Deane Madsen to Speak about Brutalist DC Origins at Hirshhorn/AM

Posted on by Brutalist DC

photo courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum

Over the past few years, the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum has emerged as one of the main proponents of World Architecture Day in the Washington, D.C. region. This year, the Hirshhorn teams up with the National Building Museum for two full days of programming (Sept. 30 and Oct. 1) to mark the occasion, and, as an endcap to the week, the Hirshhorn will have Brutalist DC founder Deane Madsen for coffee and conversation as part of its Hirshhorn/AM program.

2018 marks the third year running that Brutalist DC has teamed up with the Hirshhorn to celebrate World Architecture Day. Previous collaborations include an IGDC instameet and architecture tour in 2017, and a Walk With Locals meet-up and architecture tour in 2016.

 

Docomomo DC to Host Mod Mixer, Jan. 25

Posted on by Brutalist DC
Local preservation advocacy group Docomomo DC will host a mixer at the Watergate’s Next Whisky Bar on Thursday, Jan. 25.
 

Meet up with your fellow modern enthusiasts at one of DC’s most celebrated mid-century buildings.

Please join us for the Mod Mixer Happy Hour at The Watergate Hotel’s Next Whisky Bar Thursday, January 25th at 6:00pm.

Via Docomomo-DC.org

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

Posted on by Brutalist DC

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.

https://news.hofstra.edu/2017/10/11/axinn-library-celebrates-50/

BrutalistDC Featured in WaPo Going Out Guide

Posted on by Brutalist DC
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, designed by Gordon Bunshaft of SOM.

On the evening of October 2, The Hirshhorn, IGDC, and BrutalistDC will co-host a World Architecture Day sunset tour of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The Hirshhorn, which was designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and opened in 1974, is a prime example of Brutalist architecture in Washington, D.C., sited at the midpoint between the Capitol and the Washington Monument along the National Mall. Its sunken sculpture garden offers a quiet, shaded refuge from the expansive lawn of the Mall, and the museum was envisioned by Bunshaft to be “a sculpture on the mall.”

From the Going Out Guide listing:

The Smithsonian’s lone brutalist building has affectionately (or derisively) been referred to as a “brutalist doughnut.” The museum will celebrate its round, empty-in-the-middle design on World Architecture Day with free Sugar Shack doughnuts for all visitors, in addition to architecture-focused talks and tours. Highlights include Amanda Kolson Hurley, author of a Washington Post Magazine article on preserving — and improving — brutalist architecture, discussing her story at 12:30 p.m., and @brutalistdc founder Deane Madsen leading an Instagram tour of the building at 6:15 p.m. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Free.

We hope to see you there!

Read the full Going Out Guide list of upcoming events at The Washington Post. 

BrutalistDC to host Instagram Takeover for SWBID, Oct. 5

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BrutalistDC will take over the Instagram feed of the Southwest Business Improvement District (@SWBID) on Thursday, October 5. Expect a walking tour starting from the Waterfront Metro and ending at the U.S. Department of Energy.

We plan on covering a lot of ground, and hope to make it to the following buildings, most of which are on the Brutalist Washington Map:

  • Waterfront Metro
  • Tiber Island Cooperative & Carrollsburg Square Condominium
  • The View at Waterfront
  • Arena Stage at the Mead Center
  • The Banneker Fountain
  • L’Enfant Plaza
  • The Robert C. Weaver Federal Building (HUD)
  • The Forrestal Building (DOE)

Be sure to follow @SWBID and @BrutalistDC on Instragram to join in.

Hirshhorn x IGDC x BrutalistDC for #WorldArchitectureDay Oct. 2

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The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is once again pulling out all the stops to host a full day of Brutalist programming (and doughnuts!) on World Architecture Day, which falls this year on October 2. Following on the success of last year’s collaboration with WalkWithLocals, BrutalistDC has been invited back for another evening walking tour of the Hirshhorn grounds, starting at 6.15pm.

Here’s the Hirshhorn’s full schedule of #WorldArchitectureDay events:

For kids
10 a.m.: For a special edition of STORYTIME, the museum’s youngest visitors are invited to explore architecture through a read-aloud of Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty and a hands-on building activity.

For all ages
12:30 p.m.: Architecture specialist Amanda Hurley talks Brutalism and color, expanding on her Washington Post Magazine article arguing in favor of preserving brutalist architecture in Washington.

1–1:10 p.m.: Visitors can witness the motorized magic of “The Project for the Preservation of Natural Resources” as the miniature model—complete with working windmills and running water—comes to life in the exhibition “Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: The Utopian Projects.”

2 p.m.: A Gallery Guide-led tour will explore architecture-inspired art on view, including the fantastical world of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s models in “The Utopian Projects.”

4 p.m.: Kelsey Keith, editor-in-chief of Curbed, debates the good, bad, beautiful and ugly of Brutalism, and the Hirshhorn’s groundbreaking design in architecture history.

6:15 p.m.: Deane Madsen (@deane_madsen), former design editor of Architect magazine, will lead an IGDC (@igdc) brutalist Instameet tour #atHirshhorn. Founder of the Instagram account @brutalistdc, Madsen will explore the exterior and lush garden at sunset.

From the Hirshhorn:
Known best for the art displayed within its walls, the Hirshhorn will devote the day to spotlighting its sculptural Gordon Bunshaft-designed building, which opened to the public in 1974. Standing out among the classical buildings of the National Mall, the Hirshhorn—affectionately nicknamed the “Brutalist donut”—is one of the most popular examples of the Brutalist architectural style, which erupted from the 1950s through the 1970s.

For the second year in a row, visitors of all ages can drop by the museum to enjoy complimentary donuts, while supplies last, and partake in a wide-ranging schedule of architecture-themed activities led by Washington-based experts. Architecture, photography and art enthusiasts alike will be drawn in by local Instagram community IGDC to join in appreciating the monumental stature of this much-debated architectural style.

More information is available via The Hirshhorn. 

BrutalistDC Lecture at GWU Museum, Oct. 2

Posted on by Brutalist DC

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.

World Architecture Day x WalkWithLocals x Hirshhorn

Posted on by Brutalist DC

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.

Hirshhorn Celebrates World Architecture Day Oct. 3 With Free Donuts and @BrutalistDC Architecture Tour

Posted on by Brutalist DC
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

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:

September 20, 2016—Visitors are invited to the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Monday, Oct. 3, to celebrate #WorldArchitectureDay by enjoying “Donuts with the ‘Brutalist Donut’”—a day of complimentary donuts and free architecture tours of its iconic circular building.

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.