Brutalist architecture

Town Hall House is exemplary of Sydney Brutalist architecture. Designed by Ancher, Mortlock and Woolley in 1977, the 23-storey tower was built behind Sydney Town Hall to provide a central location for Sydney Council. The building now accommodates approximately one thousand City of Sydney staff and is a high profile element of the City’s corporate presentation and customer service ethos.   Smart Design Studio was engaged by the City of Sydney to refurbish nine floors ofthe iconic building. The brief was to revitalise the key public and staff areas of these floors, promoting the City’s commitment to environmentally sustainable design, while also providing a sensitive response to the fabric of both the original building and... More

What is a Maggie’s Centre?Maggie’s provides free practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer and their family and friends. Working alongside NHS hospitals, they are free to use and any member of the public can walk in. Started by Maggie Keswick Jenks and her husband Charles Jenks, both designers, the centres are based on an idea that a beautiful space will help to make you feel better. They are meant to feel like a special house, familiar enough that you can find your way about, and unusual enough to feel uplifted and taken out of yourself. They are designed to help people catch their breath, the better to face their illness.The centres are run a manager with a background in oncological medicine, and staff provide advice o... More

Dubbed “the concrete bunker” for its deliberate use of rendered finishes, and rejection of ornamentation, this Camperdown apartment for two design professionals was conceived of as an intimate, yet utilitarian environment. Inspired by Brutalism and the local warehouse vernacular, extruded geometries and moody tones result in a minimalist and precise interior.The project brief called for the re-design of an inner city warehouse conversion in Camperdown, for a couple seeking a minimalist lifestyle with an interior to match. The clients, who work in design-related disciplines, sought to shed their home of unimportant accumulation and create a space free of clutter and visual pollution. Conceived of as a “concrete bunker”, the shell of the apar... More

At the heart of the Canterbury campus the Templeman Library has been transformed to become a flagship 21st century learning environment comprising a new extension and extensive refurbishment of the existing building, together demonstrating new standards for renewal of 1960s university buildings. Through a major extension and refurbishment of the Templeman Library, Penoyre & Prasad have created a vibrant, contemporary building at the heart of the University of Kent's campus.   The existing library building was designed by Lord Holford and constructed in 1965. Its large concrete and brick structure is overtly expressed on the outside of the building and revealed as exposed concrete coffers at soffits within. Penoyre & amp; Pras... More

The task was to transform the ground floor of a 70’s office building, used as a kindergarten, into a clean and contemporary house for a collector.Some 16 tons of concrete were cut away, to enlarge the windows overlooking the two level garden. Remaining were three concrete pillars, which were integrated in the floor plan of the apartment using them for the fireplace, the closet and the TV wall… creating so an open but organized and structured space.The collection became the focal point of the house. The open day and night zones could be separated and closed when needed. Multiple use of space helped save room; the corridor doubles as closets, the guest bathroom the laundry, the fireplace wall separates the kitchen from the living room without... More

The task was to transform the ground floor of a 70’s office building, used as a kindergarten, into a clean and contemporary house for a collector.Some 16 tons of concrete were cut away, to enlarge the windows overlooking the two level garden. Remaining were three concrete pillars, which were integrated in the floor plan of the apartment using them for the fireplace, the closet and the TV wall… creating so an open but organized and structured space.The collection became the focal point of the house. The open day and night zones could be separated and closed when needed. Multiple use of space helped save room; the corridor doubles as closets, the guest bathroom the laundry, the fireplace wall separates the kitchen from the living room without... More

The Norra Tornen project started with two inherited building envelopes, the remains of a cancelled project initiated by the former city architect Aleksander Wolodarski. Each a kind of 'crescendo' composition of different heights – neither slab nor tower – prohibit the unfolding of an uncompromised typology. Conversely, the opted program, apartments with an emphasis on large outdoor spaces, prevented too literal a translation of the envelopes into architectural form.Through a kind of 'Freudian flight forward' – a passionate embrace of the inevitable in order to conquer and overcome one's initial fears – the prescribed building envelope was adopted as a given. Its initial vertical segmentation was complemented by a second, horizontal segmenta... More

dMFK’s restoration and extension of Salters’ Hall has secured the future of this extraordinary brutalist building in the City of London.   Designed for The Salters, an ancient livery company, Salters’ Hall was a hidden institution. The failing fabric of the Grade II Listed building, unfashionable architectural style, and dark, concealed location meant that the Company was losing both commercial office tenants and bookings for its beautiful hall.   dMFK’s restoration involved making delicate incisions and additions throughout to repair Spence’s original structure, including the update and replacement of all services. These interventions improved Salters’ Hall EPC rating from an F to a B and a... More

