Brutalist buildings were often cheaply built and many are in need of refurbishment. This wave of demolition is not always driven by political ideology.

In the USA, brutalist buildings such as Paul Rudolph's Burroughs Wellcome building and Shoreline Apartments have fallen victim to the wrecking ball.Įlsewhere, landmarks such as Kenzo Tange's Kuwait embassy in Japan, the Hôtel du Lac by Raffaele Contigiani in Tunisia and Gerd Hänska's former animal research laboratory in Germany called Mäusebunker, have been scheduled for demolition.īrutalist buildings in need of refurbishment In 2018, the Robin Hood Gardens housing estate by British architects Peter and Alison Smithson was demolished, while buildings including the Derby Assembly Rooms by Casson, Conder & Partners and Swansea Civic Centre by CW Quick are under threat.

The purge of buildings built in the brutalist style is accelerating today. 'So historically, an awful lot of the architecture that the economic right now dislikes was originally built by the economic right.' Paul Rudolph's Burroughs Wellcome building was demolished earlier this year 'The association between brutalism and the left is not a true one historically, but I think it is a true one in people's minds today,' added Calder. 'To many critics, also came to stand for big government and the alienation of mass society,' he explained. 'There is a connection to be made between the advent of neoliberal policies and the attack on the welfare state from the 1970s onwards and the mounting criticism of brutalism,' agreed Verlaan, who is also a former editor of online magazine Failed Architecture. 'There were lots of social housing built in that style, which was being deliberately run down and badly maintained,' Calder added.īrutalism criticism linked to 'advent of neoliberal policies' In the UK at that time there was 'a successful bashing of it in those terms under the Thatcher period by the right because, by that stage, these buildings were in a sorry state in many cases'. However, right-wing attempts to link the style to socialist ideals date back to the seventies and eighties. 'There are some very, very visible manifestations of the welfare state in brutalist architecture,' Calder said, pointing to iconic structures including Trellick Tower, a social housing tower in London designed by Erno Goldfinger, and the Southbank Centre, a public art complex on the Thames.Ĭalder, who is the author of new book Raw Concrete and Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency, added that many brutalist buildings were built by private developers rather than the state. Above: Trellick Tower (Steve Cadman via Wikimedia Commons)

Top image: Robin Hood Gardens was demolished in 2017 (Dezeen).

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