Brutalism, worth saving?

[supersupper]

Saarinen may have used materials in a raw fashion in his buildings, but he is generally not considered a Brutalist architect.

I did not say he was a Brutalist, I pointed out he was of tht lineage. You can't easily dismiss Brutalism because it's impact was wide-rangeing. In my experience, those artists/styles that have the greatest impact are sometimes quite off the chart of likeability, but down the path artists are influenced by them, and it's usually 2nd tier artists who make crazy ideas more palatable for john-q-public, who then see the original source with a slightly more refined palate. Obviously Brutalism is still not quite forgiven or appreciated for its full-on brute examples.

[supersupper]

Preston Bus Station - once the largest bus station in the world - is scheduled to be pulled down as part of a redevelopment plan for the city centre. It is still in operation.

Curiously, Rem Koolhaas has defended this building specifically with this quote:

“There’s almost a global consensus that any architecture from the late sixties, seventies and eighties should disappear from the face of the earth because it’s so harsh and presumably so socialistic. But we should keep them and treasure them and see them as emblems of a period when architecture was interested in good things.”

And Rem is no lightweight, as eveidenced by his appearance on the Simpsons

[OffenseTaken]

I feel vindicated now. Is that allowed?

Curiously, Rem Koolhaas has defended this building specifically with this quote:


And Rem is no lightweight, as eveidenced by his appearance on the Simpsons

[PortPennFerry]

i thought it was called gaudyism.

Those buildings are clear examples of post-modernism- they are gaudily ornamented just for the sake of ornament... why not build an apartment building that looks like a child's rendition of a sailboat? As for Symphony House, note how the building's faces have windows jutting out and balconies that divide and color-contrasting lines that cut across... just because they can. If that's not the ethos of post-modernism in a nutshell, I don't know what is.

Post-modernism was refreshing in its own way after the starkness of modernism. But much of it has become cheesy to us again. Think about how cartoonish basketball logos were so popular in the 1990s, and were slowly replaced with sleeker lines...

Orlando Magic, then and now:

http://www.centralfloridafancy.com/w...ando_magic.jpg

http://www.orlandosbestdeals.com/wp-...Magic-logo.jpg

I would say that architecture today has shifted from a anything-goes post-modern sensibility to an almost modernist earnest desire to make buildings as 'green' as possible, while still maintaining a post-modernist acceptance of funky elements. I've heard the architecture-du-jour referred to as 'transmodern'

[OffenseTaken]

At the time, you would have thought that Postmodernist ornament defied the very notion of cheesy, since it was always historical reference within dickquotes. "Look! In this office building, I bring you...classical Rome! And now I'll put in this zig-zaggy floor pattern at a diagonal to the Corinthian columns, just to remind you I'm far too intelligent to be doing this sincerely." These days, that kind of cleverness looks cheesier than all the most egalitarian dreams of Sixties designers.

Herbert Muschamp described it pretty aptly here: ART/ARCHITECTURE; It's History Now, So Shouldn't Modernism Be Preserved, Too? - New York Times

In the name of history, postmodern architects threw history out the window. In the name of tradition, postmodern architects shredded that, too. With what glee they toasted the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in St. Louis as the unofficial end of the Modern Movement. What the postmodernists were celebrating was not the failure of a particular project. They were proclaiming victory over history itself.

Our own GroJLart's sentiment isn't all that different when he writes about the Guild House, the PoMo landmark on Spring Garden (http://philaphilia.blogspot.com/2011...ne-14th.html):

Venturi is such a dick that he placed a non-functional gold-plated aluminum TV antenna at the top as a symbol to represent old people, because apparently all they do is watch TV. What a kick in the teeth to the very people who would be using this building. That's like designing a Catholic Church and putting a statue of a priest baloney-washing an altar boy at the top. It's just not nice. Luckily, the antenna blew off the roof a long time ago and was never replaced.

Those buildings are clear examples of post-modernism- they are gaudily ornamented just for the sake of ornament... why not build an apartment building that looks like a child's rendition of a sailboat? As for Symphony House, note how the building's faces have windows jutting out and balconies that divide and color-contrasting lines that cut across... just because they can. If that's not the ethos of post-modernism in a nutshell, I don't know what is.

Post-modernism was refreshing in its own way after the starkness of modernism. But much of it has become cheesy to us again. Think about how cartoonish basketball logos were so popular in the 1990s, and were slowly replaced with sleeker lines...

Orlando Magic, then and now:

http://www.centralfloridafancy.com/w...ando_magic.jpg

http://www.orlandosbestdeals.com/wp-...Magic-logo.jpg

I would say that architecture today has shifted from a anything-goes post-modern sensibility to an almost modernist earnest desire to make buildings as 'green' as possible, while still maintaining a post-modernist acceptance of funky elements. I've heard the architecture-du-jour referred to as 'transmodern'

[OffenseTaken]

Also, I've noticed before that with cartoonishness, lowercase letters have also been tossed out of sports branding. Those are reserved for ladies' stuff. You've had that division in the design world for at least forty years, but it's become a lot starker in the past ten. I'd like to know why.

Post-modernism was refreshing in its own way after the starkness of modernism. But much of it has become cheesy to us again. Think about how cartoonish basketball logos were so popular in the 1990s, and were slowly replaced with sleeker lines...

Orlando Magic, then and now:

http://www.centralfloridafancy.com/w...ando_magic.jpg

http://www.orlandosbestdeals.com/wp-...Magic-logo.jpg

I would say that architecture today has shifted from a anything-goes post-modern sensibility to an almost modernist earnest desire to make buildings as 'green' as possible, while still maintaining a post-modernist acceptance of funky elements. I've heard the architecture-du-jour referred to as 'transmodern'

[DCnPhilly]

Curiously, Rem Koolhaas has defended this building specifically with this quote:

“There’s almost a global consensus that any architecture from the late sixties, seventies and eighties should disappear from the face of the earth because it’s so harsh and presumably so socialistic. But we should keep them and treasure them and see them as emblems of a period when architecture was interested in good things.”

I find the reference to Socialism interesting, particularly since Art Deco was the signature style of Germany in 30s and 40s.

[MarketStEl]

I find the reference to Socialism interesting, particularly since Art Deco was the signature style of Germany in 30s and 40s.

I would no more call the Nazi style Art Deco than I would Stalinist architecture of the same era. It's more severe than Art Deco, with less color, ornament and decoration - more a stripped-down Classicism with some Moderne elements (yes, that last is from Art Deco, but still...).

[DCnPhilly]

I would no more call the Nazi style Art Deco than I would Stalinist architecture of the same era. It's more severe than Art Deco, with less color, ornament and decoration - more a stripped-down Classicism with some Moderne elements (yes, that last is from Art Deco, but still...).

Everything is influenced by something. I think Art Deco, Stalinist, or any style of the 30s and 40s were products of the time more than any political movement. Art Deco was also the signature style of government funded projects in the U.S. at the same time. I just thought it was interesting that people would equate Brutalism with Socialism as a means to eliminate it, while ignoring the Art Deco and International Style elements of the same movements.

[supersupper]

yea, well sure everything is derived from something before it (us from protozoa, for instance).


Now, what's really interesting, is that Kahn's work is born new from scratch, long after he's dead, when plenty of other architects out there need work.

[supersupper]

Brutalism alive and well.

[Titus]

And I can't wait to see it - finally finishing the work of one of America's greatest architects.