BRUT
intro... (THE PROJECT IS IN PROCESS)
For the project, I would like to explore the aesthetic movement of brutalism (especially in architecture). The term was coined by the British architectural critic Reyner Banham to describe the approach to building particularly associated with the architects Peter and Alison Smithson in the 1950s and 1960s. The term originates from the use, by the pioneer modern architect and painter Le Corbusier, of ‘beton brut’ – raw concrete in French. Banham gave the French word a punning twist to express the general horror with which this concrete architecture was greeted all around the world.
INITIAL MOODBOARD
RESEARCH
Brutalism is a utilitarian aesthetic movement that shuns decoration in favour of exposing and celebrating the raw materials used to construct the design. It largely had its heyday in the architecture of the 1950s to 1970s, but it has recently seen a resurgence in modern digital design.
The reason why brutalism has been able to jump between such wildly different design disciplines is that it tends to describe more of a mindset than visual characteristics. By exposing the materials of construction, brutalism has nothing to hide. It trades lofty ideals of beauty for the cold, hard truth. The visual characteristics of brutalism can be hard to pin down, as they not only vary from designer to designer but from medium to medium.
Common features of brutalism:
- Exposure of materials—concrete for architecture, the default, unstyled HTML for websites
- Monochromatic colour schemes, often black and white or grey
- An emphasis on bare functionality, devoid of decoration
- Modular, repeated design elements
- Layered, articulated or extruded pieces
- Rectilinear edges
- Unedited or as-is design elements
INITIAL PHOTOSHOPS
