It's surprising that the authors put so much time into researching the architectural heritage of the word heroic, but appeared to not do the same for brutalism. There's no mention of the word 'brut' - a reference to the raw, unfinished appearance used in early works identified by critics as forming a movement. Semantically it has nothing to do with the word brutal (meaning savage, etc.) , but it's a convenient leap for those imposing what they see an the ideology behind it.
In reality it's a very broad movement spanning decades, continents and covering a massive variety of design intentions.
Writing off all of it is as closed minded as writing off all of impressionism, etc. There are fantastic achievements and also-rans in any group.
I personally have a fondness for many of them, as I find the majority of modern civic architecture is forgettable and unambitious, and glass and steel do not automatically trump concrete and brick. But I would never claim to love it all.
There is a fantastic resource at www.sosbrutalism.org which contextualises classic examples in time and location is worth a few minutes of your time.
Consider the alternative to the EU's 'flawed and dangerous' response to the Balkans, etc - 28 individual responses which take no consideration of each other and cumulatively achieve nothing.
Some bureaucracy, organisational headaches (and yes of course, allowing those evil men in Brussles to tell us how straight our carrots can be) are a small price to pay for getting stuff done in our closely connected continent.
Taking the moral high ground with the 'undemocratic' argument gets you nowhere really. Britain has an unelected house of Parliament and many, many more historical oddities all of its own which are deeply undemocratic.
All you end up with is 'our brand of undemocracy is better than your dirty foreign one', and yes I'm aware that this is an oversimplification of sovereignty, etc, etc.
In reality it's a very broad movement spanning decades, continents and covering a massive variety of design intentions.
Writing off all of it is as closed minded as writing off all of impressionism, etc. There are fantastic achievements and also-rans in any group.
I personally have a fondness for many of them, as I find the majority of modern civic architecture is forgettable and unambitious, and glass and steel do not automatically trump concrete and brick. But I would never claim to love it all.
There is a fantastic resource at www.sosbrutalism.org which contextualises classic examples in time and location is worth a few minutes of your time.