Time for a brutal thread

Time for a brutal thread.

Sup Forums pics & discussion of brutalist architecture.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbican_Estate
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Balfron Tower. I really want to live there. Looks comfy af.

Le Corbusier commited a crime against humanity with brutalism

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I'm going to break form and go for posting what I believe is actually a pseudo-brutalist success. Pictured is the Mexican congress, from the last wave of socialist realism in the 1970's. The red is tezontle stone, a building material which was widely used by both the Aztecs and colonial Spaniards and extremely representative of Mexican architecture. White is marble and the green bas relief and coat of arms are bronze in three different oxidized finishes, the building is far larger, this is just the facade.

IMHO it works in that it does provide a dignified example of nationalistic architecture that is also meant to project Republican austerity, which you really can't get with the more traditional neo-classic designs that are commonly used for these buildings. It also provides good interior spaces for the large murals which are also a signature of Mexican art. Now, I'm not a big fan of this style but really we usually judge this type of architecture here while rushing to post the worst examples out there. I'll be posting a couple more.

Here[s another view which does bring out the textures used in the building

The library of Mexico's national university, a very iconic building part of a much larger UNESCO world heritage compound, this isn[t a mural but mosaic done in a monumental scale.

The university is some very large green areas separating each faculty/school so the campus is actually very pleasant, this is a modernist space in campus, the whole thing dates to the 1960's

basically russia

Here's commie block which is actually succesful in that it was given lots of green areas, is actually placed in a decent and centric part of the city and the lower floor hosts a lot of small shops and business.

Another viiew

Looks comfy

For a rat.

>spooky external staircase
Are there elevators too?

The Barbican in London probably ticks that box also. It's actually a historical listed building.

behold

It actually is comfy, another view of the university, plenty of green space.

Yes, there are, I think the idea for the stairs is that they can be used in case of emergency.

That one looks pretty good.

The Vasconcelos library, this one is pretty recent (2000's)

The interior

Largest commieblock compund in Mexico, 1960's

I drive past that building on the A40 everyday. Didn't know that it was a thing.

You have housing projects though.

Those are Aztec ruins in the bottom btw

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbican_Estate

Hell's bollocks, that looks depressing =)

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Mostly demolished and rebuilt with new houses now same as lot of the high rise areas in Glasgow mostly demolished or renovated.

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True. But a little different style and probably don't fit this thread

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Thx user, tha'[s pretty interesting, hopefully this modernist trend which gave rise to brutalism is dying but here the practical problem is I think architects don't really have an alternative to how cheaply massive high rises and other projects can be made with concrete which really isn[t something that[s long term livable in terms of landscape for human beings, there[s a lot opf good intentions in many of these buildings but for habitation at least they mostly come off as trying to put lipstick on a pig, concrete chips away and makes for a hideous surface, people do changes on their own homes (they put AC or a satelite dish) which breaks with aesthetics that rely on uniformity and the whole thing ends up looking like a slum even when it[s relatively well mantained.

I think the bottom line is mantaining these buildings is expensive as fuck which takes away their main justification (cost) I think many of these are worth preserving as a part of history but most really need to be demolished and there needs to be something to replace them with that isn[t another pipedream idea (eg vertical gradens) and can actually last without turning into urban nightmares.

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Agreed, some of it should be preserved, but most of it knocked down.

fuck, even my 1978 commie blocks look better than this

where's that?

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