Cast in Concrete: Boston's Brutalism
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- In Boston, Brutalism is tied closely to City Hall, but the infamous building is far from the only “concrete monstrosity” in the city. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, top architects from around the world took advantage of a rebuilding Boston to design and build what they saw as futuristic, expressive works of art.
Brutalism hasn't gained many fans since then, but public opinion may slowly be changing.
For more information on Brutalism and Boston
Heroic: Concrete Architecture and the New Boston by Chris Grimley: t.ly/O9CM
Concrete Changes : Architecture, Politics, and the Design of Boston City Hall by Brian Sirman: t.ly/rk8d
Obsolescence: An Architectural History by Daniel Abramson: t.ly/HBKx
Music
Heroic Reception - Kevin MacLeod
Future Renaissance - Godmode
Is That You or Are You You - Chris Zabriskie
I am enthralled by these buildings. They wrap me in a cold, alien uncanniness that is yet warm.
Boston City Hall is a masterpiece- a work of art
Thank you. We have many brutalist buildings in London. Oddly, 20 years ago, my first impression was "How ugly". But I must admit these buildings (and movement) have grown on me. Many were constructed at the height of the welfare state. There is also something honest about them. No hiding away from the raw materials used for construction. And that is good enough for me.
I agree. Boston City Hall will eventually be considered one of the greatest architectural masterpieces on Earth, and certainly in America
Woah nice work!
It's like the documentary illustrates well. Tastes changes rapidly. In my own country Belgium Brussels was the 'capital of Art Nouveau and Art Deco'. However in the sixties and seventies the style was deemed old-fashioned and outdated. As a result more then half the masterpieces fell victim to the sledge hammers, before it was re-appreciated again late '90s. As for Boston Brutalism, I don't find these buildings shown too abrasive. And architecture remains an acquired taste. For instance: I'm absolutely no fan of Gehry and his 'style'.
I love Brutalism and am actually using it to design my home. To me, it's the defining element of Gothic architecture, extracted from its source and distilled. In any such building, you are a small point in a great, geometrically constructed space. No religion in the mix, just the pure structure of the universe. This space is absolutely neutral and lifeless, which allows you to make up the life within it without the need for an architectural crutch along the lines of the gaudy McMansion that replaced the Lincoln House. Ah well, at least I can build my own house in whatever brutalist style I want. The use of concrete as a defining part of Brutalism also allows for making shapes that just aren't possible with any other material, with fantastic results.
What's crazy is they all are equally beautiful, yet we only realize it after they are gone.
I used to watch the 4th of July fireworks from the roof of the Boston University law building ❤️
You want a cookie?
The comments by James Howard Kunstler sum it up nicely.
Brutalist is such a visual joy. Raw. Sincere.
no
The only architectural style more cold and lifeless than sleek steel and glass is this kind of hulking concrete brutalism. It is hard to believe that any architect, at any time, could imagine that this style represents anything other than oppressive inhumanity.
Nah. Whenever I look at a brutalist building, I see comfort and security. That the people and ideas contained inside are worth protecting and fighting for. It also symbolizes our triumph over the natural world. We no longer have to scramble around in the mud and in the darkeness and it is glorious.
@@jakekaywell5972yeah instead we're in concrete cages with fluorescent lighting.
Viewed from Congress St, Boston City Hall is one of the most incredible buildings on Earth. People only hate the building because of the AWFUL, disgusting, inhuman City Hall Plaza. The parking lot next door was/is vile too, and it has either been torn down or soon will be. People will come to appreciate Boston City Hall as the ultimate pinnacle of Brutalism worldwide, and it will end up as one of the great architectural tourist destinations in America
Looks like a parking garage.
City Hall and the Law Tower got the renovations they needed. I hope Paul Rudolph's masterpiece gets the same treatment.
i hope you get a life
god willing there will never be a movement to preserve brutalist buildings. that being said, great short documentary, very well done.
There already is and I'm a part of it. Brutalism deserves the same protections as any other architectural style.
If we can preserve Victorian monstrosities, we can preserve Concrete monstrosities too
My family worked at the Old Boston City Hall perhaps one of the finest extant examples of Second Empire architecture in the U.S. My uncle also had his law office just around the corner from where the new city hall was being built. I can still remember merely a boy asking him when they were going to remove the scaffolding, he replied "It has been removed." Out of the mouths of babes. Years later I did a short stint at the Massachusetts Historical Commission which at the time was also down the street until I was unceremoniously asked to leave for no other reason than I was a Sedevacantist Catholic. I then spent the remainder of my state service as a Welfare worker an agency with a dystopic world view which was in reality the genesis of these people's palaces. It's nice to know I was "right" all along in all my opinions.
Also: Le Corbussier's walkway/ramp at the Carpenter Center is low key one of the most influential designs of the past 100 years 🤷
I actually went to UMass-Dartmouth because I wanted the artwork for a forthcoming EP to feature Brutalist architecture. And personally detest it and just for the surface reasons.
Beautiful concrete shapes >>> steel and glass boxes. The latter are even more abstract and offer nothing to the cityscape, only the "view" to those inside the building.
Loved the documentary. 😂 this architecture just kills me
how i can turn on that ship???Even the poleepkwa cant.Something about fuel or something
Brutto in italian means ugly.
Support for the preservation of Brutalism. Yeah...but there's support for the preservation of concrete grain silos.
Both are worth preserving. Concrete forever!
Brutalism is a crime against humanity
Why you think that?. There many varient of them in all forms and difrent story's that give a diffrent feeling to you city, its not built for beauty but a purpus to give you a feling of diffrence and perspective.
Modern Architecture is souless
McMansions are more so, because they aren't even in an actual school of design.
Ok boomher
@@jakekaywell5972 w pfp
No beauty in brutalism, very dystopian
Boston City Hall is the ugliest building in the history of architecture. The inside is absolutely brutal.
American Kouvola!
Brutalism is terrible
Nightmarish and soul destroying ...
In your opinion. Personally, I feel nothing but hope and excitement for the future when I look at one.
like the Middle school I was brutalized in that had this style.
These architects belong in Jail.
That thing looks terrible. It’s like a commie block got shipped over to America and repurposed as a city hall building.
Ugh.
Kennedy vs Soviet leaders...USSR won!
I absolutely hate brutalist architecture.