Terrace and the railings to the front. |grade=II |accessdate=15 February 2023}}</ref> This inspired further brutalist buildings in Cambridge, including the Grade II listed University Centre and the Grade II listed Churchill College. The Grade II* listed History Faculty Building (1964–1967) is described in its listing as "a distinctive example of a new approach to education buildings, from a period when the universities were at the forefront of architectural patronage".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cambridge-in-concrete-the-boom-years-of-brutalism|title=Cambridge in Concrete: the boom years of Brutalism|date=3 May 2012|access-date=13 February 2023|website=University of Cambridge}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1407952 |desc=Cambridge University Centre |grade=II |accessdate=13 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1227706 |desc=Central buildings Churchill College |grade=II |accessdate=13 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1380217 |desc=History Faculty Building |grade=II* |accessdate=13 February 2023}}</ref> It was the second building in architect James Stirling's ''Red Trilogy'', which started with the University of Leicester Engineering Building (with James Gowan; 1959–1963),<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1074756 |desc=ENGINEERING BUILDING, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER |grade=II* |accessdate=15 February 2023}}</ref> designed to reflect the vernacular architecture of Leicester's factories<ref name=Green /> and sometimes regarded as the first post modern building in Britain,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.storyofleicester.info/leisure-entertainment/university-of-leicester-engineering-building/|title=University of Leicester Engineering Building|access-date=25 February 2024|website=Story of Leicester|publisher=Leicester City Council}}</ref> and concluded with the Florey Building at Queen's College, Oxford (1966–1971).<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1393211 |desc=Florey Building with attached walls and abutments |grade=II* |accessdate=15 February 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Norfolk Terrance 5.jpg|thumb|Denys Lasdun's 'ziggurats' (1968), University of East Anglia]] The building of new universities in the UK in the 1960s led to opportunities for brutalist architects. The first to be built was the University of Sussex, designed by Basil Spence, with the Grade I listed Falmer House (1960–1962) as its centrepiece. The building has been described as a "meeting of Arts and Crafts with modernism", with features such as hand-made bricks that contrast with the pre-fabricated construction of other 1960s campuses, and colonnades of bare, board-marked concrete arches on brick piers inspired by the Colosseum.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=93MpCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106|pages=106–107|title=British Design: Tradition and Modernity after 1948|author1=Christopher Breward |author2=Fiona Fisher |author3=Ghislaine Wood|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|date=22 October 2015|isbn=978-1-4742-5622-3}}</ref> It is also considered one of the "key brutalist buildings" by the Royal Institute of British Architects.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.architecture.com/explore-architecture/brutalism|title=Brutalism|work=RIBA|access-date=16 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1381044 |desc=FALMER HOUSE INCLUDING MOAT WITHIN COURTYARD |grade=II* |accessdate=13 February 2023}}</ref> It has, in a reversal of the usual situation for brutalist architecture, received popular acclaim while being less liked by professional critics and is sometimes described as picturesque rather than brutalist.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pp9hEAAAQBAJ&pg=SA1-PA111|title=Revaluing Modern Architecture: Changing conservation culture|author=John Allan|pages=111|publisher=RIBA Publishing|date=2022|isbn=978-1-00-056466-2}}</ref>

