The modernist movement started with the need to dispose of history and tradition in the architectural structures and bringing in simplicity and functionality. The architecture that once depended on decoration and being adorned as ornaments had evolved, rather than revolutionized like the buildings considered as the movement’s failures, into being made to fit the needs of the people using these structures.
An essential element to remember about this movement’s history would be that there was an absolute lack of resources with the aftermath of World War II, which further brought about the need to make buildings and their materials sustainable. With this need came a new architecture style within the modernist movement, which is the brutalist element. It was characterized by showcasing the building materials and structural factors rather than the structure’s decorative aspect.
It means that there is no focus on aesthetics as much as there is on the quality of the materials used. It feels almost soulless, harsh, and empty. The first structure that comes to mind while thinking of this form of modernist architecture would be the government hospital from the film A Clockwork Orange. The film that prominently revolved around the institutionalization and rehabilitative practices of criminals established its themes for me with the locations that it used. The film was based in a dystopian near-future Britain, and it made sense for it to be set in this brutalist structure that tried its hardest to associate itself with a social utopia of sorts. In this case, Brunel University was used to portray the government hospital where the practices took place.
Watching the film take place within the university, everything seemed so perfectly equal in the way of the box-shaped concrete formations with spaces that made me as a viewer feel incredibly claustrophobic. It was easy to see how a sense of agitation can be instilled in people residing in such structures and how minds could be shaped due to the standardization and rigidity that came with the brutalist architecture. Brunel University seems like the perfect institution to subdue and alter minds with its sheer brutality. There is something about structures such as this university that is too perfect, too equal, too opposed to errors, too strict, too separate from society, too alienated, that results in one’s mind being an easy subject to external forces.
Considering the context within which brutalist architecture came to be, I also noticed it has an underlying fascist ideology. In this case, the Hitler regime had manipulated the Nazi culture and aesthetics regarding the architecture, which subsequently produced content that does not leave room for a person’s imagination and instead provides them with the things they should be thinking and ultimately stunts a person’s individuality.
Another essential element of modernist architecture that I observed was constructing structures based on the environment within which it is being set up. This form of architecture is called organic architecture. It is built in a way that it seems to be a part of the landscape itself. This was prominent in the short film we saw of Britain’s modernist structures, specifically the University of East Anglia. I also observed something similar during my visit to New York City, the Guggenheim Museum. Although I did not get the opportunity to go inside, the magnificent architectural piece is striking even with its exterior.
The museum worked well with its environment, and the paintings on display inside it make it a prime example of organic architecture. Standing on the street across the museum, I still remember quite vividly, you can see both the Guggenheim Museum and Central Park right beside it making it a fascinating compromise between a glimpse of a utopian world and the natural world.
Exploring the museum’s interior, we can see that it presents quite a unique set up where the paintings are set up on different levels of the structure, viewed as the visitors move along the spiral slope. It’s a relatively simple structure, characteristic of modernist architecture, yet it allows space to enhance the aesthetics provided by the paintings displayed in the museum.
Observing these modernist architectural structures through the lens of the brutalist and organic architecture elements of the movement made me regard it as much more than the simple buildings, I initially thought them to be. It takes a different approach to see architecture as gateways to specific ideologies, as what I observed in the Brunel University and a lot of other brutalist architecture, as well as a combination between the natural spaces and a utopian future, as what I observed in the Guggenheim Museum and the University of East Anglia. Following the evolution of modernism within architecture makes me wonder about its route through other mediums as well.
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