Constructing hope: How London’s Brutalist buildings offer lessons for the future
By: Kieran Selby
Tags: Architecture, London, Grenfell Tower, Barbican Centre, Brutalism

Constructing hope: How London’s Brutalist buildings offer lessons for the future

Above: The National Theatre, Bankside

The architecture of community

I have often found myself wandering aimlessly along the South Bank of the River Thames towards Borough Market. As you come out underneath Blackfriars Station, a monolith of brown brickwork emerges in your vision. This is the Tate Modern, formerly the Bankside Power Station, but now one of the foremost modern art museums in the world and an iconic London landmark. On the south side of the building lies the recently renamed ‘Blatvanik Building’. This step-pyramid, with its jaunty angles and narrow rows of windows, is one of my favourite pieces of exterior architecture in London. These features are reminiscent of an earlier form of architecture which is much derided, but I would argue carries significant value: Brutalism.

The London South Bank is a veritable paradise for fans of Brutalist architecture. Head west from Blackfriars and you pass the gorgeous terraced National Theatre, which hosts major productions and film premiers. Head under Waterloo Bridge and you arrive at the bustling South Bank Centre (or Royal Festival Hall), previously a target of demolition. However, after various campaigns, the original Brutalist building was maintained, and now it is one of the busiest and most lively spots in London. A minute away from Waterloo Station, you can find restaurants, coffee, a book market and after October a Christmas Market. The South Bank Centre sits atop a skate-park right next to the River Thames. A once forgotten area, the South Bank is now one of the centres of culture in one of the world’s formative cities. In part, this is due to the Brutalist buildings that line the river.

Brutalist architecture was intended to be simple, open and honest. This openness attracts people to gather, sit and notice the rhythm of the river against the background of the more historic buildings that climb up the North. Brutalist architecture was aimed at functionality. Whilst some may oppose the aesthetic appeal of layered concrete, thin windows and quirky angles, these buildings are not only designed to be looked at, but to provide a place to gather and look outwards. None of these buildings better serve this ethic than the Barbican.

The Barbican: An icon of a hopeful past

Voted ‘London’s Ugliest Building’ in 2003, the aesthetic of the building remains controversial and divisive. Standing next to the Tate Modern, you can see the three residential towers climbing up behind the sleek, glass giants of the City. London is an amalgamation of architectural styles, of centuries blended into one geographical location. It is unsurprising that some buildings don’t seem to fit in. However, the Barbican remains one of my favourite pieces of architecture in the city.

Above: Lakeside Terrace at the Barbican

Built on a site razed by WW2 bombing, the architects of the Barbican, Chamberlain, Powell and Bon, set about constructing a complex which they believed would change the way cities functioned. Their idea was to build a city within a city, with living and leisure followed into one continuous building site. The concrete building, much like the National Theatre, is abound with foliage. The Barbican Conservatory, open to the public, houses a tropical garden burgeoning with over 2,000 different plant species. Within the Barbican’s vast concrete labrinth you can also find a cinema, multiple theatres and galleries. One of the best places to sit around the Barbican is the remains of the London wall, where you can enjoy lunch on a sunny day next to the Barbican’s vast water feature. Whilst this may not be the Piazza Navona, the feature still manages to inspire a sense of vividness amongst its artificial confines.

The building has now become the sentinel of Brutalism in London, offering architectural tours and talks on the style which rose to prominence following the destruction of WW2 and ended with the rise of greater embellishment which became popular in 70s architecture. To me, it resembles hope, emblematic of a time where we believed it was possible to build a better future. The swinging 60s is remembered as the decade of London, where the city symbolised the centre of a phoenix-like world, rising from the ashes left from the destruction of the early 20th century. The grey walls of the Barbican carry the ghost of this optimism into the darkness of the postmodern world.

The power of aesthetics: The tragedy of Grenfell

Perhaps the most tragic ode to what Brutalism offers London and the power of exterior architecture in shaping our society, is the Grenfell Tower. Brutalist council flats are scattered across the city, and are a permanent reminder of the melting pot of classes that inhabit the city. Many of these buildings are seen as eyesores by the middle class occupants, who continue to move to the city in droves and price out the working-class residents. With increasing gentrification, many of the tower blocks are being demolished. However, demolition is an expensive and time consuming process. Many housing authorities are instead seeking to change the aesthetic of these traditional Brutalist blocks by either sandblasting the buildings, or lining them with cladding.

The Grenfell Tower was designed by Clifford Wearden and Associates in 1967, and was constructed between 1972–74. It was built in the Brutalist style of the time, but in 2012 the managers of the building, Kensington and Chelsea TMO, decided to renovate the building. The aluminium composite cladding was used in part to improve external appearance, but also because it was “cheaper”. Whilst public spending is a hotly-debated and controversial topic, I doubt the same cost-cutting measures apply to the facade of the Elizabeth Tower which is currently under renovation.

Many of you will be familiar with the events of the morning of 14th June 2017. Only shortly after London had been shocked by the terrorist incident at Borough Market, a fire was reported at a tower block in West London. It started as a small electrical fire, but the cladding was not flameproof. The fire spread within minutes to consume the whole building in an inferno. The inquiries around Grenfell continue, but the death toll stands at 72 and all the residents have been scattered and displaced. In 2017, the Grenfell Response Team reported that there had been 20 suicide attempts by survivors, one of which had been succesful. The inquiries into the disaster are still continuing until this day, and the shadow of the building (now covered up) looms over West London.

Above: The Grenfell Tower, covered up following the fire in 2017.

Whilst I won’t go into the contentious politics surrounding the tower, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea has one of the biggest wealth-gaps in the UK. The Grenfell Tower’s Brutalist facade may be considered ugly to those occupying the Georgian mansions of Chelsea. However, to those who lived inside, the tower block was a place of community and respite in a city which is incredibly harsh on the poor. These are the ethics of Brutalism. It is tragic, but perhaps telling, that a change in aesthetic has led to the ruin of the lives of everyone who lived in that tower. If we appreciated the underlying intention of Brutalism to build a better future for all, maybe the story would have been different.