SAVING BRUTALIST BUILDINGS—PAUL RUDOLPH.

SAVING BRUTALIST BUILDINGS—PAUL RUDOLPH. It seems strange that buildings that were built only fifty years ago are now threatened by the wrecking ball, but technological change—think of electrical requirements, for example—has been enormous. Another reason is the unpopularity of some of the buildings. I posted here about how a lot of people just don’t like concrete. Adela Louise Huxtable had an article in the Wall Street Journal for February 25 about Boston’s City Hall and Paul Rudolph’s Art and Architecture Building at Yale, two buildings which she says are representatives of Brutalism. “The name Brutalism —from the French beton brut, the raw concrete used by Le Corbusier and favored by modernists — is more commonly used today as a term of opprobrium by a public that profoundly dislikes the style’s rough textures and powerful forms.” Huxtable clearly admires the Art and Architecture Building, calling it a “brilliant, virtuoso performance.” Here is a picture of it. The building has now been restored. Apparently, the building was only saved for restoration because of the “high cost and extreme difficulty of demolishing solid concrete.”