Archives: Brutalisms

Mill Owners Building

The structure is derived from the context: the building is oriented according to the prevailing winds. It overlooks the river and the daily spectacle of people washing clothes, buffaloes, and donkeys while standing in the water. The east and west façad…

Dana Porter Arts Library, University of Waterloo

Shortly after its completion the upper three storey cube was doubled in height, leading to a more monumental character. The funnel-shaped pillars at the bottom frame the façade in a very plastic way.

Istituto Tecnico Industriale e Istituto Professionale di Stato

Castiglioni repeatedly stressed the impoverished and honest character of the building. The emphasized structure however creates a sculptural appearance which is unusual for a school. Pevsner already called the building Brutalist shortly after its comple…

Carrières Centrales Housing Project

The Smithsons compare this North African housing project with its socio-political intentions in the Golden Lane competition. Banham remarks: “The thin stick-and-matchbox aesthetic in which this ethic of permissiveness was offered in Morocco hardly acc…

St James’s Place

At first sight the block does not look particularly brutalist. Banham emphasized the rooftop structure however, “where shutter-patterned concrete has been raised (or debased?) to the level of a fine-art material”.

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i
To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius. 261 ii
To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design. 480 iii
To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared. 514 iv
To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history. 642 ix
To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals. 137 v
To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change. 172 vi
To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria). 256 vii
To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. 151 viii
To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features. 98 x
To contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. 168

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