Brutalist DC on CGTN America

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Screenshot from CGTN America segment on Brutalism in Washington
Screenshot from CGTN America segment on Brutalism in Washington

Brutalism is in the news once again, with founder Deane Madsen appearing on CGTN America to discuss Washington, D.C.’s collection of Brutalism at the Hirshhorn Museum. CGTN reporter Owen Fairclough surveys the deep catalogue of D.C.’s Brutalist buildings and interviews Madsen about his love of the style. Walking in the courtyard of the Hirshhorn Museum, Madsen praises Brutalism’s texture, materiality, and expression of structure, all of which are on display at the Hirshhorn. Of course, Brutalism is an often misunderstood moniker, as brief snippets with passersby illustrate.

The segment first aired on Oct. 5, 2018. Watch the full clip via CGTN America or below:

Many thanks to Owen Fairclough, Ahmad Coo, and the rest of the CGTN production team for putting all of this together. Thanks also to the gracious Hirshhorn Museum staff for facilitating the filming. A gratuitous selection of screenshots from the segment follows. 

Screenshot from CGTN America segment on Brutalism in Washington
Screenshot from CGTN America segment on Brutalism in Washington
Screenshot from CGTN America segment on Brutalism in Washington
Screenshot from CGTN America segment on Brutalism in Washington

Reviewed: “Finding Brutalism” and “SOS Brutalism”

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“SOS Brutalism” (two volumes) and “Finding Brutalism”

Here at BrutalistDC headquarters, we have several shelves dedicated to all matters concrete, and have had to make room for the many new editions that have been arriving at a steady pace for the last few years. Two of the latest, “Finding Brutalism” and “SOS Brutalism,” (both from University of Chicago Press and Park Books) offer new looks at the style. BrutalistDC founder Deane Madsen reviewed them for Architectural Record:

An interior spread from SOS Brutalism features Marcel Breuer’s Pirelli Building

SOS Brutalism presents the theoretical issues behind the term in a two-volume set covering the origins, current state, and potential future of Brutalism. The eponymous first volume is a worldwide compendium—based on the website #SOSBrutalism—that has more than 1,100 Brutalist buildings in its database.

This effort is filled with case studies and examples of structures of varying status: still in use (such as Minoru Yamasaki’s Shiraz University in Iran), heritage-protected, under threat of elimination, or demolished. Chapter introductions show the divergent attitudes to each region’s embrace of the movement. The companion volume, Brutalism: Contributions to the International Symposium in Berlin 2012, comprises 17 lectures in which authors investigate theories and regions where Brutalism was practiced according to country-specific interpretations.

“Finding Brutalism” features the stunning black-and-white photography of Simon Phipps

In Finding Brutalism, Simon Phipps lets a rich assortment of his black-and-white photographs do the talking, save for a trio of essays at the back. But that’s precisely the point: each of his images is a 1,000-word composition on material, scale, or form, and Phipps is a master storyteller in this medium without “the distractions and extraneous detail of color,” so, as he writes, “the form and structure and surface textures [can] be amplified by the action of light and shadow.” His approach returns to the origins: “The biggest misunderstanding about Brutalism is that it is all about concrete—not only concrete, but massively formed concrete. The essence of Brutalism for me is material ‘as found.’ ”

Read the full story at Architectural Record.

BrutalistDC Featured in On Tap Magazine’s District of Design Edition

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On Tap Magazine recently released its July edition, which focused on design in Washington. BrutalistDC founder Deane Madsen was thrilled to be interviewed by M.K. Koszycki for the issue, an excerpt of which is below:

On Tap: Why is Brutalist architecture so important to the architectural landscape of DC?
Deane Madsen: For one, there’s just so much of it. Look at any satellite image of Southwest DC and you’ll find enormous superblocks of government buildings rendered in concrete: the Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, L’Enfant Plaza. Two, most of it arose during an era of urban renewal in Washington. The Brutalist architecture in the District breaks from the traditions of Neoclassical, Federal and Gothic Revival to present buildings constructed at the height of post-war optimism.

