SOS Brutalism - Save the Concrete Monsters! - a podcast by CastYourArt.com

SOS Brutalism - Save the Concrete Monsters!
Brutalism is probably one of the most hated styles in the history of architecture.
Béton brut, exposed concrete, is at the origin of the term Brutalism. However, this architecture was not meant to be brutal, but brut : raw, natural and truthful. Therefore its main material was unplastered and unpainted concrete, often reminding of rock formations in nature.
Until August 6th, The Architekturzentrum Vienna dedicates the exhibition „SOS Brutalism - Save the Concrete Monsters“ to this often unfairly discredited building style. This first comprehensive exhibition about the subject was shown in the German museum of architecture in Frankfurt before, now it is on display in the Architekturzentrum Vienna, complemented with 10 Austrian examples from the Architekturzentrum Vienna archives, curated by Sonja Pisarik.
Besides numerous photographs, sketches and original plans there are also large models and concrete moulds of the buildings on display in the show.
Brutalist architecture was constructed between 1953 and 1979 on all continents, it was a global phenomenon, irrespective of borders and ideologies, in the capitalist West as well as in the communist East of the Third World.

It was a period of optimism about the future, of esthetic experimentation and of social change. These projects were mostly public buildings, like schools, universities, hospitals, administration centers or housing estates, financed by the public sector.
Many of these large concrete buildings in were already demolished only decades after their construction though, for a long time they were discredited as architectural disasters, left to decay or torn down. Disqualified as monster buildings and eyesores by opponents, they are as intensively loved as they are hated. For some, the esthetic of exposed concrete is simply dreadful, but the buildings are often also regarded as technically obsolete, therefore they are more readily being demolished than buildings from other periods of architecture history.
Under the slogan Brutalism initiatives were organized, international exhibitions and congresses were held, several books were published. What started as a pastime for architecture specialists has since then turned into an international movement.
The online initiative #SOSBrutalism collected more than 1000 buildings worldwide in a database, arranged in order of endangerment, like threatened animal species. More and more architecture enthusiasts want to save these expressive concrete giants from demolition.
The congress center in Bad Gastein by Gerhard Garstenauer (1974) that is shown in the exhibition is empty since 2007, slowly decaying. The boarding school tower in St. Pölten by Karl Schwanzer (1972) has already been demolished years ago, just like the housing estate Robin Hood Gardens in London (1972), planned by hat pioneers of Brutalism, Alison and Peter Smithson.

The sculptural character of Brutalism becomes quite evident in the exhibition in the case of the parish church in Oberwart by Eilfried Huth and Günther Domenig (1969), as well as with the « horizontal sculpture » by Karl Schwanzer, the Wifi building in St. Pölten (1972). The Wotruba Church in Vienna (1976) is probably the most famous of the Austrian examples in the show.

The destiny of the culture center Mattersburg by Herwig Udo Graf (1976), a user-friendly building in the spirit of Social Democrat education policy, is still uncertain. An action group for the conservation of the building has already been created.

As Architekturzentrum Vienna curator Sonja Pisarik states, „it is important to consider these buildings as our cultural heritage. If they disappear, their social and political background disappears with them.” (written by Cem Angeli)

Architekturzentrum Wien | www.azw.at
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