The Case for Brutalist Architecture | ARTiculations

Hi everyone I've made a Discord for further discussions: discord.gg/4DWvahY94U. I'm also more likely to respond there as YouTube comments aren't always the most ideal places for conversation. Thank you!

"...towards an architecture that is specific and concrete ..." lol

To my eye, Brutalist-style buildings work best when there's a lot of vegetation around or on it, as on their own they become harsh and oppressing, but when mixed with plant life they feel much less dominating.

Maybe it's an artifact of growing up poor in the 90s, but I've always associated brutalist architecture with struggle and poverty. It never felt progressively inexpensive and sustainable, it felt aggressively cheap and low maintenance. In my home city, many brutalist buildings were in low income areas, and were moderately out of repair, but still functional in a sense that made me feel like "This is good enough for *you*". They were often the building I'd go to with my parents while they looked for work or unemployment, or public areas like libraries which never got decent funding. Visually their unfinished and raw aesthetics said "You haven't earned a coat of paint or windows" and "This building is unimportant because the people it serves are unimportant" as they slowly decayed for the 40+ years since their prime.

4:36 The fact that you can use a library to shoot a convincing scene that’s supposed to take place in a prison says a lot about Brutalism

Every single building I saw in this video looks like a super villains hide out

In Egypt, there's an entire university made with this style , on a very large piece of land , in a very dry place with too much sunlight , I don't know what they were thinking when they built it but it looks like it was built to keep students away

When you're attending the University of Toronto, Robarts is the least of your worries regarding things being too brutal.

I walk by Boston city hall everyday and I always think "damn that's outta place"

There's this huge brutalist social housing complex in my city. It's called "Ihme Zentrum" and nobody likes it. Many have argued over deconstructing it and a local politician even once said: "If you don't like to see the Ihme Zentrum, live inside it"

There are two types of Brutalist: the philosophical, social sensitive works of art; but also cheap, poorly designed cages. The latter caused the hate and is why we are in danger of losing the former. But preserving the latter by mistaking it for the former will be worse. The examples you have are big, expensive projects in national cities. They were sensitive to their environment and designed with care for human use/habitation/interaction. But many brutalist buildings copied the look and ease of construction without care for their human impact. I lived near a brutalist bus-station and council-estate which was the mouth of hell! From simple things like ventilation and drainage (surely a basic design parameter) to more difficult/nuanced like social space and public safety (shadowy twisty walkways, only open space was traffic, isolated corners). The place stank of diesel fumes and piss and you never went anywhere without a torch and a buddy. But it's so frustrating because this style, done right, can be so good. Like the Barbican in London or "l'habitation" in Marseille

I like the dichotomy you pointed out between gothic with horror/beauty. Because brutalist buildings are some of the rare architectural feats that actually inspire a genuine emotion in me. And i dont think the only valuable emotion is a cliche and naive happy positivity. I kind of like the existentialist and dystopian vibes they give off. Certainly more interesting to look at than the thousandth shiny and curvy "modernist" building.

I lived in Toronto and studided sooo many times at the Robarts Library. This video brings so many nice memories. Brutalist buildings have always intrigued me, and I don't even understand if I like them or not! Brutalism is a really interesting type of architecture, that's for sure...

So Brutalist Architecture for Dystopia and Gothic for Horror; are there other Architecture types associated with film genres?

Odd that you didn't mention their association with a feeling of oppression. Brazil doesn't use them as a sign of dystopia per say but more as an emblem for the rampant bureaucracy that plagues society and drives the plot. They are immovable and block your ability to gain perspective, leaving everyone in the film acting with short-sighted adherence to over complicated protocols which are of no help to anyone.

Not once did I ever think a Brutalist building was good looking. They have always looked like a fortress for an occupying army.

Whenever I pass a brutalist building I feel like it wants to punch me in the face.

I think Brutalism's true problem is how awful the buildings look when they're dirty.

Yeah, you should also talk about what was actually destroyed to make space for these buildings, especially in Europe. For a lot of people that was the issue.

Better than the all glass, rounded, white and blue modern buildings, that usually come with a modern "art" sculpture like some twisted metal shit or a plain metal sphere.