Trip to London- Brutalist Architecture study

"Brutalist architecture is a movement in architecture that flourished from the 1950s to the mid-1970s, descending from the modernist architectural movement of the early 20th century. The term originates from the French word for "raw" in the term used by Le Corbusier to describe his choice of material béton brut (raw concrete). British architectural critic Reyner Banham adapted the term into "brutalism" (originally "New Brutalism") to identify the emerging style.

Brutalism became popular with governmental and institutional clients, with numerous examples in Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the United States, Italy, Canada, Brazil, the Philippines, Israel and Australia. Examples are typically massive in character (even when not large), fortress-like, with a predominance of exposed concrete construction, or in the case of the "brick brutalists," ruggedly combine detailed brickwork and concrete. There is often an emphasis on graphically expressing in the external elevations and in the whole-site architectural plan the main functions and people-flows of the buildings. Brutalism became popular for educational buildings (especially university buildings), but was relatively rare for corporate projects. Brutalism became favoured for many government projects, high-rise housing, and shopping centres." -wikipedia¹

I was deeply attracted the first time I saw photos of Le Corbusier's Ronchamp Chapel. (Fig 1. Fig 2.)

Fig 1. Le Corbusier Fig 2. Ronchamp Chapel,

http://www.archdaily.com/84988/ad-classics- ronchamp-le-corbusier

London is famous because of it's rich brutalism architecture collection. So I took a trip around to pay my admiration.²

Brunswick Centre:

Designed by Patrick Hodgkinson, this grade ll-listed residential and shopping centre has made several TV and film appearances and even had a song written about it by 90s indie ‘supergroup’ Lodger. The impact of its striking service towers and flying buttresses is softened by the sky blue and cream colour scheme, lending the whole development an almost breezy air.

Fig 3. Photos of Brunswick Centre. Yuan Lin. 5 January, 2017.

Institute of Education, Bedford Way:

Completed in 1979, Sir Denys Lasdun’s enormous structure puts the ‘massive’ into Massive period Brutalism. The huge concrete service towers are highly characteristic of Lasdun’s style but here they are elegantly married with long lines of dark tinted glass windows which hark back to the earlier, pre-Brutalist, International style. A gorgeous hunk of a building, the classic view of it is from the south west corner of Tavistock Square, just to the north.

Fig 4. Photos of Institute of Education, Bedford Way. Yuan Lin. 5 January, 2017.

I took as many photos as I could to study about the buildings' structure. If you would like to visit, these 2 masterpieces both locates around Russell Square subway station.

With some geometry sketch, with hope I expect to deconstruct then discover their fascinating disciplines.

Fig 5. Study sketches of Brutalist buildings. Yuan Lin. December, 2016.

I believe the sketch in the 3rd drawing is very famous, which is Vienna’s Church of the Most Holy Trinity, or Wotruba Church. ( Fig 6)

Fig 6. Wotruba Church, http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/brutalist-architecture-masterpieces

References:

Fig 1. Le Corbusier

Fig 2. Gili Merin., et al., [no date]. Ronchamp Chapel[online]. (s.l.): (s.n.). Available at:

http://www.archdaily.com/84988/ad-classics-ronchamp-le-corbusier [Accessed 6 January 2017].

Fig 3. Yuan Lin. 5 January, 2017. Photos of Brunswick Centre. Unpublished.

Fig 4. Yuan Lin. 5 January, 2017. Photos of Institute of Education, Bedford Way. Unpublished.

Fig 5. Yuan Lin. December, 2016. Study sketches of Brutalist buildings. Unpublished.

Fig6. LEE F. MINDEL, FAIA. 28 Jan, 2016. 10 Buildings People Love to Hate but Shouldn’t (online). New York: Condé Nast. Available at: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/brutalist-architecture-masterpieces [Accessed 6 January 2017].

1. Wikipedia. Brutalist architecture [online]. Available at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture [Accessed 6 January 2017].

2. Toby Bricheno, London's Top Brutalist Buildings. LONDONIST (online blog). 24 May 2012.

Available at: http://londonist.com/2012/05/londons-top-brutalist-buildings [Accessed 6 January 2017].

#architecture #brutalist