‘Don’t knock brutalism’

 

Architecture, Art

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“No PR firm would have dreamt up the word ‘brutalism’. The term was derived from Le Corbusier’s “Breton brut” [sic! - should be “Béton brut”] - French for “raw concrete”, the movement’s preferred material - rather than anything to do with brutality, with which it has sadly become better associated. In the popular imagination, brutalism is synonymous with harsh, hostile, ugly architecture (or death metal). […] Maybe, sometime in the near future, we’ll realize that brutalism wasn’t so bad after all. Perhaps it just needs a new name.” (story) Turns out “Higher Education Redux”, the final addition to my project Higher Education, centers on brutalism on US university campuses and its hideous effect on what are supposed to be areas of creativity and learning.