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Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 11:31 am
by dnsh_dani
Spelt it wrong didnt i?

Anyway...

im looking for people who like me love brutalist arcitecture because they are doing away with it around glasgow and i think its just lovely
everyone hates it and i know that expect for late80's/early90's children maybe because it goes so well with spraypaint lololo
anyone who doesnt know what brutalist arcitecture is then three words will help them: grey concrete repetative
and if you want a good example then look at the Barbican in London >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbican_Art_Centre
examples in glasgow would be....

anderston flats
the dial building
gallowgate flats(twin towers)
the anderston centre
broomhill flats
red road flats
cowcaddens flats
glasgow school of art
the old strathclyde regional council hq (demolished)

well thats enough for now so someone get back to me

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 3:30 pm
by Jazza
I like most forms or architecture, but not these :) sorry

Would the Boyd Orr / Glasgow Uni maths buildings also be included.

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 4:40 pm
by rico
I like it and a few people I know like it.

You should have a look on Flickr at the Glasgow Bloc group, here's some snaps from it:


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Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 5:59 pm
by BrigitDoon
dnsh_dani wrote:examples in glasgow would be....
...
gallowgate flats(twin towers)
...
well thats enough for now so someone get back to me

12th May 2009

Image

From the top of the necropolis: Whitevale and Bluevale with Celtic Park the background

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 7:52 pm
by floweredpig
The "Get Carter" car park in Gateshead is being dismantled as we type.The most famous piece of Brutalist Architecture in Britain?

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 9:00 pm
by rabmania
I love the Barbican. Brutalism generally seems to have few fans, and it's taken years for me to succumb to its charms.

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2009 9:15 pm
by Lucky Poet
It pains me to say it, but since I got into photography I've found a wee kernel of appreciation for brutalism. In the right light that geometrical minimalist thang with all those clear lines becomes quite attractive. (Mind you, scratching an itchy scab can be attractive too.)

I've a wee theory that much of the long-lived anger against brutalism comes from the knowledge that so much was demolished to make room for many of these creations; they are the tall poppies of the post-war 'comprehensive redevelopment' fad, the whipping boys for that era's excesses. As much as I hate admitting it, at least that architectural style's got an honesty about it, unlike the randomly-fenestrated, criminally unimaginative blue glass and sandstone pish that's currently infiltrating our cities.

One thing though: brutalism isn't necessarily the same as modernism?

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2009 7:04 am
by floweredpig
This is a great site that seems to mirror your thoughts LP www.c20society.org.uk

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2009 1:15 pm
by Jazza
on reflection, the twin tower rank among my favourite buildings in Glasgow - when viewed from a reasonable distance they have a fantastic lego-like symmetry.

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2009 12:22 am
by Rucola
I also think that brutalism gets the flak for a lot of the other things that were/are wrong with these buildings but are nothing to do with brutalism per se. There's no style of architecture that really benefits from being shoddily thrown up with no nearby amenities, then neglected for forty years.

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2009 7:45 am
by BrigitDoon
Cowboy builders. Bane of my life. They give the trade a bad name.

One builder friend observed to me during the previous recession:

"They're in demand at the moment and think of all that work they're stacking up for us... :D"

I'd rather they weren't there in the first place. :(

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2009 12:00 pm
by dnsh_dani
Yeh Jazza the Boyd Orr is a brutalist example
at least you like the gallowgate twin towers
and its a shame there taking them down
"51 Whitevale Street and 109 Bluevale Street are apart from the Barbican the tallest public housing project ever built in the United Kingdom."
Thanks for the recommendation rico il check it out in a minute
Good i found a couple of fellow brutalists
Flowered Pig ive seen that
floweredpig wrote:"Get Carter" car park in Gateshead

but i duno about it being the most brutal and thanks for the link too
I think rucola is right aswell about brutalism being hated not for its style but the other problems with the buildings themselves
thanks for the photos evry one
Any how

for those interested skyscrapernews has a collection on brutalism
http://www.skyscrapernews.com/searchres ... =Brutalist
and i myself have loads of photos of the barbican

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2009 1:10 pm
by BrigitDoon
I wasn't aware that the Gallowgate towers were due to come down in the near future. I thought they were earmarked for refurbishment so that they'd continue to about 2025 or thereabouts, like they've done on Caledonia Road opposite the Southern Necropolis.

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Mon May 25, 2009 2:44 pm
by dnsh_dani
To be honest i might be wrong but the futureglasgow website had Gallowgate Twin Towers under "to be demolished" alongside redroad and others...

Re: Brutalist Arcitecture

PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 3:10 pm
by Cyclo2000
You need to head out to Cumbernauld town centre to see the real thing...shuttering marks on all the concrete surfaces, the odd juxtaposition of angles to demonstrate the properties of the medium, strip windows caryying round corners and so forth. The massive forms of the college alone are worth the trip, but the huge overhanging gun enplacement based doorway into Sacred Heart has to be seen by any fan of the genre, the windows are stepped back like pillboxes on the Normandy coast! Add in the brutalist concrete sculptures dotted about and you've got a day out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmamykytyn/1320714346/in/pool-gkc

PS. Some of the architecture listed here so far isn't truly Brutalist to my eyes...modernist surely, shoddy often but not brutal - just system built. In Glasgow I can think of only the Basil Spence designed Queen Elizabeth flats in the Gorbals and the Anderson Centre. I'm sure there's others that I cannae remember though. There's nothing to compare to Copcotts Brutalist masterpiece at any rate.