Design Yearbook 2017

International Brutalisms
Steve Parnell
The group research looked at International Brutalisms – focusing on the ethical aspect of the movement as opposed to Reyner Banham’s
aesthetic. Brutalism (whether called by the same name or not) appeared in many countries in the post war period. There is currently a debate
on the future of these buildings as due to their age, they demand refurbishment, restoration, or demolition.
The group focused on researching the context of Brutalism internationally by each student choosing a country to study and catalogue its key
brutalist buildings. The purpose of this was understand the Brutalism in its native context and assess whether the findings could contribute
to the British debate.
The first semester of the project looked at the historical background of Brutalism, to understand style of architecture and how to identify it.
This included literary and periodical research to identify key buildings and later, travelling to the chosen country to document the buildings,
as well as interviews with local academics and architects, during the summer vacation. The final semester consisted of completing a written
dissertation which also included the documentation of the buildings.
The Architectural Journal of US Brutalism
Joe Wilson
My dissertation, led with the question “what characteristics constitute to defining Brutalist architecture in
the United States of America, and do they focus on architectural aesthetics, as opposed to having an ethical
stance promoted by British Brutalism?” This question was posed because North America did not suffer the
same physical devastation as that of the UK and other European countries during the Second World War.
I found that US ‘Brutalist’ architects’ ideologies did not carry the social missions as British Brutalist
architects. From my conversations with U.S. architects, I discovered that it was the heavy, monumental,
and sculptural aesthetic qualities of Le Corbusier’s work that captured U.S. architects’ imaginations. Le
Corbusier presented concrete as a building material that offered sculptural plasticity. This freedom offered
US architects an escape from the rectilinear style of sharp modernism, instead providing endless variability
in form allowing inhabitants to engage with the architecture more intimately.
I sought to confirm whether U.S. Brutalism is exclusively associated with concrete, and identified that
the expressive use of concrete in the USA often resulted in three recurring features: monumentality,
sculpturalism, experientialism.
I explored Brutalism’s reception in the USA, with regards to the architecture itself and the terminology.
I found that US architects believed that the word ‘Brutalism’ held negative connotations and that they
referred to their work as ‘concrete modernism’ or ‘expressionism’. I concluded that the term Brutalism
within American architecture is a superimposition by journalists for assemblage of aesthetically similar
buildings that were constructed in concrete during the late modernist period.
Brazilian Brutalism: An analysis of Brutalism in the context of Brazil
Raphael Selby
The dissertation aims to discover the essence of Brazilian Brutalism through an analysis of essential
characteristics of the buildings researched. The term Brutalism has been used to refer to a widespread
selection of modern architecture from the 1950s to the 1980s. The study argues that Brutalism in Brazil,
although similar in aesthetics to other Brutalisms around the world, is native to the country.
A recent ‘aestheticisation’ of Brutalism has seen the popularity of these buildings grow on social media.
However, there is little knowledge outside Brazil regarding the context of these buildings, their purpose in
the urban fabric and how they are inhabited and experienced. Field work in Brazil, which included visiting
the buildings and interviewing key academics and architects, was crucial in providing the data required for
the analysis of the buildings and their architectural qualities.
The understanding of ethic as ‘essence’ - derived from the word “ethos” - rather than implying a notion
of morality, is concerned with the intrinsic nature and essential quality of a material or space. It is such
meaning, that determines the character of the building, resulting in more than just an aesthetic experience.
By observing, documenting, photographing and drawing the buildings first-hand an analysis of three
‘essential characteristics’, namely the ground plane, monumentality and natural light - argues for the essence
of Brazilian Brutalism.
By studying Brutalism in Brazil, the need for further research became clear. There is a large number of
buildings requiring to be documented. The age and condition of the buildings, require academics and
architects to identify their architectural importance, allowing for their appreciation, understanding and
subsequent preservation.
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