A Brutalist Gem | 粗野建筑

Brutalism is being revived in recent years in the architecture world, like some other used-to-be monsters in the past. "Béton brut", a French word for "raw concrete", was first coined in 1952 by Le Corbusier building the Unité d’Habitation (Housing Unit) in Marseille. Later in the after-war period in the UK, the term "Brutalism" was created by the English architect couple, Peter and Alison Smithson in the reconstruction projects, and was promoted by architecture historian Reyner Banham. Their concept is wider than "raw concrete" though, referring to the minimal constructions that showcase the bare building structures and materials.

Some famous Brutalist examples include Barbican Centre and Trellick Tower in London, Geisel Library in San Diego, California, and Hill of the Buddha in Sapporo from the Japanese master Tadao Ando. Today let's go to Louvain-La-Neuve of Belgium to discover a Brutalist gem.

粗野主义风格被比喻为建筑中的电音舞曲，因为强调功能性实用性，多被用于公共建筑。就像很多其他现代建筑，刚诞生时被大众看作丑陋怪物，而近年来又开始流行。

“未加工的粗面混凝土”这个名词最先来自说法语的现代建筑大师柯布西耶，因为他在1952年建成的马赛公寓混凝土表面上没有作其他处理修饰，从而提出这个新词组。英语中的“粗野主义”则在稍后英国战后重建时被建筑师Smithson夫妇创造，并由建筑史学家Reyner Banham在知名的建筑期刊上发文推广。他们的概念更侧重于建筑材料和结构本身的样貌，而非特指原始的混凝土建筑。

这次就请跟我到比利时法语区的新鲁汶大学，来看一些粗野风格的混凝土建筑。这个科学广场上的建筑完工于70年代，是粗野主义风格仍在盛行的时候。我觉得这个大学博物馆墙面上的绿色植物和圆弧型的窗户线条，从一定程度上柔化了楼房冷峻粗砺的混凝土外观。而且这栋楼本身的体量也不是很大，又是尖顶，不像有些上大下小的“粗野怪兽”，所以算是家族中的小家碧玉了吧。室内的采光也很好，通透明亮，并没有像在俄罗斯和东欧看到的一些同时期的粗野建筑，给人一种阴森沉重的感觉。

This rigid geometric style was popular from the 1950s to the 1970s, and Louvain-la-Neuve is a planned city built in the early 1970s influenced by Brutalism.

Architect André Jacqmain experimented with the New Urbanism style and designed the Brutalist architectures for the new city, especially around Place des Sciences of the Université Catholique de Louvain.

The Musée L is right at the centre of Place des Sciences. As you can see from my photos here, the building has a stark and harsh style typical of Brutalism. However, it doesn't seem to be known globally as other star buildings (just as low-key as much other Belgian stuff...). I feel the green plants on the wall and the windows' curves have added a softer touch to it. What do you think of this architecture? Shall we call it a Brutalist gem? :)

There is plenty of natural light shining into the building, plus enough artificial lighting and roomy space, I didn't feel dark or heavy inside going through the collections and exhibitions:
室内:

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Buildings nearby:
附近的其他建筑：

There is also quite a lot of mural wall art on campus:
校园里还有很多壁画：

^{All content by @itchyfeetdonica
图文 by Donica}

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