Yugoslavia's thrilling brutalist architecture

http://bostonreview.net/literature-culture/anthony-paletta-was-architecture-better-under-socialism

by huihuiilly • 7 years ago

32 11 7 years ago

LeanderK• 7 years ago

I have a weird fascination with bruatlist architecture. It seems that everybody else hates it, but I like (some of) it.

It's a bit the architecture of the 60s in general, universally hated in germany. But I find the optimism and futurism very interesting. The often neglected facades have something tragic, like a broken promise of a future straight out of comic-books.

There are definitily bad examples, but I define them by being boring, not brutalist. I think it's an interesting expression of a epoch that's worth preserving and also complements the architecture of the city. Of course, you don't have to preserve everything.

I think the difference is that I don't think a building has to be good or pleasant looking for me to like it (not that there are not example of good/pleasant looking brutalist buildings!).

souprock• 7 years ago

Here is one that I think is a prime example: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Olsen_Hall.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/42803091@N07/5577837230

A search for it by name will show many more pictures. It's from 1974. It is really all thick concrete, inside and out. It used to feature brutalist landscaping consisting of mostly-dead grass, but that has obviously changed.

olcor• 7 years ago

Brutalist architecture, by itself is fine (example all of the UCSD campus). But when architects decide to put a brutalist building right in the middle of a city where the rest of the architecture is not Brutalist is when it rankles (example Boston City Hall).

hawkweed• 7 years ago

@LeanderK I have facionation with sci-fi / cyber punk movies, but would I like to live in such world? I'm so sure about that.

It's same with the eastern bloc architecture. I'm guessing that you don't live in one of those countries. Believe me it's not that fun at all.

Here is one interesting instagram channel with hand drawings of Belgrade architecture: https://www.instagram.com/brutalizam_i_renesansa/

keiferski• 7 years ago

Not the OP but I’m an American guy that has been living in ex-Communist countries (Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Etc.) for a few years. I don’t mind the brutalist stuff - it beats mindless suburban America any day.

TomMarius• 7 years ago

I learned to like it by making fun of it.

like a broken promise of a future straight out of comic-books.

Yeah, especially the spomeniks[1] in former Yugoslavia look exactly like that.

[1] https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/

yellowapple• 7 years ago

Some pictures (besides just the first one) would've been a great addition to this article.

acqq• 7 years ago

The copyrights aren't bostonreview's. There was a MoMA exhibition:

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3931

The matching catalogue:

https://store.moma.org/books/exhibition-catalogues/toward-a-...

and

https://store.moma.org/books/moma-publications/bogdanovi%C4%...

You can however try searching the images using your favorite search machine.

E.g. one monument in Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Flower_(sculpture)

(Probably later image then on the second book cover and center is of the flower is missing, or it's taken from another perspective)

dwd2• 7 years ago

I found myself searching Eastern Bloc Brutalist Architecture to see more pictures and found these cool paper cutout buildings.

https://www.zupagrafika.com/zupamarket_brutal_east_zupagrafi...

mjsweet• 7 years ago

I know I’m in a minority, but I have had a long interest and affinity with brutalism since performing in school musicals at QPAC in Brisbane Australia. It’s a version of brutalism I think has been softened a bit to make it more appealing to the general population. At the time it was built I believe it was received with negativity, but now Queenslanders love the Southbank precinct.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensland_Performing_Arts_Cen...

dwd2• 7 years ago

The whole precinct is great from the GOMA, State Library and Museum to QPAC.

The only letdown is maybe The Edge which is a bit on the boring side.

As a thought: If you take the white tiles off the Sydney Opera House what do you have?

https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0008/544652/Opera...

Yugoslavia's thrilling brutalist architecture

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