CRITIQUING

MODERNISM
TEAM X
• A group of European architects with
a major impact, especially in the
sixties and seventies.
• The most famous participants were
- Peter + Alison Smithson (England),
- Aldo van Eyck and Jaap
Bakema (Netherlands),
- Giancarlo de Carlo (Italy),
Team 10's core group started meeting within
- Georges Candilis and Shadrach Woods
the context of CIAM,
(France).

• They came as young architects within CIAM and were appointed to organize the
10th Congress in 1956.
• At a later meeting in 1959 they stated CIAM death.
• They continued their own group, which was characterized by a much more
informal organization than the CIAM.
• In the 1970’s conducted the architectural debate on the one hand the
'postmodern' issues (Jencks and Venturi) and on the other 'Italian' discussion
(Rossi and others).
• This made Team 10’s modern architecture remained at the heart of the debate -
to the background.
• In 1981 Jaap Bakema died, who had always played a significant and supportive
role within Team 10.
• The remaining participants then decided to lift Team 10, as the group had
already less fell apart.

• Ultimately, Team 10 would itself

dissolve due to internal disagreements
regarding ideologies of urbanism
present from its beginning.
• This led to the foundation of New
Brutalism via the Smithsons and
Structuralism via Bakema and van
Eyck.
• Unsatisfied with the direction that the Congress International of Architecture
Modern (CIAM) was heading toward with respect to its outdated Rationalist
views on urbanism and the bureaucratic nature of the group, a small team of
architects known as Team 10 sought to succeeded in, restructuring CIAM.
• The primary constituents of Team X were architects Jaap Bakema, Aldo van
Eyck, Alison and Peter Smithson, Georges Candilis. These were all some of the
younger members of CIAM, and more importantly, they were part of the
CIAM Committee, a group dedicated to planning the upcoming CIAM
meeting.
• In becoming the council for CIAM X, the group, now officially known as Team
X, were able to push the conference toward their own agenda.
• Their reorganization of CIAM first came to completion at the end of the CIAM
X conference in 1956, with the official CIAM Council resigning and leaving
CIAM in the hands of the a reorganization committee largely consisting of
Team X members.
• In 1959, there was a meeting to discuss the reorganization of CIAM, but,
somewhat ironically, this was the last meeting that would bear the title of
CIAM, and hence marked its death.
• Some of the founders and most prominent architects of the time,
including Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier, sent a letter to Team X
expressing their disapproval of the end of CIAM and the direction
the group was heading.
• In response, Team X outlined their goals, providing a manifesto of
sorts, which explained that they were seeking to build a
“working-together-technique” to address the issues they found
widespread throughout rationalist urbanism.
• Primarily, Team X was concerned with designing and reforming
cities so that they were clearly organized.
• By specifically addressing the issues now prevalent in the motor
age such as a need for motorways, and embracing the
possibilities that this age brought, such as the potential for larger,
more diverse and functionally-situated areas, the urban
landscape would become more livable.
Pedestrian net structuring the central area
of Berlin.
In their plan for Berlin, the Smithons and
Sigmon sought to have pedestrian
walkways over streets and connecting
through buildings to provide a free-flowing
pedestrian traffic in unison with, but apart
from, the motor traffic beneath
Designed by: A. &. P Smithson and Sigmon
in 1958

Berlin needed to be connected via

motorways, so a complex chain of
streets and highways was proposed by
the Smithsons and Sigmon to achieve
this
Designed by: A. & P. Smithson and
Sigmond in 1958
• Ultimately, Team 10 would itself dissolve due to internal
disagreements regarding interpretations and ideologies of
urbanism present from its beginning.
• This led to the foundation of New Brutalism via the Smithsons and
Structuralism via Bakema and van Eyck.
• As such, during a time of architectural stagnation, Team X broke
down one of the main forces causing this, CIAM, and slowly paved
the way for new forms to take their hold in modern architecture.
BRUTALISM
• Brutalist architecture is a movement
in architecture that flourished from
the 1950s to the mid-1970s,
descending from the modernist
architectural movement of the early
20th century.

• The term "brutalism" was originally

coined by the Swedish architect Hans
Asplund. He originally used the Swedish-
language term nybrutalism (new
brutalism), which was picked up by a
group of English architects.
• The term gained wide currency when the
British architectural historian Reyner
Banham used it in the title of his 1966
book, The New Brutalism: Ethic or
Trellick Tower London, 1966–1972,
Aesthetic? designed by Ernő Goldfinger
Secretariat Building, Chandigarh Unité d'Habitation