Background Originally designed by Architects Co-Partnership (ACP) as a school, the development was completed in 1964 and initially opened as Beaufoy Secondary School providing education for some 600 children. It was later renamed after the famous Victorian/Edwardian theatre producer-manager Lilian Mary Baylis. The school was given a Grade II listing in 2002. This acknowledged its plan form with linked blocks forming a series of asymmetrical courtyards creating a ‘sense of drama’. The Lilian Baylis School moved in 2005 to new premises in Kennington Lane and the school buildings became neglected and run-down. A separate community sports initiative was subsequently established using the school’s former playing fields (see below). Henley Homes... More

A new language for a Barbican Type 3C tower flat interior Quinn Architects, on behalf of the Director Laurence Quinn and his family, have recently completed the renovation of an Eleventh floor four bedroom Barbican tower apartment. The Barbican is a radical project and has been designated as a site of special architectural interest for its scale, its cohesion and the quality of the architecture. The complex is architecturally important as it is one of London’s best examples of concrete brutalist architecture. Quinn Architects interior project is a personal study of living on the estate and due to the intensity of the design development and a desire to experiment it was decided to procure the project in an unusual way. Quinn Architects s... More

Constructed in 1959, the Bank of London and South America Headquartes in Buenos Aires City represent the summit of brutalist architecture in Argentina. Designed by Estudio SEPRA (Sánchez Elía, Peralta Ramos y Agostini) in association with Clorindo Testa, The main premise was to create a room in continuation of the public space and not enclosing it. According to the architects, the idea was that the lobby worked as a covered public square and not as a bank lobby. The building has three underground levels and six overground levels. The entrance is located in the corner and its main feature is a five-meter hanging concrete screen that limits the space and visuals as seen from the inside. Concrete has been modeled throughout the facade... More

The Unité d'Habitation is the name of a modernist residential housing design principle developed by Le Corbusier, of which the Cité Radieuse in Marseille is the most famous. The Cité Radieuse (Radiant City) was built between 1947 and 1952 and it proved enormously influential in the Brutalist architecture style and philosophy that was often cited as the initial inspiration. The Unité, designed as a "vertical garden city," as opposed to the construction of villas, was an innovative integration of a system of distributing goods and services that provides independent support to the dwelling unit, responds to the needs of its residents and ensures operational autonomy in relation to the outside world. The proposed housing units is made... More

The apartment is located at a Botti Rubinʼs building. With brutalist architecture, the construction is a typical example of the paulista architectural school production from mid 1960ʼs. The main concepts of the intervention in this 300 sqm residence were: the wide use of raw concrete, restituting this essential element of the architecture of the building; and the spatial rearrangement in order to make use of the open floor space from the original project. Thus, new exposed concrete pieces, like partition, tabletops and sinks, were inserted and the previous concrete of the slabs and beams, which have been coated, were recovered. In addition, by reconfiguring the partition walls, a fluid circulation was created, which allowed to define cle... More

“Yacht House helps you experience nature in a powerful way. Inside the views, the horizon, the sunlight, the stars, the sounds, are magnified. We tried to create a place where people could sense eternity.” Robin Monotti Introduction London based Robin Monotti Architects completed ‘Yacht House’ in September 2012. The 875 sq m contemporary building creates an outstanding feature on the Crimean shoreline. It houses four rental apartments arranged around tall yacht storage at ground level, and connected by a staircase tower. The apartments provide spectacular views across the sea and the mountains, and a direct and immediate connection to the coastal environment that surrounds them. In 2011 Robin Monotti’s Ukranian client acquired the... More