Brutalism

The Brutalist design by a famed landscape architect will be preserved, but not without better visibility and improved lighting.

April 19, 2018 - The Architect's Newspaper

Brutalism might not be anybody's idea of beautiful, but that doesn't mean examples of the architectural style aren't beloved by many. As Brutalism comes of age as historic, preservation battles are heating up—especially in Washington, D.C.

May 30, 2017 - AP via SFgate

Controversy erupted last week in Washington, D.C., after D.C. Metro decided to paint Union Station's vaulted ceilings—a famous icon of the District, it's regional transit system, and the architectural style of Brutalism.

April 6, 2017 - WAMU

What can be learned from music videos about popular culture's relationship to architecture?

August 10, 2015 - ArchDaily

A new exhibit at MoMA celebrates the "fitfully idealistic" architecture of Latin America, 1955 through 1980. Broad in scope, the exhibition ranges from Brasília's bold utopianism to the community-focused tactics of Bo Bardi.

April 24, 2015 - The Economist

Famous examples of aging architecture styles, such as brutalism, are in need of renovations, sometimes requiring the public to pay the bill. But brutalist buildings are often obdurate and hard to adapt and reuse.

September 9, 2014 - Architectural Record

A warehouse, electricity substation, and brutalist apartment complex are among the buildings recently granted heritage protection by the British government. Heritage designation for post-war architecture, however, remains contentious.

September 23, 2013 - The Guardian

Philadelphia's award winning police headquarters, called "the Roundhouse", has received a belated 50th birthday present: the threat of demolition.

March 26, 2013 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

The FBI may get the new building it's been clamoring for, and developers may get a prime opportunity on D.C.'s most prestigious avenue, if a recent proposal by the GSA comes to pass. But what will happen to one of the city's last Brutalist buildings?

December 5, 2012 - The Washington Post

While it doesn't sounds like the most historically sensitive renovation, designLAB's reworking of Paul Rudolph's Carney Library at UMass Dartmouth shows that Brutalist monoliths can be adapted to suit contemporary needs and tastes.

November 29, 2012 - The Boston Globe

Alex Ulam discusses the challenges of redesigning mid-century urban landscapes to accommodate contemporary tastes and social activities, drawing on examples like Dan Kiley's North Court at Lincoln Center and Boston City Hall Plaza.

November 25, 2012 - The Architects Newspaper

As D.C.'s J. Edgar Hoover Building reaches the end of its 40 years of service as the headquarters of the FBI, one of the city's last examples of Brutalist architecture is getting little love from preservationists as discussion begin over its fate.

October 29, 2012 - The Washington Post

While proponents for the preservation of Paul Rudolph's Orange County Government Center won a reprieve last week, Anthony Paletta is more concerned with the types of civic architecture the Rudolph building's critics would hope to construct.

May 9, 2012 - Metropolis POV Blog

Jumping into the lively debate over the future of Paul Rudolph's brutalist government building in Goshen, NY, The New York Times has asked a number of debaters to weigh in on whether even ugly, unpopular buildings deserve to be saved.

April 9, 2012 - The New York Times

Love it or hate it, it's nearly impossible not to have an opinion of Boston's brutalist City Hall building. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of its conception, Leon Neyfakh reports on the improbable story of its creation.

February 13, 2012 - The Boston Globe

Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones makes a strong argument for why ugly buildings deserve some love.

January 12, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Critic Christopher Hume says that "an architecture of openness" is overtaking Toronto, foregoing individual personality for a greater sense of community and connectivity.

March 31, 2011 - The Toronto Star

Robin Hood Gardens is a 70s era, Brutalist public housing complex. Preservationists say it is historic; the government wants to tear it down. Reporter Nicolai Ouroussoff pays the project a visit to determine for himself.

March 20, 2009 - The New York Times

At Yale, a modernist landmark is preserved and revitalized. Ada Louise Huxtable looks at the challenges in updating the harshness of brutalist architecture.

February 27, 2009 - The Wall St. Journal

A Washington, D.C. church contends that its current facility, a historic Brutalist buildling, interferes with its theology and should be able to replace it with something more "welcoming" and fitting with "the scale of the community."

January 14, 2009 - The Christian Science Monitor