Denys Lasdun's work at the University of East Anglia, including six linked halls of residence in Norfolk Terrace and four linked halls of residence in Suffolk Terrace (commonly referred to as the 'ziggurats') and the library and 'teaching wall' between them, is considered one of the finest examples of a 1960s brutalist university campus.<ref name="A-Z" /><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1390647 |desc=Norfolk Terrace and attached walkways, at the University of East Anglia |grade=II* |accessdate=13 February 2023}} – {{National Heritage List for England|num=1390646 |desc=Suffolk Terrace and adjoining walkway and stairs to rear, at the University of East Anglia|grade=II* |accessdate=25 February 2025}} – {{National Heritage List for England|num=1390649 |desc=LIBRARY AND ATTACHED STAIRS TO GROUNDS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA|grade=II |accessdate=25 February 2025}} – {{National Heritage List for England|num=1390648 |desc=Teaching Wall and raised concourse, with attached walkways, at University of East Anglia, Earlham Road |grade=II |accessdate=25 February 2025}}</ref> The ziggurats were closed in 2023 as part of the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete crisis, with no date set for their refurbishment {{as of|February 2025|lc=y}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2559k27ylqo|title=Uni spends £2m fixing Raac but some halls stay shut|date=3 June 2024|author=Andy Trigg|agency=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/24926799.next-university-east-anglias-ziggurats/|title=What next for the University of East Anglia's ziggurats?|date=15 February 2025|author=David Hannant|work=Norwich Evening News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250216173709/https://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/24926799.next-university-east-anglias-ziggurats/|archive-date=16 February 2025}}</ref> Another notable example is the Central Hall of the University of York (1966–1968) with its surrounding colleges (1963–1965) designed by Stirrat Johnson-Marshall and Andrew Derbyshire of Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall & Partners. The reinforced concrete of the Central Hall gives a contrast to the colleges, which were the first university buildings built using the CLASP prefabricated system originally developed for school buildings. The same architectural practice would go on to build the universities of Bath, Stirling and Ulster.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1456551 |desc=Central Hall, University of York |grade=II |accessdate=13 February 2023}} – {{National Heritage List for England|num=1457043 |desc=Former Langwith College, University of York |grade=II |accessdate=13 February 2023}} – {{National Heritage List for England|num=1457040 |desc=Derwent College, University of York|grade=II |accessdate=13 February 2023}}</ref> The Grade II listed lecture block at Brunel University (John Heywood of Richard Sheppard, Robson and Partners; 1965–1968) was used as a location in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film ''A Clockwork Orange''.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1400162 |desc=Lecture Theatre Block, Brunel University |grade=II |accessdate=13 February 2023}}</ref> The central campus complex of the University of Essex (1964) was designed by Kenneth Capon of the Architects' Co-Partnership, with complementary concrete extensions by Patel Taylor matching the brutalist aesthetic in 2015.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.ribaj.com/products/university-of-essex|magazine=RIBA Journal|date=7 September 2016|author=Jan-Carlos Kucharek|title=University of Essex}}</ref>

[[File:Dunelm House & Kingsgate Bridge.jpg|thumb|Kingsgate Bridge (1963) and Dunelm House (1966), Durham University]] A notable pairing of brutalist campus buildings is found at Durham University, with Ove Arup's Grade I-listed Kingsgate Bridge (1963), one of only six post-1961 buildings to have been listed as Grade I by 2017,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40628918|title=England's youngest Grade I listed structures|date=17 July 2017|agency=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1119766 |desc=Kingsgate Bridge |grade=I |accessdate=13 February 2023}}</ref> and the Grade II-listed Dunelm House (Richard Raines of the Architects' Co-Partnership with Michael Powers as the partner-in-charge; 1964–1966), described in its listing as "the foremost students' union building of the post-war era in England" but only saved from demolition in 2021 following a five-year campaign by the Twentieth Century Society.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/no-grade-listed-buildings-would-treated-disdain-britains-brutalist/|work=The Telegraph|title='No other Grade I listed buildings would be treated with such disdain': why Britain's brutalist gems are under threat|author=Peter Watts|date=17 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/19431610.durham-universitys-brutalist-student-building-gets-grade-ii-listed-status/|title=Durham University's Brutalist student building gets Grade II listed status|first=Gavin|last=Engelbrecht|date=9 July 2021|work=The Northern Echo}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/feb/12/durham-university-dunelm-house-threat-of-demolition-brutalism|title=Save Dunelm House from the wrecking ball|author=Rowan Moore|date=12 February 2017 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1477064 |desc=Dunelm House including landing stage, steps and attached walls |grade=II |accessdate=13 February 2023}}</ref> Dunelm House was designed to reflect the vernacular architecture of the city in the way its multiple levels cascade down the river bank, breaking up the bulk of the building.<ref name=Green>{{cite web|url=https://www.durham.ac.uk/media/durham-university/research-/research-centres/visual-arts-and-cultures-centre-for-cvac/Durhams-Modern-Moment-%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%93-Creating-Human-Community-in-Dunelm-House-and-on-Kingsgate-Bridge.pdf|title=Durham's Modern Moment – Creating Human Community in Dunelm House and on Kingsgate Bridge|author=Adrian Green|website=Durham University|access-date=25 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=About Town|url=https://durhamcity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bulletin-82.pdf|magazine=Bulletin|publisher=City of Durham Trust|issue=82|page=4|date=Spring 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cScTDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA101-IA3|title=The Story of Durham|pages=101–102|author=Douglas Pocock|publisher=The History Press|date=2013|isbn=978-0-7509-5300-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pp9hEAAAQBAJ&pg=SA1-PA113|title=Revaluing Modern Architecture: Changing conservation culture|author=John Allan|chapter=Case Study 4: Dunelm House, Durham|pages=113–122|publisher=RIBA Publishing|date=2022|isbn=978-1-00-056466-2}}</ref> This led Pevsner to describe it as "Brutal by tradition but not brutal to the landscape"<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjHcM_LXhjEC&pg=PA233|page=233|title=County Durham|author1=Nikolaus Pevsner|author2=Elizabeth Williamson|publisher=Yale University Press|date=1983|isbn=0-300-09599-6 }}</ref> and to it being praised as a brutalist building that works well in its setting even by opponents of the style.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://unherd.com/newsroom/good-riddance-to-britains-brutalist-architecture/|title=Good Riddance to Britain's Brutalist Architecture|work=UnHerd|author=Niall Gooch|date=1 April 2022}}</ref>

