Some brutalist architecture is great – but when it’s bad, it can be very, very ugly, depressing and miserable. Sometimes it ages disgustingly, especially if the concrete is of poor quality. And if there’s a fire…
Look at what happened to the INION building in Moscow, once considered a masterpiece of early Soviet brutalism, after the disastrous fire in January 2015.
The roof collapsed over one of the wings. For a day or two, there were fears the whole building would crumble so clean-up crews had to wait. They are planning to rebuild it, but it won’t be the same.
(Random thoughts triggered by Owen Hatherley‘s review of books on brutalist architecture.)