Berlin's Brutalist Architecture - Greatest Building Sin Of The 20th Century?
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- Опубликовано: 14 май 2021
- Brutalism - an architectural style that polarizes to this day. It's characterized by raw concrete and a minimalist look that showcases the building materials and structures instead of hiding or glossing over them. The style experienced its heyday in the 1960s and was popular into the 1980s. Today, some think of these gray concrete monsters as the greatest architectural sins of the 20th century and would gladly see them torn down. But doesn't this style still have its very own appeal?
#Architecture #Brutalism #Berlin
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That one building looks like some sort of battleship
Battlestar Gafuglyca
Well, at least they are ready for an Zombie Apocalyps. Excellent bunker against zombie hoards.
for a very long time it was the animal facility of the medical university, basically most of the laboratory animals were bred and kept there
@@dominikakorol4264 Thank you for the info.
yeah, a classical ironclad with cannons looking out.
The fact that the first building was a animal testing lab makes it so much darker
In the vernacular it's called "Mäusebunker" - Bunker of Mice.
@@Ilikewater-andice very untrue
All brutalist buildings human testing labs.
A few of my friends profess to loving brutalist architecture but they all live in nice cosy Victorian houses.
That is quite telling I find.
Exactly.
The people that profess to "love it" tend to be middle and upper class types that don't have to spend their lives being surrounded by such horrible architecture.
Tbh, never had the chance to try it out, cuz brutalist architecture is mostly built in places of Berlin, where the infrastructure sucks, it's a place for poorer ppl, it's unwelcoming for PoCs.
This argument doesn’t really make sense. To love a piece of architecture one doesn’t have to want to live in it. Do people who love Roman architecture want to live in Pompeii-style houses? Not necessarily.
@@chrispeng8417
The problem with Brutalism is that the upper classes tend to be the one with the strange fixation with it yet its the lower classes that end up having to live and work in and around them.
We need to make it s law that brutalism proponents are forced to live and work in them. They only need to stay as long as they like the style.
They could not make the animal testing lab look more like a supervillain base if they tried.
Now you are getting it, brutism is about truth, not a facade
@@BlastinRope What are you talking about? All Brutalism managed to accomplish was the destruction of town/city centre spaces and the creation of concrete crime dens that helped facilitate crime.
Honestly reading some of these comments is infuriating, typical middle and upper class know nothings who harp on about 'angular beauty' forgetting that actual people have to live and work around these awful buildings.
Fun fact, the labs used to be glass buildings with fancy curving architecture to invoke a sense of scientific discovery, and advertised their location. So that made very easy for eco-terrorists to locate, vandalise and destroy everything. As a result, they now all resort to becoming oppressive looking fortresses of doom that promise slow death to intruders who manage to locate their hidden base(they no longer advertise)
@@B-26354 you need to understand the time it came to life. Brutalism came after 2 long wars, with turmoil and desteoyed cities. We needed to reconstruct or whole nations. Cheap and fast, we were in need of housing and places to work, not beautiful details and facades. And brutalism did exactly what it had to do.
I don't think it's pretty. Generally, it is not. But it's part of our history and it was a solution. There is no need to demolish it. It shows what we needed to do to get back on our feet.
@@ryanparker4996 I assure it exists as well. Plenty of it. We build better and faster.
I've lived in Berlin and have walked by many of these buildings shown in the segment that happen to be in my neighborhood. I never had the impression that these buildings were inviting though. I can appreciate the design constraints that the neo-Brutalism style attempts to address. For some, this may be an appealing aspect of modern architecture in the city.
i've never paid attention to them they just perfectly mold into the environment of berlin lmao
@@t.lnnnnx Like in Köpenick Forest, for example?
Agreed, in Berlin the placement is so important and specific with the old brutalist buildings whereas, the neo brutalist buildings look better in a range of places.
What design constraints are you referring to?
I see them, and then I think how ugly they are and that I wish I could tear them all down. They are a scar to the history of Berlin.
It's certainly an interesting style, but it's better limited to small doses and often the buildings are in fact greatly improved by finishing the concrete in one way or another. You certainly do not want an entire city around you to be built like that, it's depressing.
I agree, which is why I'm building my Brutalist tiny house in a remote location. The contrast between hard, angular everything and the soft flow of nature is both striking and very appealing to me.
I was going to write the same thing.
"cheaper to build to keep the rents down" - and then marketed as super hipster stylish special buildings for double the rent as elsewhere. also unplastered concrete is generally awful to live in.. each time you want to hang a picture you have to get out the Hilti. and it looks dirty, unfinished, with the charme of a jail block.
I have to work im such an unplastered concrete building for over 20 years now, I still can't get used to it, and I still see how ugly it is.
@@ritahorvath8207 i am sorry for you we too have these kinds of architecutre in the city close to where i live. People here hate it and it is always followed by social decay. Plattenbau (brutalist high story housing units) are now a synonymous for a sozialer brennpunk where crime and drugs are out of control. People are depressed and suicidal just by having these monstrosities in their neighborhood and i can't blame them.
my university faculty has such unfinished concrete. ugly af!!!
Also, it's not even true to be cheaper. Timelessly beautiful buildings last longer and therefore come cheaper in the long term. Of course, if your entire economy is built around the next quarter profits, you won't care about it.
Two advantages come to mind quite quickly, you do not hear your neighbors or less and in the summer it is quite cool.
Especially in Germany where only very few have an air conditioning system.
That battleship looking animal testing lab is nicknamed Mäusebunker ("bunker of mice") by the locals. Pretty fitting name, imo.
It would be very cool to convert it to something else as have been done to many turn of the century brick buildings. The building has many prospects and is interesting to look at.
