Brutalist Architecture, Eg Habitat 67

World-renowned architect Moshe Safdie and Canada Post unveil stamp depicting Habitat 67 complex to celebrate Expo 67

https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/bl...newsreleases ... the announcement

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/...erpiece.html ... interesting backgrounder by a fellow whose family moved-in to Habitat when he was a youngster ... also describes the broader Brutalist architecture movement, with the "Brutal" not meaning quite what you might think.

Brutalist architecture is suitable for a topical collection, but only if you remember to include the postcards

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I'm more "include the dynamite", but an interesting contextual piece here

http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/martin-filler/

If you are going to use a term like "brutalist" (suggesting similar to the work of J.K. Brutal?) you should explain it. The Habitat design - and execution - were brilliant.

I included a link to a New York Times piece (that) "also describes the broader Brutalist architecture movement, with the "Brutal" not meaning quite what you might think."

Surely, that would suffice?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

The "brutalist" moniker - according to the article - means exactly what it says. It's bunker architecture. And Habitat bears no resemblance to the concrete pill boxes that were built - everywhere - during that period. Habitat is elegant in many ways. Nothing brutal about it.

The building fits perfectly into the brutalist range of architecture, some of which was better designed than others. Psrsonally, I find it vile, but each to his or her own. The commemorative stamp is nastier, though.

http://www.newcriterion.com/article...utalism-8018 ... The "new" New Brutalism sets aside "the cellular architecture of Moshe Safdie's Habitat".

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/201...t-came-true/ ... this review of seven books describes one as "... a well-illustrated compendium of fifty Brutalist landmarks on six continents. They range from very well-known examples such as ... the cubic heap of Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 housing at the 1967 World's Fair in Montreal ..."

https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris...8152965@N05/ ... Barnabas Calder, author of Raw Concrete: The Beauty of Brutalism, includes Habitat in his Flickr faves.

http://www.georgianjournal.ge/arts-...ildings.html ... Georgia's soviet-time architecture among world's 10 beautiful brutalist buildings describes this building as "(m)ore Constructivist than Brutalist":



http://www.coolhunting.com/culture/...book-phaidon ... this (to the untrained eye) Habitatsy-type residence(?) made it into the book This Brutal World:



Q/ Is it six to five and pick 'em yet?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Boston City Hall: An example of the Brutalist style of the 1960's. The interior is as cold, spare, austere and uninviting as the exterior. A public building should invite the citizens and not build a fortess like atmosphere. There have been many plans over the years to alleviate this atmosphere but nothing to date has been done. Boston is such a beautiful city too, except for this universally disliked monstrosity.

I guess people in Boston don't understand that the architect was making the perfect commentary on how government can appear to the people. If city employees are reminded of that every time they enter for the day's work, then the building is a success.

56 Leonard Street in Tribeca owes a lot to Safdie. I would call it neo-Brutalist.

Chris

Re: 56 Leonard Street in Tribeca

Q/ Is that a giant silver turd in front of that building?

A/ No, silly, that is a giant mercury turd.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Just a little more tacky - some gold spray, say - and it could have been a multi-million dollar Jeff Koons piece.

De-Brutalization, anyone?

Dead Brutalist Buildings: A new show uses photographs of concrete buildings in their final days to argue for their preservation.

https://www.citylab.com/design/2018...ings/558284/

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

More Brutalism in the news: Raccoon Climbs Brutalist Skyscraper

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/...g-climb.html

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

New exhibit at MoMA offers several startling Brutalist structures:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...-in-pictures

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

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

.
Singapore's Brutalist buildings at risk:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/27/...ildings.html

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Thank you for posting this, Ikey!

I saw that article in the Times yesterday and thought of this discussion about Brutalist architecture.