Spot the Frippet: something brutalist.

I've always assumed that brutalist architecture was, well, brutal.

And, often, it is:



Western Gate of Belgrade in Novi Beograd, previously called Jugotours, now Genex Tower. Photo by Blago Tebi

But the connection between brutalism and feeling crushed and intimidated by a building is coincidental, because the word brutalism comes from the architect Le Corbusier's term beton brut, which means raw concrete.

So something brutalist can be quite small (if still not necessarily all that welcoming):


This is a bus shelter on the Isle of Lewis. Photo by Tom Richardson

It can even verge towards the ornate:


Boo várdcentral in Orminge, Nacka, Sweden

My eyes newly opened, I'm going to spend some time today admiring concrete.

Well, I'm going to try, anyway.

Spot the Frippet: some concrete. The word brutal comes from the Latin brūtus, heavy or irrational.