OT: What are some common misconceptions about Brutalism and how do you respond to them?
DM: Probably the biggest misconception about Brutalist buildings is that they’re somehow brutal. I sometimes joke that these buildings are not, in fact, out to kill you—chunks of concrete falling off the FBI Building are the result of neglect, not malice. The other default reaction to Brutalism is that it’s ugly. I get it, not everyone appreciates the aesthetic. And there’s no way I’m going to be able to change someone’s taste, but when I’m giving tours of Brutalist buildings, I encourage people to get up close and examine tactile features such as board-formed concrete. On the pairs of columns at the base of HUD, for example, you can actually feel the grain of the wood that was used to form the columns embedded in the concrete. The attention to detail paid to the concrete formwork resounds throughout the rest of the architecture as well, and if I can help people appreciate the architectural effort behind these buildings, perhaps they can also grow to like them.

OT: What led you to create the BrutalistDC Instagram account and website?
DM: Washington has an amazing breadth of architecture, but the city’s government buildings of the 1960s and 1970s—the urban renewal era—are much maligned, and, quite frankly, I was tired of seeing Brutalist buildings top lists of DC’s ugliest. My goal in creating BrutalistDC was to advocate for an underappreciated set of buildings and to show them in ways that highlight their textural beauty.

OT: What are your favorite Brutalist buildings in DC and why?
DM: The Hirshhorn Museum is easily my favorite Brutalist building in D.C., for many reasons, but the foremost is that the staff of the Hirshhorn understands the value of their museum’s architecture, and works hard to maintain, promote, and improve it; a recent lobby renovation stands out as an example of a sensitive addition to an already great space. The Hirshhorn benefits from its prime location at the midpoint of the National Mall, and its diminutive scale relative to the nearby Air & Space Museum and
National Gallery of Art makes for a pleasant respite. The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden is also perhaps one of D.C.’s best-kept secrets, with shaded greens populated with works by the likes of Auguste Rodin, Barbara Pepper, and Henry Moore, along with more recent acquisitions such as Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin.

Beyond the Hirshhorn, there are plenty of other buildings to love, but I’m especially keen on the architecture of D.C. Metro, which was designed by Harry Weese and opened in 1976. The deeply coffered, column-free vaults evoke the monumental scale of Washington (each station is 600 feet long) while also serving up dramatic—and photogenic—shadows, thanks to lighting designer William Lam.

Read the full article at On Tap Magazine. 

Brew-talism from Bluejacket

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Bluejacket released a new beer, Turnstiles, bedecked with Metro’s coffered vaults.

Local brewer Bluejacket has released a new beer, Turnstiles, that celebrates the DC Metro with a can wrapper depicting the coffered vaults of the system’s underground stations. Scaling down the idea of Metro wallpaper to a more portable and potable package makes sense for Bluejacket, which began weekly unveilings of smaller production runs in cans in February.

Designed in-house by creative director Kris Mullins, the Turnstiles can is part of a limited release program from the brewery that allows greater control on beer freshness. The Bluejacket brewery is housed within repurposed boilermaker shops, which were originally part of the Navy Yards manufacturing facilities; the brewery takes its name from the term for someone enlisted in the Navy.

Tasting notes from Bluejacket:

TURNSTILES is an IPA with Amarillo, Centennial & Citra – 7.0% abv. Double dry-hopped with Amarillo, Centennial & Citra, Turnstiles is teeming with citrus aromatics, accompanied by floral & herbal notes. Juicy & softly bitter on the palate.
$15 x 4-pack.

If your daily ride on Metro makes you feel like you’re hurtling through concrete tunnels in a tin can, now you can upend that metaphor by raising a can that celebrates concrete tunnels. Pairs well with our Brutalist Washington Map, which also features all of the Metro stations.

Bring Your Commute Home with Metro Vault Wallpaper

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Brutalist Metro Station DC Mural Wallpaper from MuralsWallpaper
Brutalist Metro Station DC Mural Wallpaper from MuralsWallpaper
via MuralsWallpaper

The grandeur of Washington’s vaulted concrete Metro stations elevates the time spent within them. Sure, there will always be people who complain about light levels and cheer for whitewashed vaults, but for those who appreciate the monumental scale of the 600-foot-long stations and their coffered allusions to architecture of the Pantheon and of Daniel Burnham’s Union Station, there’s now a way to bring that experience home: MuralsWallpaper, out of Liverpool in the U.K., has released a design called “Brutalist Metro Station DC Mural Wallpaper.”