Man i love when the buildings that surround my area of work/living are antagonistic and controversial.
Really helps me paint my life exactly like that.
I'm sure you will go far in life.
when the architect actually wanted to build a battleship but had to build a house ..
Brutalist architecture, for me gives off a feeling of might and power, like a monument to time, challenging time to destroy it
Go time!
@@JaxBespoked Yea seriously. The sooner the better.
Same here
Concreate deals very poorly with time and weather, so it won't be long.
@@someinteresting Especially steel reinforced concrete. The steel rusts and expands making the concrete crack faster than is normally would.
The Animal testing centre looks like something out of 1984
Like?
Has something of a cyberpunk feel to it. (If you leave out the ugly green paint on the tubes)
RoBOtic Rebel 1984 by George orwell
a beautiful space should not "take getting used to". it should inspire awe and make you want to spend time in it on first glance. structural components being "glossed over" is not the only alternative to brutalism. take a column, for example. you could just make a concrete pillar and call it a day, brutalism. or you could make a concrete pillar with a facade, tasteless modern architecture, which this video seems to take as the alternative to brutalism. or you can make a column and accentuate it, pouring it or cutting it normally, or with flutes, but adding an aesthetically appealing base and capital, with attention to entasis, like what western and some eastern architecture have been doing for thousands of years.
sucks living in a world where the choices are shitty with a facade or just plain shitty.
I disagree. A building does not have to be immediately or conventionately beautiful to be so. Saying otherwise is limiting and to be avoided. I vastly prefer hard, angular designs with nary a curve in them. Both Brutalism and Art Deco are two sides of the same coin, allowing man to explore the heights of creativity without using natural forms as a crutch. This is expressed in both my art and my plans for my own brutalist home. To your point, I don't like most classical arcitecture, especially High Victorian, but I can appreciate it for its historical significance and as a legitimate school of design. Same deal with Brutalism.
@@jakekaywell5972 Well said. I would not wish to have them everywhere, but it’s all about exploring and expanding the possibilities of human aesthetic experience.
That style could work as a government building/office o military defense structure.. or could be a museum or buildings that house art exhibitions... But no way it will work as an apartment building, or any dwelling structure that people will live inside it
Case closed. No other opinions needed. Thank you PJ. All hail PJ.
i beg to differ
I would like to live on that building
@@alexanderbuchler4048 let me guess. Another smug middle class that doesn’t have to deal with the problems of living in those buildings.
@@xr6lad yes.
Brutalism is the architectural equivalent of Cosmic Horror: you might find it fascinating and even charming, but you wouldn't like it happening to you.
This is the correct take. It is a dystopian aesthetic
Yeah, when I think of Brutalism I think of 1984, communism, crime, and hard economic times. It also looks terrible after 20-30 years and the interiors of those buildings are usually dark with little access to natural light.
depends! things can be re-appropriated. true some are ugly but the more adventurousness ones have a appeal.
To me, it is neither love nor hate. Some of them are nice when well placed and others are really a mistake.
Yeah I have the same feeling.
agree
Agree. Sadly most architectural brutalism was just a function of cost reduction.
That goes for literally every architectural style.
it's cause they don't at all fit into one style. Useless art degrees trying to keep their jobs. They can't even have a proper style definition :P
also ich kann verstehen dass man die alten dinger nicht abreißen will (bezogen auf das argument mit gründerzeit architektur) aber muss man wirklich noch mehr so klötze bauen?
Entlarvend finde ich jedoch, wenn ich die Architekten Büros und den schicksten Altbauten vorfinde, und sie selbst eine Gründerzeit Wohnung mit enorm viel Charme bewohnen.
@@intergalactical2483 100% Zustimmung. Diese Brutalismus-Klötze sind hässlich, nach allen Definitionen. Da muss man nichts reininterpretieren, sie sind hässlich und lebensfeindlich. Genau deswegen schauen sich die Architektur-Fans die Dinger auch von außen an, versuchen irgendeinen Sinn hineinzuinterpretieren und gehen dann wieder in die Altbauwohnung zurück. Besonders interessant finde ich das Argument, dass die "Absichten", die dahinter gestanden sind, das Ganze so interessant machen. Ja, Absichten sind schön, aber am Ende zählt nicht die Absicht sondern der faktische Nutzen. Und da versagen diese Bauten auf fast allen Ebenen. Gründerzeithäuser haben sich einfach auf klassische Konzepte guter Architektur bezogen, also viel Holz, Ziegel, Holz am Fußboden, dicke Außenwände, große Fenster und eben Schönheit nach innen und außen. Natürlich ist das lebensfreundlicher als irgendein romantisierender Retorten-"Nutzen".
@@direktaberfair Grundsätzlich gebe ich dir recht aber auch die Gründerzeitbauten und im Falle Berlins die sogenannten Mietskasernen waren sowas wie der Plattenbau ihrer Zeit. Zwar war sie Fassade nach Außen hübsch ornamentiert aber die Hinterhöfe waren dunkel und schmutzig. Eine Straßenseitige Wohung war Luxus! Natürlich gibt es auch in besser situierten Vierteln bürgerliche Gründerzeit Häuser die diese Probleme weniger hatten.
Schon damals war die Unterbringung von Menschen in prekären Beschäftigungsverhaltnissen problematisch so wie sie es bis heute ist. Sie ist oft Menschenfeindlich und nicht einladend. Das gilt für die Platte aber auch für die gründerzeitliche Mietskaserne.
Hey, you profile pic moves when I scroll. How is that ?
