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Ernö Goldfinger's (1902-1987) Trellick Tower (1972). Greatly influenced by Le Corbusier, it is simultaneously cherished as a pure example of Brutalist excellence and rejected as ugly and unfriendly, epitomizing the downfall of Modernism.

I am with the former. 

[images here and here]

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The Temple Street Parking Garage (1963) by Paul Rudolph (1918-1997) in New Haven, Connecticut. This multistory parking garage is perhaps the perfect brutalist building thanks to its ramps, columns and structural decks in suggestive concrete forms. The prominent architectural historian Elizabeth Mills Brown (1916-2008)once wrote about this structure: "[...]at the top a wonderful airy world of roof-buildings and concrete lights suggesting fantastic flora", I couldn't agree more. Even though the materials, scale and repetition are brutal, there's something about the detailing that makes it human and even delicate. 

 

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I truly am a sucker for brutalism, especially South-American brutalism and this structure is without a doubt one of its finest examples. The National Library of Argentina(1972) was designed by Clorindo Testa (1923) Francisco Bullrich (1932) and Alicia Cazzaniga de Bullrich (1928-1968) after winning a national design competition in 1961.

The library is situated on top of a slope on the edge of an urban development and it was split in two to accomodate the large-scale programmatic demands. While the reading rooms are raised above the public plaza in a suspended concrete box and the administration area and auditorium are hanging just below; the book repositories are underground to protect the books from the sunlight and to make future extensions possible.  

[image credits here]

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No time today because of competition deadline tomorrow... so here ya go, National Theatre (1973-1976) by Sir Denys Lasdun !! (1914-2001) in London.

pictures at flickr and at jamd.com

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As an architect, you can only have deep respect for Alison and Peter Smithson (1928-1993/1923-2003), not only because of this project but for their entire oeuvre. The most revolutionary English architects of their generation, they raised the bar for all future generations and are still today as influential and relevant as they ever were.

A short version of everything you need to know is here, if you are serious about architecture this is essential information.

Buckminster Knows 007

The school of urbanism and architecture of Sao Paulo (1958) is the most significant brutalist building in Brazil. This powerful concrete structure by Joao Vilanova Artigas (1915-1984) and especially known for the block suspended by two massive concrete beams never made it to most history books (except for Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture), but is nevertheless a beautiful piece of architecture.

It reminds you of a similar project, but you do not know which one? Right...Paulo Mendes Da Rocha's much more published Museum of Sculpture of Sao Paulo or maybe even his iconic own house . I really have to admit I am a sucker for South American concrete architecture...

pictures at panoramio.com, here and flickr.com