If it’s not obvious from the name, this wallpaper design features the coffered vaults of an unidentified—yet pleasantly familiar—D.C. Metro station. MuralsWallpaper offers other Brutalist and concrete choices as well, including one that features London’s threatened Welbeck Street car park, but this D.C.-centric one rings our BrutalistDC bells for obvious reasons. At £36.00/m2 (no word yet on whether any proceeds would benefit WMATA), it’s a much better deal than actually vaulting your ceilings and waiting for the concrete to cure. And it’s certainly a more aesthetically pleasing solution than painting your walls white.

Concrete options from MuralsWallpaper

via MuralsWallpaper | H/T to Dezeen

BrutalistDC to Lecture at National Capital Planning Commission

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Following on the success of the Docomomo DC Tour Day, Rediscovering Brutalism, founder Deane Madsen has been asked to deliver a lecture on Brutalism for the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC). Teaming up with Docomomo DC president Tom Jester, Madsen will have the opportunity to educate NCPC staff on the importance of Brutalism, highlighting successful examples of renovations and restorations while also pointing to buildings that have been lost, such as the Third Church of Christ, Scientist, and the API Building in Reston, Va.

Hofstra University to Celebrate Axinn Library’s Semicentennial with Brutalism Symposium

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Hofstra University’s Axinn Library, designed by Warner, Burns, Toan & Lunde, turns 50 this year. Hofstra will commemorate the occasion with a symposium on Brutalism, to be held November 1, 2017.

“The Axinn Library building, along with its revolutionary partner, the Unispan, unites the campus as a hub for the academic experience,” said Sarah McCleskey, Head of Resource and Collection Services, in a release from Hofstra University. “The towers of North Campus are connected physically and symbolically with the academic buildings of South Campus. The library stands in the center, an imposing concrete structure designed to house information and foster learning.”

The symposium will be free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. The full schedule for the symposium is below:

9:45-10 a.m. Welcome and introductions with Neil H. Donahue, Ph.D., vice provost for undergraduate academic affairs; and Howard Graves, director of library and information services.

10-10:15 a.m. Historical background on The Axinn Library, led by Geri Solomon, assistant dean for special collections.

10:15-10:45 a.m. A look back with Professor Herb Deutsch, who will reminisce on time when the library was being built.

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Keynote address by London-based art director and graphic designer, Peter Chadwick, who will also serve as scholar-in-residence throughout the day and teach a Master Class in the music business program. Chadwick worked at Creation Records, where he designed for chart-topping bands including Primal Scream and Spiritualized. After setting up his own studio in 1996, he masterminded campaigns for major artists including Groove Armada, Fatboy Slim, Cream and Hed Kandi. Chadwick runs the popular This Brutal House twitter account and is a champion of Brutalist architecture. His recent book This Brutal World (Phaidon, 2016) has been described as “a beautifully curated visual manifesto” for Brutalism.

1:30-2:30 p.m. Yankee Brutalism with Architectural Historian Brian Sirman, whose scholarship centers on the intersection of twentieth-century architecture and politics.

2:45-4:15 p.m. Panel with Alexandra Lange, architecture critic for Curbed; Peter Bentel, a partner in the studio of Bentel & Bentel, Architects/Planners AIA and a licensed architect; and Mark Pasnik, a founding principal of over,under, an internationally-recognized architecture and design practice. This panel will be moderated by Daniel Rubey, professor of library services at Hofstra.

Axinn Library Celebrates 50

BrutalistDC Lecture at GWU Museum, Oct. 2

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Join BrutalistDC founder Deane Madsen for a public lecture at the George Washington University Museum on Monday, Oct. 2 at noon. As part of the Mondays at the Museum series, this lecture will discuss the rise of Brutalist architecture in Washington, D.C. and its many examples of the architectural style. Whether you like or loathe it (or don’t know what it is), you have likely seen it around the city.

