Brutalist Buildings in Your Region

[Tim B]

In the Netherlands this style isn't very common unlike, Switzerland or France.

The City of Utrecht has some modest examples of brutalist architecture:

Tax Office:


Student Housing:


Statistics Office in Heerlen:



Postbank Arnhem:



Erasmus University Rotterdam

[pj3000]

Justice Center, Cleveland



photo credit: clevelandskyscrapers.com

[elsonic]

parking at Université de Montréal


http://www.flickr.com/photos/2890517...ith/304432934/ user Francois'

[MolsonExport]

^I've parked there a time or ten.

[HooverDam]

The Arizona Science center in downtown Phx:








Like a lot of brutalism, it looks cool as a form, or as an overgrown piece of sculpture, but its an abomination as far as its relationship to the street goes.

It was designed by Antoine Predock

Predock also did the somewhat similar Nelson Fine Arts Center in Tempe at ASU:







Photos that weren't mine are from Visionsinphoto.com & architectureweek

[PGHFan]

Brutalism has produced some great buildings. But, like nearly every art/architectural/fashion/design school or movement, many of the products are merely average or worse. But, the bad examples do not justify throwing away the good. The Dallas City Hall and the Salk Institute are wonderful examples of brutalism, that I would not want to give up even though cities and university campuses are filled with bad brutalism. The same can be said about the Portland Public Service Building, a fine example of postmodernism, even though cities are filled with apartment buildings and suburban big box stores that have a clichéd postmodern corner turret. I like brutalism’s juxtaposition of planes and its ability to be monumental, even with a small footprint. Its lack of ornamentation is strength, especially when ornamentation would detract from the building’s overall strength and form, as exemplified by the Dallas and Salk buildings. In its simplicity, the Smithsonian’s Hirschorn building is an example of how a brutalist design is consistent with the goals of the building, i.e., showcasing modern art. The use of poured concrete in brutalist structures also provides texture and visual interest for the pedestrian. On the other hand, brutalism is not appealing, at least to me, in tall buildings where its small-scale virtues become large negatives. The repetitiveness and lack of ornamentation become overwhelming and surfaces appreciated close up are lost at a distance. Gray concrete with plywood imprints is interesting close up, but is simply gray at a distance. Another aspect of brutalism that is unattractive to me is the way that the dirt and grime of a city stain the flat, porous surfaces as a result of the flow of grit-containing water. I hope that we are not so shortsighted that we destroy the great buildings of the brutalist period to replace them with the newest architectural fad. We have done too much of that with the masterpieces of other eras.

[scalziand]

Worcester Art Museum

For a while this was my desktop background:


I think this is the Worcester Police Department


Some AT&T building downtown


The Worcester Public Library

[RBB]

Hello all - long time visitor, first time poster from the UrbanSTL forums.

My hometown, St. Louis, doesn't have a ton of brutalist buildings, but what ones we have are pretty good examples of the style, if I do say so:

The former headquarters of the PET Milk Company, this 14-story building across the street from Busch Stadium is now the Pointe 400 luxury condominiums:



This gem is the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis:



Flickr

Flickr


-RBB

[jetsetter]

But, like nearly every art/architectural/fashion/design school or movement, many of the products are merely average or worse. But, the bad examples do not justify throwing away the good.

Using go much bare concrete does justify throwing away the "good". The only interesting example I have seen in this thread was one building that was covered in greenery thus covering the grey.

[Funkie]

In Detroit:

The McNamara Federal Building‎ built in 1976


And that smaller building I dont know the name of

[george]

A Harry Weese, hub cap design.

[David]

Simon Fraser University (1965)
Burnaby, British Columbia
Arthur Erickson's mountaintop fortress of academia. SFU students love to hate the architecture of our school. It is also very popular with film makers to stand in for military bases (THe Day The Earth Stood Still), FBI HQ (Agent Cody Banks :p) and various futuristic brutalist sci-fi buildings (Battlestar Galactica, etc).


Convocation Mall and W.A.C. Bennett Library (by fusionpanda)


W.A.C. Bennett Library (by burt_frogblast)


Academic Quadrangle (by fusionpanda)


the view from above (Wikipedia)

[Nowhereman1280]

Someone was saying earlier how Paris made Brutalism cozy, one of the coziest buildings I've ever been in is the Regenstein library at U of C. Tons of little nooks and crannies combine that with its huge size and it makes the perfect library experience of getting away where you cannot be distracted.


wikipedia.com

[amaruk]

Originally Posted by David

Simon Fraser University (1965)
Burnaby, British Columbia
Arthur Erickson's mountaintop fortress of academia. SFU students love to hate the architecture of our school. It is also very popular with film makers to stand in for military bases (THe Day The Earth Stood Still), FBI HQ (Agent Cody Banks :p) and various futuristic brutalist sci-fi buildings (Battlestar Galactica, etc).

My alma mater! The concrete can be a bit much with the rain and fog of a Vancouver winter, but when the sun comes out, it's simply stunning.

I'd upload a couple of shots of SFU in winter, but when I try from flickr all I get in the post preview is blue question marks. Boo.

[elsonic]

I'm not sure if we can call it brutalist, but I'm a big fan of the IM Pei addition of the National Gallery in Washington :


http://www.flickr.com/photos/8348059...th/2204028510/ user Andy961


http://www.flickr.com/photos/2771313...th/2577673328/ user nikos8

[jetsetter]

That it doesn't look like solid concrete on the outside makes the building above an step up from all other brutalist buildings.

[PGHFan]

I never thought of the east wing as Brutalist. Of course categories are arbitrary and fluid. But the stone finish takes it a step above the soot-stained gray concrete. In addition, it has clean lines and is not cluttered as many of the buildings on this thread are.

[Minato Ku]

A residencial building in la Defense (Paris)

[texcolo]

Fermilab in Chicago...


www.corbis.com

[deja vu]

nice reflection. ^