@@wuzeltownphl Die Gründerzeithäuser hatten einfach das Problem, dass es nicht genug von ihnen gab, bzw. dass die Wohnungen überbelegt waren und die Höfe zu dicht bebaut wurden. Dennoch waren sie nicht mit den Plattenbauten zu vergleichen. Trotz ihrer effizienten Typenbauweise waren die Gründerzeithäuser auch in den Hinterhöfen von guter handwerklicher Qualität und sie haben tolle, lebenswerte Stadtviertel geschaffen. Heute, nachdem die Probleme mit der Überbelebung beseitigt sind, sind sie ja auch sehr beliebte Wohnungen. Bei sanierten Plattenbauten ist das höchstens der Fall, wenn es sonst nirgendwo mehr Wohnungen gibt.
People need to live not just breath. To be able to feel at home and be safe, a comfortable space. Just my opinion, Brutalist Architecture is yes based on necessity and practicality and I respect that but can it be less brutal? I mean buildings can be practical and at the same time be comfortable and not too expensive. I just don't find it good.
I myself would feel better being in a brutalist building. I want the place I live in to feel secure and brutalist buildings feel the most secure of all. As for comfort that goes hand and hand with safety, throw in some basic furniture and I can call it home.
Where is the mug shot of the architect who designed this building?
I've always hated how these buildings look, ever since I was a child....there's something cold and emotionless about them, like blocks that were dropped down on us from a mechanical alien species
@Al Cien exactly
Wait, its all tetris
@Al Cien "Greetings from the perfect communist future!
Where unnecessary and useless elements for the workers living space have successfully been removed, so everyone can concentrate on fulfilling the next 5 year plan.
Stalin would be proud of the work we achieved, comrades!"
I disagree. I vastly prefer hard, angular designs with nary a curve in them. Both Brutalism and Art Deco are two sides of the same coin, allowing man to explore the heights of creativity without using natural forms as a crutch. This is expressed in both my art and my plans for my own brutalist home. That said, while I don't like most classical arcitecture, especially High Victorian, but I can appreciate it for its historical significance and as a legitimate school of design. Same deal with Brutalism.
Buildings wouldn't look so bad if someone would just pressure wash them.
@Chad Not a bad idea. 🚿🧼🧽🌟
Agreed. Brutalist architecure is an acquired taste, sure, but badly mantained buldings will never look good.
They would look different, but still awful if they were clean.
@Sturmball This architecture comes from Le Corbusier
And it is not about the communist.
Someone with the brain?! THANK YOU
"like this former animal testing laboratory..." Sums up the image associated with this type or architecture as well as the type of people it appeals to.
Animal testing laboratory is probably the way those architects revered to apartment blocks for humans 🤢
Think about it the next you are eating meat. What a hypocrite.
I love brutalist architecture. This comment saddens me as someone so closed minded has tarred every other brutalist structure with the same brush. Yes it was an animal testing lab. Something i am very very strongly against and always have been. They are not talking about the use of the building but of the architecture of it. The style and composition of the building. If thats the case a particular building in japan would have been levelled due to it being a slaughter house back in its day. But was closed and re developed into a hotel with the buildings features being kept but not its history. Dont think of the purpose but of the structure instead.
@@zaza-ik5wsok, vegan
dannystirrups7691 the structure is grotesque. Brutalism doesn't have to look bad like this.
That last comparison of Brutalism to the emerging "crafts movement" sounds laughably stupid to me. When thinking about craftsmanship in architecture I picture timbered houses, not giant nacked blocks of concrete stacked ontop of each other to keep costs down and to be potentially mass produced. While (Neo-)Brutalism certainly is unconventional and possibly interesting, that statement just sounds like typical, empty marketing gibberish.
There was no comparison made. He spoke of an architectural tendency to reduce to pure material (like the crafts-movement does).
@@TG-ex3oo We've always used "pure" materials in building construction until the invention of synthetics in the early 21st century with the invention of plastics. If that was his point it was pointless. I'd bet you good money there's plastic in the wiring and plumbing of that building.
@@readhistory2023 Pure material in the sense of: without colours, stains, oils, coatings, plaster, plasterboard, etc.
I pass by the building in 0:56 quite often and I must say that it is a pain and an eyesore beyond belief, especially because it is in a rather green and residential area so it looks so wrong and disgusting especially when looking at it from the Teufelsberg, a hill nearby. Also most people think it just ruins the calmness in the area, which it does.
and yet I think it's the less ugly of the ones shown in the video, so consider yourself lucky 😂
There is no coincidense that tourists flock to the older parts of a city. Start building beautiful again.
You are soooo right. The architecture of the last 50 years is an embarrassment.
Tourism is terrorrism... Tourists destroy every country they go to. Stay at home
@@blackforest_fairy The amount of tourists will always be the same. But When you build more beautiful places the tourists will be more spread out.
For example, the reason Venice is so overcrowded is because its a very special city, if there was 100 Venice-like places no one of them would be overcrowded. Do you understand my example?
@@isaks7042 that is very untrue. Venice is venice. Tourist come to See venice Not something venice like. Neither does anyone See anything Paris like.
@@KeVIn-pm7pu Then you dont understand what i meant
Can't believe they left out the ICC Berlin, has been my favorite building ever since I've been a kid. It looks like some dystopian space ship
When I moved to Berlin, the first time I got there, arriving at the ZOB, this was one of the first things I saw. That building really leaves an impression.
The ICC is a horrible building in a horrible location.
@@silvianrosianu3637 It's a remarkable building and much better than everything that was built in Berlin within the last three decades
Buildings from 1880 have a beautiful facade, tall rooms, beautiful balconies, welcoming entrances. These buildings look like the design workflow went "File > New > Save As..."
yea i live in Berlin and those are looking ugly as fck.. also many ghetto and poorer people or people with problems, life in those buildings.
