Celebrating Brutalism in Washington, D.C.
BrutalistDC will host an architectural tour of L’Enfant Plaza with Atlas Obscura, the definitive guide to the world’s hidden wonders, on Saturday, May 6. We’re thrilled to bring you an in-depth look at one of the major clusters of Brutalist buildings in the nation’s capital.
Attendees will follow along with a copy of the Brutalist Washington Map, which is included in the price of tickets. More information is available through Atlas Obscura’s listing of the event.
World Architecture Day at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden was a smashing success! Many thanks to Hilary-Morgan Watt and Allison Peck from the Hirshhorn and to Carl Maynard of WalkWithLocals for hosting, and thank you to all the 200+ folks who showed up to hear dubious comparisons between strawberry purée as doughnut filling and crushed “Swenson” pink granite as concrete aggregate.
TWO HUNDRED HUMANS JOINED US LAST NIGHT?? WHAT?
thank you.
– team #walkwithlocals pic.twitter.com/vZ6pVfafYu
— walk with locals (@walkwithlocals) October 4, 2016
The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.’s “Brutalist Donut,” has announced a World Architecture Day celebration set for October 3, 2016, with locally-made donuts and architecture tours. BrutalistDC founder Deane Madsen has been invited to lead an architectural tour in collaboration with @WalkWithLocals, a Washington, D.C.-based photography meetup group that regularly hosts photography walks in and around the capital city.
Read the full release from the Hirshhorn below:
Tours by experts, including the Atlantic’s Kriston Capps and Architect’s Deane Madsen, will reveal the genius of the Hirshhorn’s unique spaces and how the museum’s rebellious, modern style changed ideas of design. Then, visitors can enjoy a delicious Hirshhorn-inspired donut from Zombie Coffee and Donuts, created especially for this day (while supplies last).
A new special session, ARTLAB+ Storytime at 10 a.m., invites the museum’s youngest visitors ages birth to preschool, to enjoy a read-aloud of the children’s book Iggy Peck Architect and a hands-on building activity. Nursing moms and strollers are welcome.
Affectionately nicknamed the “Brutalist donut,” the Gordon Bunshaft-designed Hirshhorn, the Smithsonian’s museum of modern art, is one of the most celebrated examples of the Brutalist architectural style that flourished during the 1950s–1970s. Other well-known local Brutalist landmarks include Washington’s Metro stations and the J. Edgar Hoover (FBI) Building.
10 a.m. tour: ARTLAB+ Storytime for young visitors birth to preschool and their caregivers
Noon tour: Critic Kriston Capps (@kristoncapps) writes for the Atlantic’s CityLab on art, architecture and the shape of cities today. The public can join online via FacebookLive at facebook.com/thisiscitylab.
3:30 p.m. tour: Gallery-guide tour of architecture-inspired artwork in the Hirshhorn’s collection.
6 p.m. tour: Deane Madsen (@deane_madsen) is the associate editor of Architect magazine and runs @brutalistDC, an Instagram celebration of the District’s concrete masterpieces.