New Brutalism had its origins in the ideas of Alison and Peter Smithson, expressed in their steel-framed Hunstanton school, and was made widely known by the writings of the architectural critic Reyner Banham. The style however became most closely associated with the monochrome form of exposed unpainted concrete. In France Le Corbusier had termed this use of raw concrete as béton brut.
We will examine the Brutalist style of the 1950s and 1960s in the wider context of British Modernism. This will take in its range of uses including housing projects such as Chambelin, Powell and Bon’s Barbican Centre in the City of London, commercial projects such as the Smithson's Economist buildings in St James's, theatre and concert-going on London's South Bank, and new building for the universities, notably making its mark in the Oxford Colleges.
The course will combine presentations based on a wealth of images and drawings with group discussions, backed up by illustrated notes for each meeting.