Exactly! I can't believe that photographer would compare these abominations to pre-war buildings
@@leckerbambi1019 Thanks to sky rocketing rent cost. But sure, send everyone to the outskirts, so rich folk can get their hands on Altbau that was saved by squatters and punks.
@@dennis141288 What are you talking about? wtf even more richer people live in the outskirts. So your way of thinking doesn't make even sence.
@@dennis141288 1880s Altbau was alyways expensive and the ownership was always the middle and upper class. tf you talking about?
"We'll show those silly bourgeois who's boss"
he bh
The interiors actually look amazing
I find this style kinda interesting, it make me think that i should focus on my task right now and the building itself defend me from all distraction.
It is like a fort of solitude.
But i would not prefer a whole city in that style, just use it occasionally.
Personally not a big fan of the aesthetic and having a city full of this style would be horrendous. But nonetheless I would still love to have some of these make up part of the architectural landscape as they bring a nice variety and contrast to all the other buildings you find in Berlin.
They do nice landmark structures and they do work well as gallery or museum.
And the city would be war friendly.
I wholeheartedly agree. A Brutalist city would probably feel very unwelcoming and overwhelming but they look amazing scattered around here and there.
Fact: none of the brutalism lovers live in those buildings
I don't like the design of many of these buildings and I'm repelled by their pure concrete production style - I much rather like to see more wood being implemented into buildings. Concrete is just not the right thing.
Let’s not forget - brutalist architecture was intended to be very raw out of necessity and practicality. When looking at these buildings, it’s a bit like looking at a skeleton that is fulfilling its purpose. While I don’t like the style, I can respect its philosophy.
Brutalism is a failure. Even philosophically.
The architects that defended them said they designed the things that way out of "practicality".
But is clear they put following the style in front of everything: those buildings are inhospitable for their users, difficult to keep cold and warm and more importantly fail at one of the things that should be central to architecture design: tend to the psychological well being of users and the people that surrounds them.
@@marlonbryanmunoznunez3179 Phillosophy is diffrent from implementation.
I can agree with a politicians philosophy and still argue that he failed in implementing it.
I think the Czech embasy building is fairly good looking though, better then much more modern and bland architecture. We are tearing down way to many old buildings, keep some brutalism around, if only for the historic value.
@@slome815 Or one could even just finish the exterior.
This is actually one of my favorite styles of architecture
They just immediately look Soviet XD
Not really, a lot of them just are, Berlin was half Soviet.
Precisely. They’re also domineering: I always think of the headquarters of a fascist state.
'Course they look, they were created based on a comunist ideology.
The Soviets were quite brutal...
@@TheZoeBig Funny because fascism is the antithesis to this architecture
Brutalism is urban and amazing as fuck. I'm from a more rural place, seeing the brutalist suburbs of Hamburg built in the 70s always gave me a thrill as a kid - made me studying architecture and travelling around Asian cities eventually.
Time to bring on the neobrutalism!
Le corbusier he also designed a whole city for India . (Chandigarh)
Brutalist architecture can be seen all over the city .
so i haven't been lazy my whole life leaving things half finished; i have just been a brutalist. thanks youtube and Dw Euromaxx.
We have a few of these brutalist buildings here in Stockholm, and like most I've always considered them ugly and pointless. However, I had to admit that they stand out, and that someone put a lot of thought into them. When I look at what passes for new, upscale apartment buildings in the city, where they simply add a different green glass panel balcony to a big apartment building box and double the price.. brutalism suddenly doesn't look so pointless in comparison.
It's part of the perversion of a declining western society.
The powers that be are shaping the world, and the time of their open rule is dawning, so everything is getting worse than ever right now.
But people have already been made too godless to be able to comprehend this. "There's a darkness in the West ..." and finally in the whole world. NWO!
You know what Brutalist architecture really is when you are from a post-communist country. Almost all buildings built in the communist era are Brutalist buildings to cut down the building cost. I also love Brutalist buildings I think they are really fascinating and un-human ilke. They look like they are from a sci-fi movie where non-human sentient beings roam, live, work, etc...
That's also the problem with them. They are not build for humans.
They are very Blade runner
gothic, brutalist and Victorian architecture with natural overgrowth of useful yet beautiful plants is my idea of a perfect city.
The building at 4:00 would be great if it were covered in plants.
For me its all brutalism, all concrete, wide open spaces between expressionless monoliths.
So in short, Warhammer 40k?
@@godfreyofbouillon5634 that would be amazing, but holy terra had far less plant life then i would have liked, im a fan of living in harmony with nature, so if you add an overgrowth of edible and medicinal plant life then yea, perfect.
DW, please don’t self-flagellate!! Brutalist architecture is MUCH more than that! Back when Venezuela 🇻🇪 was the epicentre of the Americas; Brutalist architecture found the sweet spot!
If you are not against, Please have a look at the following:
- Teatro Teresa Carreño (Teresa Carreño Theater complex)
- Torre Británica Caracas
And there are Way much more all around the country!!
Universidad Central de Venezuela (it’s even a UNESCO world heritage site… the whole university is a work of art with brutalist modernist architecture)
I do agree with your arguments, the theater looks especially stunning inside and out.
As with any large style, there are many variations.
The trick with these buildings tends to be incorporating nature, be it water or plants or not to overdo the facade while also not keeping them too simple. Their otherwise fairly playful designs get often overshadowed because they can be too bare bones - which is exactly what some of the German designs tend to lack as their inventors were quite restricted in their approach.
