![]() ![]() In general, the era of the "automotive city", with its barren concrete plazas, urban highways on stilts, and tearing down entire neighborhoods to make way for roads and parking, is now considered the worst of all architectural audience-alienating eras.At least it gave us a great art style for Doom levels. Combine this with the above-mentioned air pollution issue (which became rampant in the 20th century until at least the 90s, and still ongoing in some countries), many of the structures became little more than crumbling, moldy tenement halls. Sure, it was cheap and quick to build (because it was all concrete), but it became very expensive to maintain ( because it's all concrete). The worst part of Brutalism was that it caused just as many problems as it solved.This has led to a sentiment along the lines of "at least they used to build stuff back then and put some flowers around it" - that the architectural Audience-Alienating Era was followed by an even bigger Audience-Alienating Era. Yet in some former communist states what structures have been built, while decidedly ungainly and undesired (some monuments are known under Fan Nicknames such as 'seven-winged five-dick' owing to their lack of aesthetics), are now left in a state of decay due to intense corruption after the Hole in Flag revolutions, with no intention to improve or replace them. Even after that new aesthetic influences reach the urban landscape rather slowly, thus the depressing views of endless concrete blocks and boxy, edgy monuments are there to stay. In the Eastern Bloc itself, this Audience-Alienating Era of architecture lasted until the fall of communism.This problem is of course less notable in "indoor" spaces such as Washington Metro. ![]() One of the big downsides of concrete is that it does not age gracefully in a temperate climate, much less in one with any degree of air pollution. In fact, the architecture in the WMATA underground would be something that the Moscow Metro would dream of looking like, had it curiously not been designed with the more uncharacteristically beautiful baroque architecture that permeates every surrounding station in a country that isn't known for "bourgeoise" aesthetics. Its uniquely carved concrete walls and ceilings that interlock with each other in arches at every hallway and mezzanine prove that Brutalism isn't always a regression of aesthetics. The only city to actually get the concept of Brutalism the right way was none other than America's capital, DC, in the form of the Washington Metro Underground System. The chaotic, faded mess that ensued elicits near-universal disgust from visitors and remains a testament to the failures of The Eastern Bloc, and its Western sympathizers. The city of Boston, unfortunately, fell victim to Brutalism when a new city hall was commissioned. The legacy of this jarring midcentury trend can be seen today on public urban buildings and state university campuses. The future seemed bleak for decades, until Postmodernism rode in from the West, kicked out the commies, and saved the day. In Stalin's defense, the preferred style of architecture under his regime (when it wasn't constrained by wartime and postwar shortages) was much more ornate. ![]() Furthermore, Brutalism was as much a negative reaction to pre-war extravagance of design as it was a style born of necessity to quickly rebuild the ravaged cities of Europe and take advantage of the new possibilities of concrete. note While the visuals might indeed be brutal, that's not where the name originated, rather from beton brut, French for "raw/undecorated concrete".
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