Are there any fans of Brutalism?

[jonae]

We are thinking about moving into a 1970s brutalist apartment. When we mention this to people or show photographs of the block, they recoil or comment how ugly it is.

We love it!

DH loves it. We have been known to take a side trip to see an example. I wasn't a fan but its grown on me a bit.

We stayed in Maderia a few years ago on a last minute thing. Ended up in this hotel by chance - which is a thing of beauty.

www.pestana.com/uk/hotel/pestana-casino-park

The recent transformation of Park Hill flats in Sheffield is a fascinating study of utopia gone wrong and then restored.

Growing up near Croydon in the 1960s /70s instilled an appreciation of Brutalism - the circular ramp in the Whitgift Centre, shows at the Fairfield Halls, even the flyover.

Did you go there @Witchgreen6 ?

"Not popular with pupils" @moonlitmaze
I was one of those pupils for 7 years in the 1980s.
Cold in winter; very, very hot in summer - we regularly moved to "continental days" in the summer, where we started at 7.30 am or so and finished at lunchtime, and all the lessons were shorter (must have played havoc with staff childcare).
Impossible to get round with any kind of mobility issues - it was on 4 levels with no lift. I broke my ankle whilst I was there, goodness knows how anybody with more significant/longer term problems coped (hurrah for modern disability access regs).
Concrete playgrounds - hence the broken ankle - apparently we had playing fields 5 miles away in Roehampton, but I never went there in 7 years despite being a sporty kid.

And Jimmy Saville's London flat was literally across the road. He used to watch us in the playground (retrospective "eeew"). And Status Quo rocked up one day to film their video to The Wanderer in the playground.

Back to the architecture.. I was always a bit "meh" about it, probably because I was a feckless teenager, but also because I had to use the building, and it wasn't that practical. DDad loved it, loved telling people where his children went to school.

It's saving grace was the swimming pool!

Was the barbican originally a council estate? It has the look of those estates in my northern town.

No, but I've planned my shopping list!

I've known a few people who've lived in the Barbican and I stayed in a house there (it's not just flats) in the early 70s. Later, DD went to school with a girl whose family lived in a penthouse flat, it was amazing. There's gardens etc for residents only. Michael Portillo visits a flat there in a recent railway journey, well worth finding

It wasn't a recent Michael Portillo programme but I've only just watched it on iPlayer.
It's Great British Railway Journeys, series 14 episode 6, Tilbury to Barbican

I do like it but I think it has to be incredibly well maintained and in the right setting. Flats in particular tend to be great on the inside but you need to make sure that you’ve got a good management company, a sensible service charge and that it’s going to be well looked after (externally/ common parts) long term. If you like it, go for it, bet that the naysayers will change their tune once they see it in real life!

I also don’t particularly like it when flats are decorated like a pastiche to the era- by all means get a lovely coffee table, some beautiful curved chairs and modular shelves but don’t overdo it- it’s not an episode of “how we used to live”!

I do like a good bit of concrete.

I think the issue is the juxtaposition of the majority of the Brutal ones against the lovely victorian facades next to them. It makes people think all the brutal ones are ugly by comparison.

A new building would a lso have river views.The bloody monstrosity wanted pulling down .Let's hope for an earthquake or fire!

Depends. If it's something like the Barbican then it's absolutely gorgeous.

No, but I looked on their website! Didn’t realise that their name came from the Maureen Lipman Beattie (BT) ‘You got an ‘Ology’?’ ad in the 80s! Took me down a rabbit hole which reminded me just how creative and funny some ad campaigns used to be.

I used to live in the Whittington estate. I wasn't a fan - it felt quite oppressive - but my architecture professor friend used to rave about it. It's been used for film/tv sets quite a bit:

I love it!

Had a friend who lived in Trellick Tower - the flat was enormous.

Preston bus station. Say no more!

I once met Brutalist architect Owen Luder - on the matter of all that concrete he explained that post-war the country was very poor and concrete was the cheapest way to build a lot of much-needed dwellings during the slum clearances in the 50/60s.

"For the hideous, chilling, depressing mess that Basil Spence made of the Gorbels in Glasgow (before it was knocked down) he should be ashamed. It shortened lives while he escaped to the beauty of neo-classical Edinburgh New Town.

Too much wankerism bound up in brutalism and not enough thought of the human experience."

Yeah I don't know anybody who is all sad the Divis Flats in Belfast were knocked down because they would have looooved to live there and thought they were beautiful.

https://posc284.posc.sites.carleton.edu/uncategorized/life-and-death-in-divis-flats-the-enduring-symbolism-of-a-1960s-belfast-housing-project/

This is actually quite a nice conversion of an old school - just across the river from the Pimlico one. It became too expensive to run but some of the locals got it a Grade II listing so Lambeth Council couldn't pull it down. As its in spitting distance of Parliament the flats are quite expensive (and listening to the bells at Big Ben on the quarter hour wouldn't be good for insomniacs....)

I got to see it between the school leaving and the conversion and some of the interior detailing was just stunning. https://archello.com/story/41359/attachments/photos-videos/1

@londonmummy1966 I really like that, I hope they kept the slogan "put learning first".

lots of people say they are beautiful inside, but I went there once to pic up something I'd brought and wasn't impressed.
I think it would be cool if they put a mural on it like the building opposite, but I think it's listed.

Hate it, sorry. I never understood the love for the Barbican/South Bank/Trellick Tower etc. They’re concrete monstrosities imo.

It Depends how much light there is inside. The Barbican flats are light filled but the main exhibition areas are dingy and depressing. I find the same with the South Bank.

Very dark, the Barbican. Spent 7 years there. Nice plants in the middle tho.