One of the earliest brutalist buildings in the US was Paul Rudolph's 1963 Art and Architecture Building at Yale University where, as department chair, he was both client and architect, giving him a unique freedom to explore new directions.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dezeen.com/2014/09/26/yale-art-and-architecture-building-paul-rudolph-brutalism/|title=Brutalist buildings: Yale Art and Architecture Building, Connecticut by Paul Rudolph|work=Dezeen|date=26 September 2014|author=Jessica Mairs}}</ref> Rudolph's 1964 design for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is a rare example of an entire campus designed in the brutalist style,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://umassdtorch.com/2018/11/02/umass-dartmouths-brutalist-style-is-brutal/|title=UMass Dartmouth's Brutalist Style is brutal|author=Eric Sousa|date=2 November 2018|work=The Torch}}</ref> and was considered by him to be "the most complete realisation of his experiments with urbanism and monumentality".<ref>{{cite book|page=128|title=The Architecture of Paul Rudolph|author=Paul Rohan|date=10 July 2014|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-14939-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MkmPAwAAQBAJ}}</ref> Walter Netsch similarly designed the entire University of Illinois-Chicago Circle Campus (now the East Campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago) under a single, unified brutalist design.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uic.edu/depts/oaa/walkingtour/Netsch_Walking_Tour_03.pdf|title=Historic Netsch Campus at UIC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527164432/http://www.uic.edu/depts/oaa/walkingtour/Netsch_Walking_Tour_03.pdf|archive-date=27 May 2010|access-date=31 December 2010}}</ref> Netsch also designed the brutalist Joseph Regenstein Library for the University of Chicago<ref>{{cite web|url=https://architecture.uchicago.edu/locations/joseph_regenstein_library/|title=Joseph Regenstein Library|website=Architecture at the University of Chicago|access-date=14 February 2023}}</ref> and the Northwestern University Library.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.library.northwestern.edu/libraries-collections/university-library/|title=University Library|access-date=14 February 2023|website=Northwestern}}</ref> Crafton Hills College in California was designed by desert modern architect E. Stewart Williams in 1965 and built between 1966 and 1976. Williams' brutalist design contrasts with the steep terrain of the area and was chosen in part because it provided a firebreak from the surrounding environment.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kopelk|first1=William|title=E. Stewart Williams: A Tribute to His Work and Life|date=2005|publisher=Palm Springs Preservation Foundation|location=Palm Springs, CA}}</ref> The Boston Architectural College's main building at 320 Newbury Street was designed by Ashley, Myer and Associates in 1966. In 1979, muralist Richard Haas painted a 50-foot architectural trompe l'oeil mural on the building's west side<ref>https://the-bac.edu/our-story</ref>

