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10
concrete
Perceptions of Beauty:
How Do We See Concrete Buildings?
Morten Gjerde, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Architecture,
looks at the debate surrounding the aesthetic merits of concrete architecture, and
discovers that a range of features that include façade depth and attractive aging mean
concrete buildings are appreciated by architects and the public alike.
Recent controversy surrounding the
proposal to demolish a British concrete
housing project reminds us of the love
/ hate relationship the public seems
to have with concrete buildings, at
least as it is projected in the media.
Robin Hood Gardens was built in
East London in the 1960s and is now
earmarked for demolition by the British
Government. Media reports have
tended to focus negatively on the raw
concrete finishes used throughout the
development. Controversy emerged
when designers argued against the
demolition, citing the project as an
important example of Neo-Brutalist
architecture. Moreover, the project
was one of the few realised by the
architectural team of Alison and Peter
Smithson, who espoused the use of
concrete in its raw format – béton brut,
using the French term – during the
heyday of Neo-Brutalism.
This debate over the relative aesthetic
merits of concrete architecture
was in part addressed during the
writer’s recent sabbatical leave to
Oxford Brookes University in the UK.
Underpinned by literature in the field
of environmental psychology, the
research set out to determine design
characteristics that people find more
visually pleasing in an urban setting
and also to identify those that are not
favoured. The project also addressed
the question of whether professionally
trained designers evaluate their
environments differently than those
with no formal training. If there are
real differences in perception between
architects and those who have to live
with their work then the arguments
about the relative merits of Robin
Hood Gardens can more easily be
understood.
More than 400 people were consulted
by way of surveys conducted in the
UK and in New Zealand. Although the
research did not consider concrete
buildings exclusively, the collected
data helps illuminate discussions of
how they are perceived generally.
Robin Hood Gardens was built following New Brutalist aesthetic principles. The movement took its
name from the French - Béton Brut, or raw concrete - but the English meaning was used to express
public perceptions of the architecture.
The effective manipulation of concrete elements in street scenes such as this from Birmingham were
judged favourably by the research respondents
An overarching observation is that
concrete buildings are generally judged
positively by most people. It appears
that one of the principal factors is the
textural quality of concrete. External
finishes such as exposed aggregate
and board-formed have been found to
stimulate the observer’s visual sense
and in the context of underlying order
(such as that provided by a regular set
out of window openings) the observer
has a pleasing aesthetic experience.
Even when featuring a smooth finish,
exposed concrete would be preferred
over many other smooth engineered
materials because of visual interest
created by textural variegations in the
surface.
A façade that is modelled threedimensionally
is also judged very
positively by people. Modelled
surfaces provide visual interest at a
Image courtesy Keith Paulin