BRUTALISM

 Created by LE CORBUSIER and fellow architects

 Named by PETER and ALLISON SMITHSON in

1954

 Flourished from 1950’s to mid 1970’s

 Typically large buildings, massive in character,

fortress like, with a predominance of exposed
concrete construction.
 Critics find it unappealing due to its old appearance

 An undeniably honest approach to architecture that

demanded form follow function and avoided unnecessary
flourishes.

 The Brutalist approach was all about showing off the

materials from which the building was made (inevitably
concrete), about sharp angles, rough surfacing and exposed
services.

Brutalist buildings are usually formed with striking blockish,

geometric, and repetitive shapes, and often reveal the
textures of the forms used to shape the material, which is
normally rough, unadorned poured concrete.
 CHARACTERISTICS
Strong bold shapes
composed.

 Reinforced concrete
structures expressed.
 Largeness of scale,
strong, muscular
character.

 Brick work and stone .

 Large area of blank
wall
 Off form concrete
construction.

 Diagonal, slopping or
strong curved elements
contrasting with horizontal
and vertical members.
Le corbusier
UNITE D’HABITATION
 The Unite d‘ Habitation , (Housing Unit) is the
housing design principle developed by Le Corbusier.

The first and most famous of these buildings, also

known as Cite radiuses (radiant city) and, is located in
Marseille, France.

 Built between 1947 and 1952.

 The building is constructed in beton brut

( rough- cast concrete).
 Building comprises 337 apartments arranged over
twelve stories, all suspended on large pilot .
 The flat roof is designed as a communal terrace with
sculptural ventilation stacks, a running track, and a shallow
paddling pool for children.
Notre-Dame-du-haut Ronchamp
 The chapel completed in 1954.

 Is one of the finest examples of the architect Le

Corbusier.

 The structure is made mostly of concrete and is

comparatively small, enclosed by thick walls, with the
upturned roof supported on columns embedded within
the walls, like a sail billowing in the windy currents on the
hill top.

 The structure is built mostly of concrete and stone.

Some have described Ronchamp as the first Post-Modern
building. It was constructed in the early 1950s.
 The different-sized windows are scattered in an
irregular pattern across the wall.

 The glass that closes the windows off is set at

alternating depths. This glass is sometimes clear, but is
often decorated with small pieces of stained glass in
typical Corbusier colours : red, green, and yellow.

 Small pieces of stained glass are set deep within the

walls, which are sometimes ten feet thick.
 The roof of Notre Dame du Haut appears to float above
the walls .

 This is possible, because it is supported by concrete

columns, not the walls themselves.

 This concrete roof was planned to slope toward the

back, where a fountain of abstract forms is placed on the
ground.

 When it rains, the water comes pouring off the roof

and down onto the raised, slanted concrete structures,
creating a dramatic natural fountain.
Louis kahn
JATIYO SANGSAD BHAVAN
Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban or National Parliament House, is the house of
the Parliament of Bangladesh.

Located at Sher e-Bangla Nagar in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.

 Designed by architect Louis Kahn .

Louis Kahn designed the entire Jatiyo Sangsad complex, which

includes lawns, lake and residences for the Members of the Parliament
(MPs).

The architect’s key design philosophy was to represent Bangladeshi

culture and heritage.
The main building is divided into three parts:
• The Main Plaza
• South Plaza
• Presidential Plaza
 Design Philosophy

In the assembly he had

introduced a light-giving
element to the interior of the
plan.

 If we see a series of
columns we can say that the
choice of columns is a choice
in light.
The columns as solids
frame the spaces of light.
 The Main Building
The Bhavan consists of nine
individual blocks:
 the eight peripheral blocks
rise to a height of 110' while the
central octagonal block rises to a
height of 155'.
 All nine blocks include
different groups of functional
spaces and have different levels,
inter-linked horizontally and
vertically by corridors, lifts,
stairs, light courts, and circular
areas.
 The Main Plaza
The most important part of the Main Plaza is the
Parliament Chamber.

 The Chamber has a maximum height of 117' with a

parabolic shell roof.

The roof was designed with a clearance of a single story to

let in daylight.

 Daylight, reflecting from the surrounding walls and

octagonal drum, filters into the Parliament Chamber.

The efficient and aesthetic use of light was a strong

architectural capability of Louis Kahn.
 The South Plaza

The South Plaza

gradually rises to a 20'
height and serves as a
beautiful exterior as well
as the main entrance
(used by members during
sessions) to the
Parliament Building
 Presidential Plaza

The Presidential Plaza lies to the North and faces the

Lake Road.

 It functions as an intimate plaza for the MPs and other

dignitaries. It contains marble steps, a gallery and an
open pavement
 KANZO TANGE

KANZO TANGE is a Japanese architect who define

Japan’s post-WWII emergence into Modernism.
•Believed in fusion of traditional and modern
architecture after 1960’s
• Influenced by Le-corbusier
• Took inspiration from the nature
• Appealing to emotions and senses
• Justification of function
• Justification of design
• Need of symbolism
National gymnasium ,
The Yoyogi Park, Tokyo,
1961-1964.

