THE NEW BRUTALISM

By Rayner Banham — 9 December 1955.

In his article for The Architectural Review, architecture critic Rayner Benham defines the movement of The New Brutalism through its evolution within Modern Architecture and comparison to other buildings and movements of that time.

The New Brutalism movement was recognized from a polarization process in the architectural discussion. Even though The New Brutalism got notable in architecture, it didn't receive a title of a separate architectural style since it had so many common elements with modern architecture. The idea behind The New Brutalist movement was “to have the structure exposed extirely”, where the highest standards of construction should be used. All the necessary elements of the building were available to see what the building is made of and how it works.

Benham describes Hunstanton School by Alison and Peter Smithson as the first brutalist building that was constructed. This building together with Yale Art Centre is being considered the best representation of The New Brutalist movement and serves as the architectural reference as stated by Benham. Throughout the analysis of such buildings as Marseilles, Promontory, and Lakeshore apartments he denies the definition of The New Brutalism by the legibility of plan but by memorability as an image, bringing up a term of ‘an image’ of the building. He characterizes Smithsons projects by their consistency in design, being ‘visually valuable’.