[[File:Geisel-Library.jpg|thumb|William Pereira's Geisel Library (1970), University of California, San Diego]] One of the most famous brutalist buildings in the United States is Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gq.com/story/9-brutalist-wonders-of-the-architecture-world|title=The 9 Brutalist Wonders of the Architecture World|author=Brad Dunning|work=GQ|date=29 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/most-beautiful-brutalist-buildings-world|title=The 17 Most Beautiful Brutalist Buildings in the World|author=Jessica Cherner|date=6 April 2022|work=Architectural Digest}}</ref> Designed by William Pereira and built 1969–70, it is said to "occup[y] a fascinating nexus between brutalism and futurism" but was originally intended as a modernist building in steel and glass before cost considerations meant the structural elements were redesigned in concrete and moved to the outside of the building.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archdaily.com/566563/ad-classics-geisel-library-william-l-pereira-and-associates|title=AD Classics: Geisel Library / William L. Pereira & Associates|author=David Langdon|work=Arch Daily|date=11 November 2014|access-date=15 February 2023}}</ref> Evans Woollen III's brutalist Clowes Memorial Hall, a performing arts facility that opened in 1963 on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, was praised for its bold and dramatic design.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Megan Fernandez|title=The Pillar: Evans Woollen |journal=Indianapolis Monthly |page=68 |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date=June 2010|url=https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/features/the-pillar-evans-woollen/|access-date=18 December 2017}} See also: {{cite journal|author=Philip J. Trounstine|title=Evans Woollen: Struggles of a 'Good Architect'|journal=[Indianapolis] Star Magazine |page=23 |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |date=9 May 1976}}</ref> The University of Minnesota's West Bank campus features the Rarig Center, a performing arts venue by Ralph Rapson from 1971 that has been called "the best example in the Twin Cities of the style called Brutalism".<ref>{{cite book|last=Millett|first=Larry|title=AIA Guide to the Twin Cities|year=2007|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society|location=Saint Paul, Minnesota|page=148|isbn=978-0-87351-540-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T9axsT5T8fcC&pg=PA148}}</ref> Faner Hall at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has long been controversial for its use of brutalism and has been considered an eyesore on campus,<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Dell |first=Les |date=2022-03-18 |title=SIU's Faner Hall myths and mystique |url=https://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu/sius-faner-hall-myths-and-mystique/article_a57d9678-42e5-5f31-936f-80cdd3a8efe3.html |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=Southern Illinoisan |language=en}}</ref> deemed to have a "facade only a mother could love" by the university itself.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Faner Hall {{!}} College of Liberal Arts {{!}} SIU |url=https://cola.siu.edu//about/faner-hall.php |access-date=2024-04-09 |website=College of Liberal Arts |language=en}}</ref>