Another known issue arises from the _too artsy_ or too "niche" approach where instead of building for the majority, a lot of buildings get created ( mainly their outwards appearance ) for a very small crowd of nerds ( not negative ) of the respective field.
Torre Británica Caracas looks like Peach Trees from Dredd
Brutalism is just one horrible outgrowth of modernism. Almost all of modernism is soul-crushing and ugly, however due to the name, Brutalism gets a lot of the hate that all of modernism deserves.
Modernism is the reason why so many cities on the planet today look the same and are ugly and depressing. It is an almost universally hated style, yet among architects, modernism is still a favourite. It is a great injsutice, that people still have to endure modernism just because architects are still indoctrinated by the ideologies of Mies, Corbusier and Wright.
The only way to build sustainably is with timeless-classic architecture instead of trendy-modernist architecture that alway quickly goes out of style and then looks ugly.
Judging from these comments I'm quite unique then. I really liked these kind of styles. Much prefer them than past rounded design.
ps: yes the lack of technical words is due to I'm not knowing almost anything about design profession. Just someone who look from outside.
@@UltimateAlgorithm I am not opposed to modernism as a concept in fact i love modernist interior design because it gives both comfort and beauty. But this is exactly what modern designs are missing on the exterior: beauty. Most of those buildings A: look the same everywhere around the world are are therefore a disconnect between the people and the buildings and B: are just plain ugly. The lack of decoration on modern buildings is what is really making me furious. They have the resources and knowledge to build beautiful buildings and for no reason other then ideological blindness are refusing to do so.
@@UltimateAlgorithm It's one thing to like modernist buildings indiviadually, another one to recognize that they don't work together on a large scale. In other words, it's possible to come up with examples of individual mondernist buildings that work well and are liked by the public, yet there are basically no examples of a larger area (like a city district or even an entire city) made up of modernist architecture that actually looks nice. Modernism is able to produce a few nice solitary structures, however it isn't able to produce good looking "normal" buildins that form a nice looking streetscape.
In my opinion, art styles are like tools: They are made for a specific purpose, they may be used for other purposes, but others might be better for other purposes. I like modernism for web design, but it may not be suited for architectural design simply due to the fact that it is a lot harder to change a building than it is to change a webpage. Maybe modernism in architecture should be applied in such a way, that it is easy to change the look of the building so that the building's look can be modernized every few decades.
@@scifino1 I think you mean minimalism, which is a contempuary design based on modernism.
I think the example you gave makes sense, as the internet changes very rapidly. Just look at how websites used to look 10 years ago. At that time we thought they were fine, today it looks horrendous.
It's not easy to change the looks of a building all the time. It takes a lot of money and is also environmentally wasteful. Imo we should just stick with what works for buildings and that is esentially classically inspired design. Classical buildings looked good 2000 years ago and will still look good 2000 years in the future. That also doesn't have to mean thaat all buildings should look like greek temples. Styles such as Art Deco and Art Nouveau are also based on classical design principles and look much more "contempuary"
I love brutalist architecture, in small doses
Yeah
Inside the garage.
Homöopathie. Oder im Modell 1 : 1 000 .
Hard agree. One or two, or a few features on a building is good. A campus of it does hurt my head for some reason.
Exactly. Brutalism works best when it stands mysterious and alone. Too many buildings in a brutaliat style definitely leads to a feeling of oppression.
It's like a creepy haunted house. A neighborhood should never be made entirely of creepy houses. There shouod just be one or two in a single neighborhood.
Theese buildings are hideous. Gives me depression just by looking at it.
So don't look at it
@@greyeye6371 What's he supposed when he's out walking downtown. Wear blinders? They're multi-story eyesores and they're everywhere.
@@readhistory2023 just because you and others think they are eyesores does not mean everybody does . I'm sure there are people who look at Victoria buildings and do not like them . Should they be torn down ? We all know the saying. beauty is in the eye ................. If you can't find anything appealing in brutalist architecture just move along .
Your hideous depression give me depression... lmao.
Grow up, unless you're forced to live there.
They are hideous and depressing because the idea was derived from ugly and depressed communists & socialists, who will never be happy until everyone is just as miserable as them!
That one new building looks damn ugly and uncomfortable. Even judging from the outside look it should be considered a building sin...
I can't stand those architects that build stuff like that to make art but would never live in those "houses" themselves.
I've been to the architect's flat who designed the last building and he lives even more radically than the shown building. Generally speaking good architecture originates from architects who have a strong and precise position towards the architectural discourse and therefore design with passion. Often architects design with their imagination to live in/use their own projects.
@@cozymode70 the common people would love to also have a say in when it comes to the buildings built for them and in their surroundings. "Eat what you're being fed with" they're told instead...
They mostly live in their historical flats.
@@NoctLightCloud Sure, thats why ethnography and social studies get taught in architectural school nowadays. Inclusive and particapatory design strategies amongst architects and future residents/users are another common sight in the present discourse. Still it is the architect who has the knowledge and experience to gather, sort and distil opinions, thoughts, the built environment ect. to come up with a good design. If the common people could do that (which some ofc could) the whole profession of the architect would be futile.
@@cozymode70 In my neighbourhood in Austria, there are several houses built recently (2019, 2020, 2021), and I go for walks almost every day around here. People would pass by me and comment about houses, and naturally, I hear their comments. I KID YOU NOT, no one ever complimented the "modern" blocks that are called homes. Everyone only and always just says positive things about standard houses, out of bricks (not concrete), with wood elements, and a roof and normal garden. All those modern buildings are being mocked. This is not only me. It's the majority. Just yesterday, I overheard the conversation of two young guys who were mocking a colleague fot having moved into a "modern ugly grey concrete block". Given this, I doubt mainstream architects know what knowledge and experience is needed to convince the majority. "Inclusive" and "participatory" my ass... Wishful thinking. No one wants to even look at it. If that is what some architects come up with, then they ARE obsolete by default.
