Brutalism isn’t named after being brutal
The architectural style people love to hate takes its name from the French for “raw concrete”.
After the Second World War, Europe needed housing, schools and civic buildings quickly and cheaply. Le Corbusier’s Unité d’habitation in Marseille (1952) showed what concrete could do when the marks of its wooden formwork were left visible: béton brut, “raw concrete”.
The British architects Alison and Peter Smithson and the critic Reyner Banham turned the idea into a movement, “The New Brutalism” (Banham’s 1955 essay). Their principles were honesty about materials, structure on show, and buildings shaped by how they would be used.
Why it’s polarising
- To admirers, Brutalist buildings are bold, sculptural and idealistic, built for public housing, universities and libraries.
- To critics, they are grim and cold, especially when poorly maintained, because concrete stains badly in rain.
Since the 2010s there has been a revival of appreciation online, with photo collections, books and campaigns to save buildings from demolition. The name is easy to misread, and the movement’s aims were much more hopeful than “brutal” suggests.
Bring it up
“Brutalism comes from the French for ‘raw concrete’, not from brutality.”