WHEN: Monday, Oct. 2, 12pm-1pm
WHERE: The George Washington University Museum,
701 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052

More information is available via the GWU Museum.

Curbed Breaks Down Brutalism [Video]

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Screenshot of Curbed’s Brutalism video

Defining Brutalism can be a challenge. As a style that spans multiple decades and sprang from multiple continents simultaneously, its definition arises primarily out of post-application by architectural critics (we’ve developed our own working definition of Brutalism). Thankfully, the good folks at Curbed have put together a handy video explainer on Brutalism as part of Curbed’s “Hands On” series, linked below for your perusal.

The video lists off a few prominent examples of Brutalism, including Boston City Hall, Moshe Safdie’s Habitat ’67 in Montreal, Louis Kahn’s Dhaka National Assembly in Bangladesh, and Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation complexes (Washington, D.C.’s J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building earns a cameo!).

 

Curbed lists the tenets of Brutalism as

  1. Exposing structural materials such as concrete and steel
  2. Repeating modular exterior elements to shape interior spaces, and
  3. Embodying ethics in architecture through affordable high design

Credit Curbed for producing a brief and digestible explainer on the style: At just over three minutes, it’s long enough to include multiple perspectives about Brutalism, e.g., that it has become a stand-in architectural style for dystopian futures, and that it’s celebrated for its honesty of materiality; and short enough that it’s easy to share with Brutalism neophytes.

Read Brutalist DC’s definition of Brutalism.  

DC Brutalism in WaPo Magazine: Crushing on Concrete

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The May 28, 2017 edition of the Washington Post Magazine features a 10-page feature on D.C.’s Brutalist architecture. Cover art by Peter Chadwick/This Brutal House

In the smashing cover story of the Washington Post Magazine last weekend, Washington, D.C.-based architecture critic Amanda Kolson Hurley makes the case for local Brutalism. Hurley’s 10-page feature, entitled “Crushing on Concrete,” boasts a cover illustration by Peter Chadwick, author of This Brutal World, and includes striking black-and-white photographs by Astrid Riecken.

Hurley’s story begins with a recap of the recent Union Station kerfuffle, “Paintgate,” wherein WMATA whitewashed Harry Weese’s vaults (and faced subsequent backlash), before delving into a primer on the history of Brutalist architecture. Michael Kubo, co-author of Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston, was interviewed for the article:

There’s this kind of weird valley in which people either love or hate the buildings. I definitely feel like brutalism is in exactly that zone.–Michael Kubo

Despite the losses of some Brutalist buildings Washington, D.C. (namely, Araldo Cossutta’s Third Church of Christ, Scientist, and Marcel Breuer’s American Press Institute), Hurley argues, there have been a few Brutalist triumphs, such as Boston City Hall and U. Mass. Dartmouth’s Claire T. Carney Library by Paul Rudolph. Hurley also exposes the renewal in Brutalism’s popularity, citing the blog F— Yeah, Brutalism, maps by Blue Crow Media, and even our Walk With Locals x Hirshhorn collaboration for last year’s World Architecture Day.

Washington’s impressive catalogue of Brutalist buildings, however, means that the preservation battles are only just beginning. Many of the structures that face greatest peril are those that have aged enough to be in disrepair, yet aren’t quite old enough to have been designated as landmarks. As Hurley puts it, “In Washington … brutalism’s ubiquity means we will have many chances to decide whether it is worth saving.” One notable case in point is the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, which tops many a list of “Ugliest Buildings in D.C.” for its impenetrable massiveness. Its future is a story to which we’ll be paying close attention as it develops.

Read the full story at The Washington Post. 

For further reading, pick up these Brutalist titles:


 

Update: Not all of the readers of the WaPo article are concrete lovers, and maybe that’s not news. One particularly scathing comment on the article: “Any chance we get to remove a polyp of this soul-crushing, dismal, ugly architecturally worthless concrete crap from our beautiful city, we should take. It is joyless, ugly and represents all that is sick about sick buildings.” Couldn’t disagree more, chum!