What's left of Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital building Courtesy Chicagoist

Concrete modern buildings have long faced critique as hulking monstrosities rather than cultural icons. But today, we are beginning to recognize the value of these often vast and imaginative complexes anew. A fresh wave of advocates cares about these massive structures, including so-called “brutalism”: a monumental vernacular that aimed to stand out against glass-walled “fishbowls.” We rally around the masterworks of Le Corbusier, Paul Rudolph, and Josep Lluis Sert, though others still fall into the dustbin of history. As wider appreciation for modern concrete lurches forward and the wrecking ball swings on, new discourse promises a broader lens to curtail future demo-remorse.

The sweeping concrete ramp and brise-soleil of the Carpenter Center, Harvard University Courtesy David Turturo, Bruner/Cott

Since we last wrote, interest in modern concrete has rekindled. Diverse publications reported on the Carpenter Center’s anniversary (Le Corbusier, 1963) and related celebrations that brought communities together in Cambridge, MA. The world continues to watch an imbroglio settle over the neglected concrete landscape of Peavey Plaza (M. Paul Friedberg, 1975) in Minneapolis, MN. And a wider debate echoes about whether the demolition of the bodacious Prentice Women’s Hospital(Bertrand Goldberg, 1975) inspired a new Penn Station moment for preservation in Chicago. These expressions of concrete love also resonate through a new wave of Brooklyn zines such as Projectand the more established Clog, whose best-selling issue is titled—what else—“Brutalism” (2013). It seems that bold concrete is no longer the gray elephant in the room.....Continue Reading

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