Brutalism in architecture is a current of modernism known as the «honest architecture.» Each architectural style has formal, materials, and even structure qualities, which made them transcend time as historical icons. There are styles that were acclaimed by the industry and quickly received by emerging architects, such as the Art Decó and the art nouveau. Others were an response as opposition front of the architectural trends of the moment, such as neoclassical, which aspired to return to canonical standards. Brutalism, meanwhile, was a trend that responded to its historical events and that received strong criticism for its aesthetics.
Derived from the French term Béton Brutwhich means pure cement, Brutalism in modern architecture was born from the need to rebuild nations, After World War II. In this way, the architecture began to project with limited budgets, which resulted in the end of the finishes and coatings, thus leaving the apparent concrete. In the 50s, and until the 80s, brutalist architecture took strength, no longer as a need, but as a style that aspired to the purity of their materials and their forms. Massive, raw, appealing to the orthogonal, extremely geometric and stoic, brutalism in architecture crossed European borders, expanding a legacy attributed to Le Corbusier. Thus, countries like the United States, Brazil or Mexico explored this current.
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Unité d'Abitation
Le Corbusier, France
Le Corbusier is considered the father of modernismand in brutalism it is no exception. Unité d'Abitation was a project affected multiple times by World War II. The first of these effects begins in the delay of the work, expanding the estimated construction time of one year, until the five that lasted. The second affectation was the cut in the budget granted, which is why the use of coatings and an apparent concrete structure was chosen.
Unité d'abperion shows the first sketches of a free floor, as the ground floor is an intrinsic set of columns and diagonal planes on which a 337 departments building rests. In pure concrete and a rhythmic cimbras design, with a height of 56 meters, and a length of more than 100, Le Corbusier's housing complex is one of the first specimens of brutalism in architecture.
SESC Pompéia
Lina Bo Bardi, Brazil
Brazil is a Latin American country strongly influenced by brutalism in architecture. The Pompéia Sesc is known for its late brutalist tendency, since the construction ended in 1986. In this building, Lina Bo Bardi permeated its European origins, since the Italian architect intervened what was formerly a factory, with apparent concrete and a raw structure.