Can you provide a citation regarding Le Corbusier's beliefs about colors? I have been to several of his buildings around Paris (Villa Savoye, Villa La Roche, and Villa Jeanneret) and frankly there's a lot of white space.
Hoping Architects get replaced by egoless AI pretty soon that focus on quality of live for users and residents and over all sustainability of the building and nothing else.
@@teamacio9043 at the sacrifice of your well being
The key to life and enjoying art is to understand you don't need to judge any of it. The beauty is in the understanding.
All preference is just perspective. If you can appreciate that, you can appreciate all creative expressions.
I've seen some from the 70s whose angular forms mixed with green plants gives off the vibe of overgrown rocks and stones. That style I like. Others are just big ugly boxes.
IMHO, Brutalism is some fringe fetish some architects have to shock other architects. I don't get it. It's main claim to fame is that it is "polarizing" - why would that be good thing? That literally means that many people hate it, and some like it because other people hate it.
I think there are better styles that cause thought and discussion, without having to have so many people hate it.
I read quite a lot about it and basically, it’s a reflection on trying to reduce buildings into their most basic aspects to create buildings that serve their purpose when recourses are low and money is spare. Like the international style, it’s basically "We need infrastructure for 1000 people, fast, cheap and ASAP. The interior is an entirely different world from the basic construction aesthetic or these usually very colossal structures.
@@Arcaryon yeah but WHY?
@@NoctLightCloud It was inspired by WW2, as shortcomings, while not common anymore, still were on the minds of a lot of architects and the idea of optimizing a very cheap path of architecture was still relatively dominant.
@@Arcaryon idk it reminds me of buildings I've seen in Korea or some post-soviet states, and that's not a good thing. Even the locals heavily dislike it...
@@NoctLightCloud I am not saying that it's good - I just explained the concept behind it. Personally, I absolutely love renaissance buildings so this really ain't my personal taste whatsoever.
I can't possibly imagine why anyone wants to live in one of those ridiculous blob of concrete. Looks so depressingly grey and dystopian quite frankly....
You have clearly never tried nor have you got any imagination. It’s absolutely fabulous to live in proper brutalist multi-family buildings.
@@benartee9493 troll
@@NoctLightCloud Why is it so hard to imagine that some people like Modernism? people have different tastes and brutalism has a rich and interesting history and philosophy behind it.
@@Cosmicowl3 That is not my issue. My issue is that today's multiple-family buildings are exklusively built ONLY in the box-style! In my city here in Austria, they let old 19th cent buildings rot on purpose, only to then say: It can't be saved. Then they demolish it and build (on the field where 1 old beautiful villa was standing) a gigantic box with 15~30 appartments. Disregarding that the villas around are still there and that the huge box does NOT fit in whatsoever. It's happening just right in front of me. While typing this comment, I can see the new giganto-box from my window.
There is no alternative to this style, and those "architects" just assume that the public "enjoys" their works. How coincidental that in a recent poll in Stockholm an old 19th-cent-esque building won the poll when the public was asked to vote for their next project to be realized.
My issue is that thr boxes are inferior in looks and quality, yet they are as pricey or even pricier on the market afterwards. They are not creating living space for people. They are creating "investments".
The part about leaving it unfinished was straight up dystopian. There needs to be some kind of rent control if people are getting so desperate that they'll live in rough concrete boxes
Very good video! Teresa Carreño’s theater in Caracas was also build in the brutalist architectural style
its so funny that someone think this is beautiful. The architects literally just thought well little money and a lot of beton. The local population is gonna love it hahaa
Exactly, the purpose was to minimize cost
Tell the stupid client who wants buildings like that.
It's so funny that people think they know everything about an entire architectural style and describe it in one sentence.
There’s quite a few of these here in South East Asia! Unfortunately there isn’t enough collective enthusiasm here to conserve these buildings.
good, tear them down and build something prettier
They are ugly and depressing as hell
Man that building looks like the bridge of some warship or something, I love it
Great video and great architecture. Given how I'm designing my own Brutalist tiny home out in the sticks, this is right up my alley!
Have fun!
I truly, TRULY, hate brutalism, modernism and its derivatives. Start building beautiful things again!
I disagree. I vastly prefer hard, angular designs with nary a curve in them. Both Brutalism and Art Deco are two sides of the same coin, allowing man to explore the heights of creativity without using natural forms as a crutch. This is expressed in both my art and my plans for my own brutalist home. To your point, I don't like most classical arcitecture, especially High Victorian, but I can appreciate it for its historical significance and as a legitimate school of design. Same deal with Brutalism.
@@jakekaywell5972Hard agree + nice mayakovsky pic
That is so cyberpunk
The mass of identical towers isn't worth preserving but as a fan of brutalist architecture I love the buildings you showed here. The apartment in the Corbusier house is such beautiful.. I would immediately would pick such an apartment for myself, the maisonette style is such wonderful and the bright colors make this really cozy.. and this testing lab.. Wow, I love this style, the pipes coming out of the structure are such a nice design element. Despite it's originally dark purpose I would love to see this converted to flats or a museum of brutalist architecture. If someone vandalizes this with graffiti and I've got free time, I would work for free to remove it.
Would have been interesting to shortly adress the fact that concrete production is under stress because of sand becoming scarcer, and the environnemental issues connected to it
yeah that seems to be THE blind spot of all building planners and architects in the whole world. Just ignore the massive pollution of the cement industry, make concrete EVERYTHING
It is so horrible and depressing that it only reflects the nihilism of XX century Europe.
