LEXICONDesign and market
Brutalism
Also called: Béton brut, New Brutalism
An architectural position holding that a structure should show how it stands up, that materials should appear as themselves, and that services should not be hidden behind a decorative skin.
Where the word comes from
From béton brut — raw concrete — Le Corbusier's term for surfaces left exactly as the formwork made them. Reyner Banham gave the movement its manifesto in 1955. The argument was narrower and more interesting than the buildings it produced, and nothing in it requires concrete: it requires that construction is not disguised. That is why it translates into interiors that contain no concrete at all.
The common misreading
Treating brutalism as a palette — grey walls, concrete-effect render over plasterboard — produces a room that is both heavy and fake, since a concrete-look laminate is precisely the decorative skin the argument objected to. The canonical buildings are relentless outside and full of timber, textiles and light within; contrast was always part of the method. The working test is whether each element is what it appears to be and does a job.
