Brutalism is a style and philosophy of architecture that emerged out of the modernist tradition and found widespread expression in urban environments around the world from the 1950s until the 1970s. Stark and functionalist, it employed steel and concrete (pre-poured into huge blocks) as core building materials. Many of its leading exponents saw the style within the context of a broad socialist utopian philosophy, since it allowed for mass housing provision, often in high-rise blocks. The legacy of Brutalism, however, is disputed, with some accusing it of an impersonality that fostered social discord in those areas where it predominated.
As countries sought to rebuild in the aftermath of the Second World War, Brutalism found its niche because of its low costs, both to design and build. The style was typically adopted for government buildings, large-scale social housing developments, universities and shopping centres, everywhere from the USA and Europe to Brazil, Japan, the Philippines and Australia. Its rejection of bourgeois notions of elegance and its uncompromising, almost sculptural features also proved popular in Eastern Europe, where Brutalist buildings became synonymous with communism.
As concrete aged and the realities of high-rise living became apparent, Brutalism became a much-derided style. Prince Charles, for example, noted in 1987: ‘You have to give this much to the Luftwaffe. When it knocked down our buildings, it didn’t replace them with anything more offensive than rubble.’ Nonetheless, it still claims fierce defenders. Buildings such as Ernő Goldfinger’s Trellick Tower in London, for example – cited by some as the epitome of failed post-war planning – are to others masterpieces of honest, unpretentious civic-minded design.
The godfather of brutalism
Le Corbusier is often recognized as the godfather of Brutalism for his choice of raw cement (béton brut) in Marseille’s 1940s’ Unité d’Habitation housing project. However, it was Swedish architect Hans Asplund who first used the term ‘brutalism’ in relation to the Villa Göth in Uppsala (1949). The phrase soon entered popular discourse, with the British architectural partnership, Alison and Peter Smithson, and architectural historian Reyner Banham eager adopters.