Build more Kölner Dom, more Schloss Neuchwanstein, more villages instead of dead, pale, cold and lifeless buildings!
A bit too late for that.
Corbusier built these homes as an urban planning solution so people could afford a place to live. It is these later jokers that think it was art.
I disagree. I vastly prefer hard, angular designs with nary a curve in them. Both Brutalism and Art Deco are two sides of the same coin, allowing man to explore the heights of creativity without using natural forms as a crutch. This is expressed in both my art and my plans for my own brutalist home. To your point, I don't like most classical arcitecture, especially High Victorian, but I can appreciate it for its historical significance and as a legitimate school of design. Same deal with Brutalism.
I think the buildings have some character but Jesus Christ please don't put them everywhere
i am amazed that there is a chiptune in the background :)
Probably the greatest threat to appreciating these buildings is the way that they are predominantly negatively introduced. In this way, the mind is hardened before it has been given an opportunity to explore its options. This video is an example of that with its title, which is meant to be extreme and provocative, yet which actually has nothing to do with how the architecture is talked about in the video itself. If people who are otherwise open to a multiplicity of architectural types are brought in to seeing and experiencing them in ways which are not immediately Either/Or, I think there could be a growing awareness of their legitimacy.
Looks like bunker from World War 2
brutalism "colourless" 1st example: Le corbusier's grey and COLOURED facade
I think these brutalist buildings look cool from the outside if you have the right atmosphere, they need a little bit neon lights and then they have a Blade Runner 2049 look
My college was built like this
It was meant to be a cruise ship
It is a nightmare 😂
All concrete so they can't add more elevators, we all overfilled the two until they were overweight to reach the 6th floor where all the classes were
Beton ist toll, er sollte nur angestrichen werden mit Farbe, auch weiß. Lässt man den Beton so wie er ist, dann sieht er schnell schmutzig aus, was auch soziale Nebenwirkungen hat.
Die Veränderungen des Betons über die Zeit ist doch eben ein toller Nebeneffekt. Jedes Gebäude wird einzigartig. Die Schönheit im Hässlichen.
@@luisschloemer529 Nee das sieht einfach nur hässlich aus. Wenn ich brutalistische architektur sehe wünsche ich mir direkt einen Bombenagriff damit man wider von vorne anfangen kann. So eine vergewaltigung der Augen kann man der Menschheit nicht zumuten.
@@angeloachmedmerkel5462 Klar, verstehe auch diese Meinungen, objektiv lässt sich das aber nicht beurteilen.
@@luisschloemer529 Ein Toast wird auch einzigartig wenn es schimmelt aber ansprechender wird es dadurch auch nicht.
@@user-hv6wb5gk8p Starker Vergleich, da hat es sicherlich jemand verstanden
the "architects" who love brutalist architecture all live as far away from it as possible, in classical and neoclassical villas.
Says all you need to know about them.
They want others to live in squalor while they swim in splendor.
I grew up in Germany and for a few years I went to a school in a brutalist building. It sucked the life out of me. Massive slabs of dark grey concrete on the outside, with an interior made of grim shades of white, maroon & sickly turquoise. It was sterile & filthy at the same time and overall had an oppressive, alienating affect on me.
Brutalism is not just ugly, it's a direct assault on the human spirit. Let those hipster architects enjoy it as a curiosity, I'd rather die than spend any more of my life in or around one of those liminal hellscapes. Buildings are for humans to live/work in, not for preserving a part of history that was quite frankly a mistake.
Thanks for this little trip into your past, hopefully you have found a cozy home these days!
Brutalism wasn't a mistake nor will it ever be, it was simply a product of its time. To say that the style as a whole is an assault on the human soul is an overstatement, and frankly untrue. But, everybody's entitled to their own opinion.
Looks like a battleship on land. Looks very cool imo
Cooles Teil, wie ein Panzerschiff!
Panzerschiffe sehen dagegen aber schön aus
" if it wasn't for War ~you wouldn't know what Peace is"..
I saw the Corbusier building last time in Berlin in 2015. It reminds me of the Merihaka area in Helsinki, which has many brutalist concrete blocks of flats and offices and usually called as "DDR architecture". Indeed, those kind of buildings look like an exclamation mark when surrounded by much older styles of architecture.
Brutalism is very popular architectural style in the city of Pernik in Bulgaria as well as in few capital districts such as Liulin, Ovcha Kupel and Obelia
As usual, architects doing a "intellectual" circle jerk about their ideas.
The general population doesn't want your ideas, doesn't want to live in them and doesn't want to see them.
Also, architects should have their main residence in the buildings they design.
If this style was only applied to small, single family houses, then why not.
But is usually about very big buildings, which have a too big impact on the character of a neighborhood, a negative impact usually.
I'm about to interject with a vague statement, "This has been orchestrated".
I love it! So many buildings are so boring and common. These buildings really stick out. Its better to love or hate something instead of walking next to a building that you dont even notice because it looks so generic. I dont get why people love for example these fancy skyscrapers they build in Dubai but hate these brutalism buildings. Aesthetics are more complex than you think and many people seem to be blind for some aesthetics. They just focus on their first impression and judge way too fast.
Absolutely. Perhaps 'striking' is the best adjective for this style 😀
Interesting style, some people will love it.
There is a lot of Brutalist architecture in Coventry, UK. The City Centre has numerous Brutalist buildings, frequently built right next to Medieval Buildings.
