D 15 - Brutalism

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For thirty years I keep wondering who designed this? and why? The building was completed in the end of 70s so I thought that it must be some misunderstood application of modernist concepts.

Wikipedia says:

"Brutalist buildings usually are formed with striking repetitive angular geometries, and where concrete is used, often revealing the texture of the wooden forms used for the in-situ casting. Although concrete is the material most widely associated with Brutalist architecture, not all Brutalist buildings are formed from concrete. Instead, a building may achieve its Brutalist quality through a rough, blocky appearance, and the expression of its structural materials, forms, and (in some cases) services on its exterior. (...)

Brutalism as an architectural philosophy, rather than a style, was often also associated with a socialist utopian ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially Alison and Peter Smithson, near the height of the style. Critics argue that this abstract nature of Brutalism makes the style unfriendly and uncommunicative, instead of being integrating and protective, as its proponents intended. Brutalism also is criticised as disregarding the social, historic, and architectural environment of its surroundings, making the introduction of such structures in existing developed areas appear starkly out of place and alien."

Equipment

Canon Powershot A570 IS. Natural light from city lights and a series of lamps just below the frame.

What I learned

I must plan ahead for what will I shoot on a given day. Otherwise my photos will become more and more boring and I will gradually lose interest in this project.

Raw ugliness of this building (which I happen to live in) does hold a strange aesthetics which can be re-discovered by a willing eye. I should hurry with appreciating the geometries and textures while it is still left unchanged. The other 3 buildings in this condominium project have been insulated with polystyrene foam and repainted loosing their brutalist character.