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Concrete Wonders: 13 Brutalist Buildings in the USA & Britain

26 Oct

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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While the most theatrical Brutalist buildings remain in the former USSR, there are plenty more of these controversial concrete complexes around the world, and they draw both admiration and ire in Britain and the United States. While Prince Charles of Wales likes to call them ‘monstrous carbuncles,’ and sloppy Brutalist blunders certainly exist, many modernist concrete structures built between the 1950s and ‘80s are striking in their minimalism and solidity.

Geisel Library, San Diego, California

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The Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego (named for the author best known as Dr. Seuss) was made of reinforced concrete to save money, which enabled a more sculptural design. The 8-story structure by William Pereira has two subterranean levels and was “deliberately designed to be subordinated to the strong, geometrical form of the existing library” on the campus.

Tricorn Center, Portsmouth, England
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This weird building called the Tricorn Center was a retail, nightclub and parking garage complex completed in the mid-1960s and so named because it resembles a tricorn hat from above. It was voted the third ugliest building in the UK in the ‘80s, and demolished in 2004. Charles, Prince of Wales famously called it “a mildewed lump of elephant droppings.”

Barbican Estate, London, England

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This residential complex built in the ‘60s and ’70s stands right in the financial district of London, one of the few examples of British brutalist architecture that’s still mostly intact. There are three tower blocks and 13 terrace blocks positioned around a lake and green squares; the towers are each 404 feet tall.

Brunel University, London, England

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Built in the ‘60s and designed by Richard Sheppard, Robson & Partners, the Brunel University Lecture Center was one of two ‘high Brutalist’ structures prominently featured in Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange.

Brownfield Estate, East London
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Balfron Tower at the Brownfield Estate, an area of social housing in East London, is often considered the sister building of Trellick Tower. Designed by Erno Goldfinger in 1963, it contains 146 residences and features a separate elevator shaft with skybridge connections on every third floor.

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Concrete Wonders 13 Brutalist Buildings In The Usa Britain

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[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Sea Fort for Sale: Buy a Massive Maritime Mansion in Britain

29 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Built in the 1860s and now on sale for half a million pounds (under $ 1,000,000) , it is hard to beat what this sea fort offers by way of views, a prestigious address (No 1 Thames) and amazing location (a short commute by speedboat from London).

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The massive fortified structure (featuring 15-foot-thick walls) can be accessed by boat or walked to when the tide is low, albeit a long and muddy way to go. A BBC interview (screenshots above and below) shows both the problems and potential of this amazing piece of real estate – there are precedents, too, for converting old British army and sea forts as well as harbor bases.

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The current owner purchased the property from the Crown Estate, which is to say he approach the “Lord High Admiral for Her Most Excellency Majesty Queen Elizabeth”, made an offer and had it accepted.

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However, the buyer-turned-seller, himself a London resident, never found the time or funds to refurbish the place, so it remains in a state of partial decay – a would-be purchaser should expect a significant outlay for renovating the building’s exterior and interior alike.

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Still, for someone with a fortune as well as a vision, it is hard to imagine a neater place to escape from city life. The firm WT Architecture has already taken a stab at conceptual designs for rehabilitating to structure (renderings shown above and below). As their drawings illustrate, there is a rich variety in terms of materials, shapes and spaces to work with, including a cavernous central stone circle with a tall wood-and-concrete watchtower and an adjacent rectangular brick structure (that could be used for guests).

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sea fort renovation rendering

As BldgBlog notes, “At first glance, it’s an amazing offshore castle, a fairy tale artificial island of 19th-century military Romanticism roughly an hour’s boat ride east of London. But don’t jump in too quickly, lest you overlook the ruinous state of the place: it needs almost literally everything, from plumbing to electricity, glass windows to the most thorough cleaning you could imagine, having been open to the oceanic elements for decades”

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[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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