• The best known proto Brutalist architecture is the work of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier,
in particular his 1952 Unité d'Habitation and the 1953 Secretariat Building in Chandigarh,
India.
• Brutalism gained considerable energy in the United Kingdom during the mid-twentieth
century, as economically depressed (and World War II-ravaged) communities sought
inexpensive construction and design methods for low-cost housing, shopping centres, and
government buildings.
• So many architects chose the Brutalist style even when they had large budgets, as they
appreciated the honesty, the sculptural qualities, and perhaps, the uncompromising,
nature of the style.
• Combined with the socially progressive intentions behind Brutalist streets in the
sky housings such as Corbusier's Unité, Brutalism was promoted as a positive option for
forward-moving, modern urban housing.
CHARACTERISTICS
• Brutalist buildings are usually formed with repeated modular
elements forming masses representing specific functional
zones, distinctly articulated and grouped together as whole.
• Concrete is used for its raw and unpretentious honesty,
contrasting dramatically with the highly refined and
ornamented buildings constructed in the Beaux-Arts style.
• Surfaces of cast concrete are made to reveal the basic nature
of its construction, revealing the texture of the wooden planks
used for the in-situ casting forms.
• Brutalist building materials also include brick, glass, steel,
rough stone.
• On the other hand, not all buildings exhibiting an exposed
concrete exterior can be considered Brutalist, and may belong
to one of a range of architectural styles
including Constructivism, International
Style, Expressionism, Postmodernism, and Deconstructivism.
• Another common theme in Brutalist
designs is the exposure of the
building's functions, ranging from their
structure and services to their human
use, in the exterior of the building.
• In the Boston City Hall, designed in
1962, the strikingly different and
projected portions of the building
indicate the special nature of the
rooms behind those walls, such as the
mayor's office or the city council
chambers. Boston City Hall USA

• From another perspective, the design

of the Hun stanton School included
placing the facility's water tank,
normally a hidden service feature, in a
prominent, visible tower.

Hunstanton School UK
• Brutalism as an architectural philosophy was often also
associated with a collective of best ideology, which tended to
be supported by its designers, especially Alison and Peter
Smithson, near the height of the style.
• This style had a strong position in the architecture of
European communist countries from the mid-1960s to the late
1980s.
 In the United Kingdom, architects
associated with the Brutalist style
include Ernő Goldfinger, wife-and-husband
pairing Alison and Peter Smithson

Alison and Peter Smithson

In the United States Paul Rudolph and Ralph
Rapson are both noted Brutalists
More recent Modernists such as I. M.
Pei, and Tadao Ando also have designed
notable Brutalist works

I. M. Pei

Tadao Ando

Louis Kahn
 Unité d’Habitation,
Marseille
LE CORBUSIER,
COMPLETED IN 1952

The first in Le Corbusier’s series of “unité” buildings was built as post-WWII working-class
housing, but instead it became home to Marseille’s intelligentsia, when its intended
residents balked at the revolutionary design. Then complete with a shopping center, post
office, and room for 1,600 people in efficiently laid-out apartments, the building acted as a
self-contained city that, according to Le Corbusier, “show[ed] the new splendor of bare
concrete.” Recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the megalith arguably
represents the birth of Brutalism.
 Paul Rudolph Hall, New
Haven, Connecticut
PAUL RUDOLPH,
COMPLETED IN 1963

Yale University’s Paul Rudolph Hall—formerly called the Yale Art and Architecture
Building and renamed for the preeminent architect in 2008—is considered one of the
first brutalist buildings in the United States. Two of the Hall’s giant textured-concrete
columns flank its narrow, off-center entryway, corralling visitors inside. The interior is
unexpectedly open, enhanced by natural light and enabling views of the Louis Kahn-
designed Yale University Art Gallery across the street. Intended to forge a community
among students, the building manifests Brutalism’s social ideals.
 Bank of London and
South America, Buenos
Aires
CLORINDO TESTA AND
SEPRA, COMPLETED IN
1966

Now owned by Banco Hipotecario Nacional, the building that once housed Buenos
Aires’s Bank of London and South America stands both in concert with and contrast to
its neoclassical neighbors. Echoing the surrounding Beaux Arts buildings, the bank
splays out to meet the area’s narrow streets, yet passersby can move among columns at
its base, enjoying the impression of more sidewalk space. Visible at the building’s front
is its primary structure—a sleek glass box encased on either side by a rugged concrete
shell. Apertures in the concrete lend both levity and character, as well as exterior views
from within.
 Boston City Hall, Boston
GERHARD KALLMANN
AND MICHAEL
MCKINNNELL, COMPLETED
IN 1968

Built as part of a campaign to restore the city’s former glory in the face of economic
inertia and white flight, Boston’s City Hall has been under fire for its harsh aesthetic
since it opened in 1968. The architectural community, however, has praised it as an
icon of Brutalism. The concrete building was conceived according to a kind of
modernized Classicism à la Le Corbusier, with rows of coffered overhangs and various
protruding modules, one of which houses the mayor’s office. With windows into the
building’s activities and an outdoor plaza designed to flow seamlessly into the lobby,
the building espouses governmental transparency.