New Brutalism

Janson, H W, Penelope J. E. Davies, and H W. Janson. Janson's History of Art: The Western Tradition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.

For a great many years, architecture has been a breaking point for different artisticeras in history. Some of the most famous “works of art” have been chapels, temples, and tombs. Among the most dominant and influential eras of great architecture are the sophisticated, stoic Greeco-Roman periods and the more mystical, elemental Japanese eras. These two very distinct and very different eras have more in common than you may realize.

Brutalism is a style that originated during the world wars. These buildings were created from scratch using concrete as the principle element. The problem is that people today have an unfavorable opinion towards concrete structures. In historic preservation, a clear distinction between the old and the new is necessary. One way to engage the community in a didactic way without changing the building entirely is by using color to draw the public's attention.

With the social difficulties and economic unrest the 1970’s marked the end of brutalist architecture. Brutalist

Robert Smythson was the most important architect in England in the 16th century. In fact he is “the only architect of that time known to us with any certainty”(Robert)

Leon Krier was criticised for publishing a costly monograph on Albert Speer’s architecture (1985)in which, while acknowledging the crimes of the Nazis and the man, Krier nonetheless claimed the book’s only subject and sole justification was “Classical architecture and the passion of building” (cited by Jaskot, ‘Architecture of Oppression’, 2000). Discuss this claim, the controversy and the issues (historical, philosophical and ethical and possibly others) they raise. Can architecture, Classical, Modern or otherwise, be autonomous from politics and valued independently of the circumstances of politics and history that adhere to it?

Thesis This paper will employ close visual analysis of two Japanese woodblock print pieces from different periods of the 19th century and how they differ in Western ideals. This paper will compare Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa to Ando Hiroshige’s Plum Estate, Kameido by their differing landscapes, colors, and acceptance of Western methods. I chose these two pieces due to both pieces being so different, although they are both woodblock prints. Further, I found it interesting that one piece, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, is known so widely while Plum Estate, Kameido is not.

One article talks about Japanese architecture being used in the Glasgow School of Art, “There are Japanese influences in the use and shape of the projecting timber eaves at the stairwells, left, and also in some of the internal details”(ScotCities).

The return to Brutalism may just be mute and passing fad, as we stumble through history searching for examples which might offer quick and immediate solutions to our contemporary situation. The political and economical situations in advanced western countries discussed by Koolhaas & Self has reached a point of crisis. Calling into question the cultural production and institutions which architecture works within and constructs. By understanding the situation through the Hegelian dialectic, literature and architectural examples which look back to Brutalism highlight that architects and academics are searching for a language which can develop an antithetical position to our current neoliberal discourse and architectural production. The antithesis which contemporary brutalist’s are promoting can

On his book on Modern Architecture, Curtis writes that modern architecture was faulted for it’s “supposed lack of ‘recognizable imagery’” towards the end of the 1970s. This statement supports the idea of Jencks’ double coding where architects must now make

Using the current discourse and other instances of attention surrounding the trend in Brutalism, three aspects will be discussed here in relation to the revival of interest to understand why the architectural period is receiving attention. A Significant amount of attention is situated on the internet through blogs and web pages, the blog titled fuckyeahBrutalism.tumblr.com (FYB) created on Tumblr by PhD candidate Michael Abrahamson in December 2010 which posts one high-quality image per day of buildings commonly described as Brutalist, has assembled a significant amount of followers and attention. Furthermore, there is a growing list of internet pages and blogs devoted to brutalist architectural imagery; new-Brutalism.tumblr.com; britishbrutalistarchitecture.blogspot.com.au;

Modernism vs Neo-Traditionalism: A debate on the merits and failures of two major competing paradigms in architecture and urban planning.

A tour through Taliesin West would start at his office. But right before you enter, your attention is interrupted by the vibrant, yet complex Asian sculpture that stood in front of the entryway. The idea of him incorporating Asian art within his structure did not surprise me however. Ever since his visit to the Columbian exhibition in Chicago, Wright was closely influenced by Asian architecture and art, and had symbolized his appreciation for the arts by incorporating them throughout his buildings. The sculpture that lies by the front entrance of Taliesin West is one of many sculptures that’s scattered around the building, and it symbolizes a transition into the following area.

Different architects have different styles because they are trying to get at different things. Architecture is not just about making something beautiful anymore, it is about trying to get across a set of ideas about how we inhabit space. Two of the most famous architects of the twentieth century, one from each side, the early part and the later part up until today each designed a museum with money donated by the Guggenheim foundation. One of these is in New York City, it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The other is in bilbao, Spain, and it was designed by Frank Geary. My purpose of this paper is to interrogate each of these buildings, glorious for different reasons, to show how each architect was expressing their own style.

The objective of this essay will be to indicate an understanding of the formal characteristics of the architecture and design of Post Modernism as well as the affect that the architect, Philip Johnson had on this movement. It will also indicate an understanding of how Post Modernism was influenced and shaped by the political, economic and social beliefs of the time.