The Joseph Mark Lauinger Library, the main library of the Georgetown University Library System, was designed by John Carl Warnecke and opened in 1970. Originally conceived with a traditional design similar to other buildings at Georgetown University,<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2020-02-03 |title=Eight Things You May (or May Not) Know about Lauinger Library |url=https://library.georgetown.edu/exhibition/eight-things-you-may-or-may-not-know-about-lauinger-library |access-date=13 May 2023 |website=Georgetown University Library}}</ref> the final design of the Lauinger Library embraces brutalism and was intended as a modern interpretation of the nearby Healy Hall, a Flemish Romanesque building.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Giesemann |first=Suzanne R. |title=The Priest and the Medium |publisher=Hay House Inc. |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4019-2615-1 |pages=73 |language=en}}</ref> The building once received the Award of Merit by the American Institute of Architects in 1976 for distinguished accomplishment in library architecture.<ref name=":1" /> However, in recent years, as public attitudes towards brutalism have shifted, the library has been referred to as one of the "ugliest" buildings in Georgetown and Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Curran |first=Pat |date=2014-08-29 |title=Lauinger: The Past, Present and Future of Georgetown's 'Ugly' Library |url=https://thehoya.com/lauinger/ |access-date=13 May 2023|website=The Hoya |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Love for Lau |url=https://library.georgetown.edu/showcase/entries/love-lau |access-date=13 May 2023 |website=Georgetown University Library}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Garfield |first=Leanna |title=The ugliest building in every US state, according to people who live there |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ugliest-buildings-in-the-us-2018-1 |access-date=13 May 2023 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Robarts Library, UofT (2001) (50945599301).jpg|thumb|The Robarts Library (1974), University of Toronto]] Examples of brutalist university campuses can be found in other countries as well. The Robarts Library at the University of Toronto was designed by Warner, Burns, Toan & Lunde and built between 1968 and 1973. Although it has been called "a crowning achievement of the brutalist movement", its opening in 1974 came after public sentiment had turned against brutalism, leading to it being condemned as "a blunder on the grandest scale".<ref>{{cite web |author=David Langdon |date=9 March 2015 |title=AD Classics: Robarts Library / Warner, Burns, Toan & Lunde |url=https://www.archdaily.com/605338/ad-classics-robarts-library-warner-burns-toan-and-lunde |access-date=15 February 2023 |work=Arch Daily}}</ref> In Turkey, the Middle East Technical University campus in Ankara is a notable example of brutalist architecture, designed by Behruz and Altuğ Çinici in the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zelef |first=Mustafa Haluk |date=2012-01-01 |title=Brutalism and METU Department of Architecture Building in Ankara |url=https://open.metu.edu.tr/handle/11511/79609 |journal=ACEE Architecture Civil Engineering Environment |language=tr |issn=1899-0142}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Brutalist architecture in Islamic Countries on the example of the Middle East Technical University Campus in Ankara |url=https://www.architectus.pwr.edu.pl/en/articles/brutalist-architecture-in-islamic-countries-on-the-example-of-the-middle-east-technical-university-campus-in-ankara/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Politechnika Wrocławska |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Yalav-Heckeroth |first=Feride |date=2024-02-01 |title=Brutalism, bureaucracy and beauty: Why Turkey's capital city isn't 'gray' |url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/ankara-turkey/index.html |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=CNN |language=en |quote="And, between 1961 and 1980, the city obtained one of its most important university campuses, the Middle East Technical University, one of Turkey’s key works of Brutalist architecture – the modernist style that uses exposed concrete or brick – designed by Behruz and Altuğ Çinici."}}</ref> Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa (now Kingsway Campus Auckland Park, University of Johannesburg) is largely brutalist, designed as an expression of Afrikaans identity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theheritageportal.co.za/review/first-comprehensive-review-architecture-early-apartheid-pretoria|title=First comprehensive review of the architecture of early apartheid in Pretoria|author=Kathy Munro|website=The Heritage Portal|date=5 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/johannesburg-segregated-city|title=Johannesburg the Segregated city|work=South African History Online|accessdate=14 February 2023}}</ref> Several universities in Southeast Asia also feature brutalist designs, including those at the Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmaceutical University, the Royal University of Phnom Penh, and the Industrial College of Hue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mark |date=2018-05-05 |title=Brutalist and Modernist architecture in Southeast Asia |url=https://www.kathmanduandbeyond.com/brutalist-modernist-architecture-southeast-asia/ |access-date=13 May 2023 |website=Kathmandu & Beyond |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Reception == [[File:Queen Elizabeth Flats 5 - Demolition.jpg|thumb|The Queen Elizabeth Square flats (1962) in Glasgow being demolished in 1993.]]

A 2014 article in ''The Economist'' noted its unpopularity with the public, observing that a campaign to demolish a building will usually be directed against a brutalist one.<ref name="economist">{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/britain/2014/08/29/nasty-brutish-and-tall|newspaper=The Economist|title=Nasty, brutish and tall – Architecture|date=2014-08-29|access-date=2019-08-13}}</ref> According to Simon Jenkins, "Few styles in history can have been met with so many pleas from its users to see it destroyed."<ref name="jenkins"/> In 2005, the British TV programme ''Demolition'' ran a public vote to select twelve buildings that ought to be demolished, and eight of those selected were brutalist buildings.<ref name="jenkins">{{Cite book|title=A Short History of British Architecture|last=Jenkins|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Jenkins|publisher=Viking|year=2024|location=London|pages=217–8}}</ref>

One argument is that this criticism exists in part because concrete façades do not age well in damp, cloudy maritime climates such as those of northwestern Europe and New England. In these climates, the concrete becomes streaked with water stains and sometimes with moss and lichen, and rust stains from the steel reinforcing bars.<ref>{{cite web|title=CIP 25 – Corrosion of Steel in Concrete|url=https://www.nrmca.org/aboutconcrete/cips/25p.pdf|website=nrmca|publisher=National Ready Mixed Concrete Association|access-date=7 May 2017|archive-date=7 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407025516/https://www.nrmca.org/aboutconcrete/cips/25p.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Critics of the style find it unappealing due to its "cold" appearance, projecting an atmosphere of totalitarianism, as well as the association of the buildings with urban decay due to materials weathering poorly in certain climates and the surfaces being prone to vandalism by graffiti. Despite this, the style is appreciated by others, and preservation efforts are taking place in the United Kingdom.<ref name="British Brutalism" /><ref>Winston, Anna: [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/18/five-architectural-treasures-we-must-save-uk-heritage-war-historic-england Five architectural treasures we must save from the UK's heritage war.] ''The Guardian'', 18 June 2015.</ref>

== In the 21st century == [[File:Preston bus station 232-26.jpg|thumb|After two unsuccessful proposals to demolish Preston bus station (1969, Lancashire, UK), it gained Grade II listed building status in September 2013.]]