CHARACTERISTICS:
•strong bold shapes.
• reinforced concrete structures.
• largeness of scale
• strong. off form concrete construction
• diagonal , sloping or strong curved elements.
Tange’s own home,
Japan, 1953

CHARACTERISTICS:

• inspired from le cobusier’s villa savoye

• horizontal and vertical members.
• use of brutalist building materials r.c.c., brick, glass,
steel.
Erno goldfinger - Hungarian-born architect prominently
remembered for designing residential
CHARACTERISTICS: tower blocks.
• strong bold shapes.
• reinforced concrete structures.
• largeness of scale , strong.
• use of brutalist building
materials brick, glass, steel.

Balforn Tower, London, England

1965-1967
Trellick Tower,London,
England, 1972
NEO EXPRESSIONISM
• Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially
in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at
the beginning of 20th century.
• Typical trait is to present the world solely from a
subjective perspective distorting it radially for
emotional effects in order to evoke moods or ideas.
 Characteristics of Neo-Expressionism

• Distortion of form for emotional effect.

• Appropriation of popular imagery
• Abundance work on papers and models with
discovery and representation of concepts.
• Return to the human figure
• Return to traditional materials
• Subliminal associations and fragments
• Bringing art back to nature and into the
familiar world
 BIONIC

GEOMORPHIC

The genesis of expressionism lies in art

nouveau.
Art nouveau, a decorative art convention
turned to bionic and geomorphic forms.
• Expressionism is the way of expressing
something in and around something that is
felt emotionally, from all the things that
happen phenomenally. This is one of the
movements in architecture in the 20th century,
mainly in Europe, where at that time people
fought in the World War I, including the
architects at that time. The political and social
problems also influence the architecture, in
places like Germany, Austria, and Denmark.
ERICH MENDELSOHN
 EINSTEIN TOWER IN POTSDAM-BERLIN
-ERICH MENDELSOHN 1919-1922

• Tower built to symbolise Einsteinian concepts. It was designed

to hold Einstein's laboratory.
• The tower was an anthromorphic form.
• Mendelsohn wanted the building to be moulded rather than
built, without angles and with smooth, rounded corners.
• The building was covered in brick and covered with concrete.
EERO SAARINEN
 TWA TERMINAL, NY
-EERO SAARINEN

• The terminal is sculpted as a symbol of flight-

abstract.
• The expressive curves of the design creates
attractive spacious halls and a rare degree of
exhilaration for an airport terminal.
BRUNO TAUT
 GLASS PAVILION
-BRUNO TAUT
• Built in 1914.
• Glass dome structure at cologne deutscher
werkbund exhibition.
• Constructed using concrete and glass.
• The concrete structure had inlaid coloured
glass plates on the facade that acted as mirrors.
• The purpose of the building was to
demonstrate the potential of different types of
glass for architecture. It also indicated how the
material might be used to orchestrate human
emotions.
Taut wanted to create a building with a different structure, and similar
to Gothic Cathedrals. Bruno told that his building wasn't going to have
any real function, it was more to provoke something in someone than a
practical building.
The Glass Pavilion was one of the first exhibition building designed as a
mechanism to create vivid experiences, where people would be able to
feel, touch and primarily see.
 It had a fourteen-sided base
constructed of thick glass
bricks used for the exterior
walls devoid of rectangles.
• Each part of the cupola was
designed to recall the
complex geometry of nature.
• The Pavilion structure was
on a concrete plinth, the
entrance reached by two
flights of steps (one on either
side of the building), which
gave the pavilion a temple-
like quality.
• Taut's Glass Pavilion was the
first building of importance
made of glass bricks.
Monumentality
SALK INSTITUTE (1959-1965)
• The Salk Institute was
conceived in 1960. which
is a biomedical research
institute.
• The three main clusters
were planned that
expresses the form of the
Salk Institute – the
laboratory, the meeting
place [the meeting
house], and, the living
place [the village].
SALK RESEARCH INSTITUTE

49
MEETING PLACE LABORATORIES
MATERIAL
– Concrete was chosen as
the material for the
exterior facade of the
towers, the Living and
Meeting places, and slate
was chosen for the
courtyard to further
emphasize the simplicity of
the design. Later, the
material was eliminated
because of cost and
replaced with travertine,
which has similar symbolic
connections.
• The need for mechanical services
(air ducts, pipes, etc.) was so
extensive that Kahn decided to
create a separate service floor for
them above each laboratory floor
to make it easier to reconfigure
individual laboratories in the
future without disrupting
neighbouring spaces.
• He also designed each laboratory
floor to be entirely free of
internal support columns, making
laboratory configuration easier.
• The pre-stressed concrete trusses
about 62 feet (19 m) long,
spanning the full width of each
floor and extending from the
bottom of each service floor to
the top. They are supported by
steel cables embedded in the
concrete in a curve.