Brutalistecture; That Style You Saw in Blade Runner!

Its that building regular people probably had passed so many times and not had to think much into it. But, to architecturally exposed eyes, it is that building that invoke a sense of solidity, big and bulky with weird edges but still modern. Crafted concrete facade or ununified roofs. And I tell you, It is making a comeback!

Brutalism, also known as brutalist architecture, is a style that originated in the 1950s and developed out of the Modernist movement of the early 20th century. Brutalist buildings are distinguished by their huge, monolithic and' blocky' appearance, with a rigid geometrical form and the use of poured concrete on a large scale. In the 1970s, the movement began to decline, having been widely criticised as inhuman.

The concept of Brutalism began by introducing concrete buildings by Le Corbusier when he designed Cite Radieuse in Marseilles in the late 1940s. The movement has developed over the following 10 years till it was firstly named as " Brutalism " by the Swedish architect Hans Asplund to describe Villa Göth, a modern brick home in Uppsala, designed in January 1950.

Figure1: Villa Göth (1950) in Kåbo, Uppsala, Sweden. "New Brutalism" was used for the first time to describe this house. http://europeana.eu/

Many reasons have distinguished the development of Brutalist Architecture. For instance, the European countries have built using this style in order to show power and stability for governmental and educational buildings. In fact, there is a macro relationship between the movement of brutalist architecture and the World War 2 which ended in 1945. With visually heavy buildings with geometric lines, solid concrete frames, exaggerated slabs, double height ceilings, massive walls, exposed concrete and predominantly monochrome, brutal buildings force its' visitors to feel the great power behind them.

Figure2,3: Barbican Centre and Estate,London. https://www.gq.com/story/9-brutalist-wonders-of-the-architecture-world

Figure4: Geisel Library, California. https://www.gq.com/story/9-brutalist-wonders-of-the-architecture-world

In the current era, Brutalist Architecture should not be followed due to the high carbon footprint of the usage of concrete. Buildings should respond to the environmental factors and follow the current Green Architectural innovations.