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I'm back on my bullshit (writing about brutalism) (Patreon)

Published:
2020-09-29 21:54:10
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Spoiler alert: this story is sad. 

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Public opinion has softened its views on Brutalism. That isn't enough to stay the wrecking ball.

Many years ago, long before I became an architecture critic, I was a 14-year-old stuck in the back of a Buick crossover whose driver, my mother, had taken a wrong turn while looking for the Goshen, New York, Dunkin Donuts.

Comments

Kyle Jones

I can't handle more sad brutalism stories. My childhood library was a brutalist and is being remodelled, likely to never come back as a beautiful concrete book cave ever again. I am sad. No. Please don't. (Ok gonna read it).

Anonymous

So sad. Most of us don’t appreciate the brilliance of these buildings until they’re reduced to rubble, although it almost seems like every time the public’s opinion on a style begins to shift, there is a final rush to destroy these buildings before it’s too late and they become untouchable. Brutalism in particular suffers from cultural erasure: photos don’t capture the air of these spaces and there typically are no “relics” such as murals or statues to extract from masterpieces, unlike what happens to destroyed sites like Penn Station. It always felt surreal to see mediocre decorative pieces carried out of doomed structures, even though the building is often the real work of art; while the decorative sculpture and painting gets moved to parks and museums, architecture is not considered sacred enough to receive the protective designation of “art” and instead sits in the same landfill as the demolition workers’ cigarette butts.