Beton Brute @betonbrute - Tumblr Blog

Goodnight Béton Brute

This is the end of Béton Brute. I have been very slack in updating the blog recently and the simple reason for that is a lack of interest on my part. I loved Brutalism when I started this blog but now I'm rather tired of it and much more interested in the overall feel of a town and its buildings rather than the artistic extravagance of a few ideological architects.

So this is so long, good night and good luck. Thank you all.

I'm still around on my main Tumblr, Common-or-Garden and my blog, The South Country.

Clarence Pier, Southsea, 1961, Everett

A tasty slice of mid-century architecture on Southsea's promenade. In Pevsner it is described as 'quite an acceptable piece of festive architecture'. It is a remarkable survival in an age where anything built between 1950 and 1990 is deemed to be incredibly unfashionable and either pulled down and replaced by an 'iconic landmark' or viciously re-clad.

Well done Clarence Pier! Glad to see that not only are you still here but you also harbour a branch of Wimpy.

#architecture #mid-century #modernism #Southsea #Portsmouth

Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park, London, Zaha Hadid, 2011

I am not a fan of Zaha Hadid but it's difficult to fault her on the undulating, surging mass that is the Aquatics Centre . I am used to seeing it from the railway lines on my way past from Norwich to London but I took the chance to get up-close before it re-opens for public use in March. There's certainly something of Cardiff's wonderful Senedd about the wooden cladding on the overhang but it's a shame the sleek lines have to be ruined by a clumsily placed CCTV camera.

Therein lies the rub in all these ambitious modern buildings, the abrasion between architectural beauty and practical usage. I hope the pool will function well but there have been dozens of new leisure centres built in the UK in recent years that are already crumbling and few of them are fit-for-purpose. Wouldn't it be nice if this one just worked. We can live in hope.

Photos by me.

#Olympic Park #architecture #Zaha Hadid #London #Stratford

Stratford International DLR station

Built in the last few years but in a very no-nonsense way it is essentially a large concrete box which they've done very little to disguise. It struck me as refreshingly honest, the London clay equivilant of seeing the rock on the platforms of Stockholm's metro stations.

It's a blessing in what has turned into something of an architectural wasteland around Stratford station.

Photos by me.

#London #DLR #concrete #architecture #station #railway

Crawley New Town, Sussex

#architecture #typeface #mid-century #Crawley #Sussex

construction of TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, New York, Eero Saarinen, 1962

#construction #architecture #Eero Saarinen #New York #concrete

model of TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, New York, Eero Saarinen, 1962

#architecture #architectural model #Eero Saarinen #New York #TWA #modernism

Churchill College, Cambridge, Richard Sheppard, 1968

#architecture #modernism #Cambridge #Churchill College

sketches by Kenneth Browne, Architectural Review, 1957/8

#architecture #modernism #mid-century architecture

Killingworth New Town, Tyneside

I'm sorry I can't find any more information on this building but I wanted to post it as it's a beautiful example of the International Style on these shores.

#architecture #international style #Killingworth #modernism

Hook New Town plans, GLC, 1961

These plans for the never-realised Hook New Town in Hampshire show the kind of architectural optimism that was rife in the middle of the twentieth century. It was never built so we'll never know but other developments in this vein have never aged well.

Every time I look at a Brutalist civic centre or ham-fisted New Town precinct I like to cheer myself up by putting my 'GLC Planning Sketch' glasses on and imagining the modernist signage, welcoming awnings and contented families that either never were or quickly got erased in favour of Cash Converters, PVC windows and anti-social behaviour orders.

#brutalism #architecture #brutalist #Hook #modernism

Grosvenor Estate, London, Edward Lutyens, 1928

#architecture #modernism #flats #London #Edward Lutyens

Seaward and Harbour Towers, Gosport, J.E. Tyrrell, 1961

A handsome group of recently renovated tower blocks across the water from Portsmouth in Gosport. Set just in from the promenade, looking out over the harbour they have striking murals by the architect and a playful terrace level with curved staircases.

#architecture #modernism #Gosport #Hampshire #tower blocks #tower block

Redbridge Tower, Southampton, 1963

Happy 50th Birthday!

#Southampton #architecture #concrete #road

wbs70

betonbrute

Robin Hood Gardens, London, Alison and Peter Smithson, 1972

Guildford Cathedral, Edward Maufe, 1936

Photos by me from a visit today. As much as I enjoyed this building, its setting on Stag Hill and the quiet reverence of its free-gothic architecture I didn't feel awe-struck, not like I was by the modern cathedrals of Coventry and Clifton. It felt a little parochial to me; the brown brick exterior and copper roof made it look like a hundred and one suburban, inter-war churches and the interior, whilst pleasing and well-ordered didn't soar or swoop like the true Gothic of a medieval cathedral. It reminded me of Grundtvig's Kirke in Copenhagen and Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavik but without the confidence and scale.

I don't mean to disparage the building, it works, it was wonderful but, it wasn't Coventry.

#architecture #Guildford #cathedral #church #Surrey #modernism #modernist

analogue-dreaming

betonbrute

Drawings, Robin Clark, 2013

More of their work here.

Recent drawings for self-initiated project - part 1.

Drawings made in felt-tip, biro and permanent marker, drawn from my own architectural photos (Alexandra Estate, Hayward Gallery and Barbican Estate).

Buy prints and cards featuring my work here.

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