Although the original brutalist movement was largely over by the late 1970s and early 1980s, having largely given way to structural expressionism and deconstructivism, it has experienced a resurgence of interest since 2015 with the publication of a variety of guides and books, including ''Brutal London'' (Zupagrafika, 2015), ''Brutalist London Map'' (2015), ''This Brutal World'' (2016), ''SOS Brutalism: A Global Survey'' (2017) and the ''Atlas of Brutalist Architecture'' (2018). This resurgence of interest has been accompanied by new construction in the brutalist style, termed ''neobrutalism''.<ref name=Jacobin>{{cite web|url=https://jacobin.com/2025/08/architecture-brutalism-neobrutalism-aesthetics-ecology|title=Brutalism Is Back|author=Felix Torkar|date=16 August 2025|work=Jacobin}}</ref>

[[File:South Gate of Ningbo Museum.jpg|thumb|Wang Shu's neobrutalist Ningbo Museum (2008)]]

Neobrutalist buildings have included Wang Shu's Ningbo Museum, where traces of the bamboo framework are visible on the monumental concrete, referred to in his 2012 Pritzker Prize citation as "an urban icon". In general, however, neobrutalist buildings tend to be commissioned by the private sector, such as the campus of the private University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Peru, designed by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara and referenced in the citation for their 2020 Pritzker Prize.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/2020|title=The Pritzker Architecture Prize|date=2020|website=Pritzker Prize|access-date=16 August 2020}}</ref> They may also use more ecologically friendly materials, such as recycled bricks or timber construction, rather than concrete, while maintaining the fundamental concept of exposing the materials and structural elements, an approach taken at the Colegio Reggio in Madrid.<ref name=Jacobin/>

[[File:Campus UTEC Lima.png|thumb|The neobrutalist University of Engineering and Technology (2015)]]

Many of the defining aspects of the style have been softened in newer buildings, with concrete façades often being sandblasted to create a stone-like surface, covered in stucco, or composed of patterned, precast elements. These elements are also found in renovations of older brutalist buildings, such as the redevelopment of Sheffield's Park Hill. However, board-marked concrete in the brutalist tradition is still used in some developments, such as the neobrutalist Silberrad Student Centre and library extension at the University of Essex, designed to be sympathetic to the existing 1960s brutalist campus buildings and taking "the opportunity to use in-situ brutalist concrete as a sensitive contextual material".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.concretecentre.com/Case-Studies/The-University-of-Essex-Silberrad-Student-Centre.aspx|title= The University of Essex - Silberrad Student Centre and Library Extension|website=The Concrete Centre|access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ajbuildingslibrary.co.uk/projects/display/id/7888|website=AJ Buildings Library|title=Silberrad Student Centre, University of Essex|access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref>