That must be a horrible contrast
As someone who has grown up around Brasilia, I have to say that everyone who enjoys brutalism should keep it for themselves within four walls and never display it publicly, there is nothing uglier. If you really want something pleasant, seek inspiration from ancient Greece or Rome.
Le Corbusier is an architect that no society has ever had a need for.
It's really a matter of taste. Of course you're not gonna like the raw beauty of brutalism if you love polished, glossy facades. Brutalism is majestic and beautiful in its own way.
Would the huge public housing blocks around Kottbusor Tor area be considered brutalist?
I'm not talking about the main blocks of flats right in the middle, but rather the ones leading in other directions.
i like to combine brutalism with naturalism. kinda apocalypsism or something^^
i find this kind of architecture so interesting! not organic or something. just human and nature in a clash.
Brutalism architecture also goes very well with a bit of vegetation.
My favorite brutalist architecture is the Barbican in London.
Yessssss!!!! There's also the Brunswick Centre in London. I think that when brutalism is good, it's jaw dropping impressive, when it isn't... Soviet block squalor! ;) You don't get the 'meh' middle ground.
@@finolacat8355 Most Soviet blocks aren't brutalist though, just cheaply built.
The video editing of this was also brutal.
Das ist mien Eurohaus 😂 I love some examples of Brutalism too 👌
What happened to the golden ratio? Taking inspiration from nature and make shapes, patterns and places that feel natural. Making buildings feel rustic, inviting and warm. No we got to go cheap, big and boring. That drains the soul, makes you want to move on and away and is why the only parts of town I visit frequently are those build before the 1800’s. At least that doesn’t feel suffocating like those concrete jungles.
At least that one building had some nice colors and life but it still would not be my first choice of residence.
And that animal testing lab should be considered a warcrime and torn down. It’s ugly, mean and clearly it is better gone considering what was done in there. Those concrete boxes are just ridiculous. It’s not artsy or special. You just wanted to get ‘a’ house without paying too much and then convince yourself it’s a statement or trend of some kind.
Brutalism and modernism in general feels oppressive. It produces these giant structures that stand out. That may appeal to some but if it is everywhere we are but ants in a land of stone giants. If we return to more nature inspired architecture we feel as if we are walking through a park between the trees and shrubs. We feel as if we are part of this place.
I disagree. I vastly prefer hard, angular designs with nary a curve in them. Both Brutalism and Art Deco are two sides of the same coin, allowing man to explore the heights of creativity without using natural forms as a crutch. This is expressed in both my art and my plans for my own brutalist home. To your point, I don't like most classical arcitecture, especially High Victorian, but I can appreciate it for its historical significance and as a legitimate school of design. Same deal with Brutalism.
The video doesn't address the title of the piece at all. And the little chirping noises interspersed on the soundtrack add nothing but annoyance.
I like this style. Especially useful for films and games.
I love this style of architecture.
Some kind of Ziggurat in Central Europe.
Brutalist architecture is my favorite
go to prison then, you will your favorite arcitecture there
sowjet blocks are waiting for you
@@NoctLightCloud Not gonna lie, the old Khrushchyovkas were quite cleverly designed and can be made quite nice. It's just that the poor and/or nonexistant maintenance these recieved after the fall of the USSR has given them a poor reputation.
@@jakekaywell5972 As someone who has lived in a communistic-style block for my whole life (27yrs) and who occassionally drives to my house on the countryside, I can 100% confirm that there is nothing "cleverly designed" about such monstrosities. It should not be normalized that people live like that, like sardines, literally in cells. It gives me depression every time I have to go back to my appartment. I sometimes stay longer at work because of that, no joke. My building is objectively "okay" but subjectively it is UGLY. It is also cold, loud, usually dirty (because of 52 appartments, and no one cares about the "public space" thanks to such huge anonymity), expensive(! I have to co-finance the repairing of things other people have destroyed), unsafe (people randomly ring a bell until one of the 52 appartments' residents eventually doesn't check and simply opens the door - we've had issues with bulglars recently, and with weed-smoking groups coming from outside and hiding in the building), zero privacy (I can hear everything at night from all sides of my apartment). The noise and smell is the worst, tbh, as well as the insufficient amount of sunlight that manages to enter. It is NOT a nice place to live in. Anyone defending it is mocking me and everybody in my building, and can feel free to change places with me - I volunteer!
@@NoctLightCloud Most of the issues you list is either because of changing social factors (gangs and other "undesirables") or the almost complete lack of maintenance I mentioned earlier. Neither of which can be blamed on the building itself. I never said anything about the aesthetics of Khrushchyovkas, but since you went there I believe they're just bland and inoffensive. Nothing really to note there. Functionwise, however, is a different story. You might have noticed the bathroom window positioned in such a way so that sunlight from the kitchen is able to enter through it but still retained privacy. This was designed solely so that you could make it to the bathroom and use it in the morning without turning on the light, thereby saving electricity.
In addition, planners regarded elevators as too costly and as too time-consuming to build, and Soviet health/safety standards specified five stories as the maximum height of a building without an elevator. Thus almost all Khrushchyovkas have five stories. Khrushchyovkas also featured combined bathrooms. They had been introduced with Ivan Zholtovsky's prize-winning Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya building, but Lagutenko continued the space-saving idea, replacing regular-sized bathtubs with 120 cm (4 ft) long "sitting baths". Completed bathroom cubicles, assembled at a Khoroshevsky plant, were trucked to the site; construction crews would then lower them in place and connect the piping.
Therefore, Khrushchyovkas were a masterclass in efficiency. I can personally attest to that, having spent some time in a Budapest one.
ist die musik im hintergrund lakomy?
That last one you showed that you called a neo brutalist design look good.👍🏆👍