thumb|The neobrutalist Silberrad Student Centre (2015) at the University of Essex Villa Göth was listed as historically significant by the Uppsala county administrative board on 3 March 1995.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/uppsala/besoksmal/kulturmiljoer/byggnadsminnen/villa-goth.html|title=Villa Göth|website=www.lansstyrelsen.se|language=sv|access-date=2020-04-23}}</ref> Several brutalist buildings in the United Kingdom have been granted listed status as historic, and others, such as Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's St. Peter's Seminary, named by ''Prospect'' magazine's survey of architects as Scotland's greatest post-war building, have been the subject of conservation campaigns. Similar buildings in the United States have been recognized, such as the Pirelli Tire Building in New Haven's Long Wharf.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newhavenmodern.org/system/dragonfly/production/2014/01/16/5yl3lsp3d9_SRN_NewHaven_Sargent_500.pdf|title=Historical Resources Inventory: Buildings and Structures: The Pirelli Building, New Haven|publisher=Connecticut Historical Commission|access-date=24 September 2019}}</ref> The Twentieth Century Society has unsuccessfully campaigned against the demolition of British buildings such as the Tricorn Centre and Trinity Square multi-storey car park, made famous by its prominent role in the film ''Get Carter'', but successfully in the case of Preston bus station garage (2013) and London's Southbank Centre (2026), among others. The Grade II listing of the centre, which includes the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Hayward Gallery, followed a 35-year campaign by the Society whose director, Catherine Croft, said "The battle has been won and brutalism has finally come of age",<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/feb/10/southbank-centre-granted-grade-ii-listed-status-brutalist-architecture|title=Campaigners welcome ‘long overdue’ listing of brutalist Southbank Centre|author=Matthew Weaver|date=10 February 2026|work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/feb/10/southbank-centre-london-brutalism-grade-ii-listing-concrete|title=Brutal but beautiful: Southbank Centre’s Grade II listing is the cherry on a concrete cake|author=Catherine Slessor|work=The Guardian|date=10 February 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Brutalist Southbank Centre granted listed status|author=Amy Clarke|work=BBC News|date=10 February 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.itv.com/news/london/2026-02-10/how-a-building-once-called-britains-ugliest-is-now-officially-protected|title=Brutalist building once called 'Britain’s ugliest' officially protected after decades-long campaign|work=ITV News|date=10 February 2026}}</ref> although Simon Heffer responded to the listing by calling for the centre's demolition.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/architecture/southbank-centre-should-be-torn-down/|title=The Southbank Centre should be torn down, not listed|author=Simon Heffer|date=10 February 2026|work=The Telegraph}}</ref>

Notable buildings that have been demolished include the Smithsons' Robin Hood Gardens (2017) in East London, John Madin's Birmingham Central Library (2016), Marcel Breuer's American Press Institute Building in Reston, Virginia, Araldo Cossutta's Third Church of Christ, Scientist in Washington, D.C. (2014), and the Welbeck Street car park in London (2019).{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == {{Refbegin}} * {{cite book | author=Highmore, Ben | title=The Art of Brutalism: Rescuing Hope from Catastrophe in 1950s Britain | publisher=Yale University Press | location=New Haven | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-300-22274-6 }} * {{Cite news |last1=Kapur |first1=Akash |title=Can Poland's Faded Brutalist Architecture Be Redeemed? |work=The New York Times |date=2018-10-18 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/10/t-magazine/poland-brutalism-architecture.html |issn=0362-4331 |df=mdy-all }} {{Refend}} * {{cite journal |last= Golan |first= Romy |author-link= Romy Golan |url= https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-357632951/historian-of-the-immediate-future-reyner-banham |title= Historian of the Immediate Future: Reyner Banham |type=Book Review |journal= The Art Bulletin |volume=85 |issue=2 |date= June 2003 |doi= 10.2307/3177354 |jstor= 3177354 |access-date= 30 December 2014 |archive-date= 30 December 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141230081624/https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-357632951/historian-of-the-immediate-future-reyner-banham |url-status= dead |url-access= subscription }} * Monzo, Luigi: Plädoyer für herbe Schönheiten. Gastbeitrag im Rahmen der Austellung "SOS Brutalismus – Rettet die Betonmonster". ''Pforzheimer Zeitung'', 27 February 2018, p. 6. {{in lang|de}} * Anna Rita Emili, ''Pure and simple, the architecture of New Brutalism,'' Ed.Kappa Rome 2008 * Anna Rita Emili, ''Architettura estrema, il Neobrutalismo alla prova della contemporaneità'', Quodlibet, Macerata 2011 * Anna Rita Emili, ''Il Brutalismo paulista, L'architettura brasiliana tra teoria e progetto'', Manifesto Libri, Roma ISBN 978872859759, pp. 335 * Silvia Groaz, ''New Brutalism. The Invention of a Style'', EPFL Press, Lausanne, 2023, ISBN 978-2-88915-510-1

== External links == {{Commons category}} *[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/feb/13/jonathan-meades-brutalism-a-z "The incredible hulks: Jonathan Meades' A-Z of Brutalism"]

Category:Brutalist architecture Category:Modernist architecture Category:20th-century architectural styles Category:American architectural styles Category:British architectural styles Category:Architecture in England by period or style Category:1950s architecture Category:1960s architecture Category:1970s architecture