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Art Gallery of Alberta

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The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is an art museum in Edmonton , Alberta , Canada. The museum occupies an 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) building at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton . The museum building was originally designed by Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley, although portions of that structure were demolished or built over during a redevelopment of the building by Randall Stout .

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106-660: The art museum was established in 1924 as the Edmonton Museum of Arts . In 1956 the museum was renamed the Edmonton Art Gallery . The museum occupied a number of locations in the years after its establishment in 1924 until 1969. That year, the museum relocated to its present location and was reopened to the public in the Brutalist Arthur Blow Condell building. In 2005, the museum was renamed Art Gallery of Alberta. From 2007 to 2010,

212-557: A "square" has a wider meaning. There are public squares of the type described above but the term is also used for formal open spaces surrounded by houses with private gardens at the centre, sometimes known as garden squares . Most of these were built in the 18th and 19th centuries. In some cases the gardens are now open to the public. See the Squares in London category. Additionally, many public squares were created in towns and cities across

318-473: A building should look like with focus given to interior spaces as much as exterior. A common theme in brutalist designs is the exposure of the building's inner-workings—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

424-631: A building will usually be directed against a brutalist one. According to Simon Jenkins , "Few styles in history can have been met with so many pleas from its users to see it destroyed." In 2005, the British TV programme Demolition ran a public vote to select twelve buildings that ought to be demolished, and eight of those selected were brutalist buildings. One argument is that this criticism exists in part because concrete façades do not age well in damp, cloudy maritime climates such as those of northwestern Europe and New England . In these climates,

530-476: A central public square, Victoria Square , and four public squares in the centre of each quarter of the city. North Adelaide has two public squares. The city was also designed to be surrounded by park lands , and all of these features still exist today, with the squares maintained as mostly green spaces. In Mainland China, People's Square is a common designation for the central town square of modern Chinese cities, established as part of urban modernization within

636-405: A descriptive label for the architecture itself and that it "eludes precise description, while remaining a living force". He attempted to codify the movement in systematic language, insisting that a brutalist structure must satisfy the following terms, "1, Formal legibility of plan; 2, clear exhibition of structure, and 3, valuation of materials for their inherent qualities 'as found'." Also important

742-527: A modern brick home in Uppsala , designed in January 1950 by his contemporaries Bengt Edman and Lennart Holm. Showcasing the 'as found' design approach that would later be at the core of brutalism, the house displays visible I-beams over windows, exposed brick inside and out, and poured concrete in several rooms where the tongue-and-groove pattern of the boards used to build the forms can be seen. The term

848-491: A modernist building in steel and glass before cost considerations meant the structural elements were redesigned in concrete and moved to the outside of the building. Evans Woollen III 's brutalist Clowes Memorial Hall , a performing arts facility that opened in 1963 on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis , was praised for its bold and dramatic design. The University of Minnesota 's West Bank campus features

954-692: A particle in a proper noun. Like the Italian piazza and the Portuguese praça , the plaza remains a center of community life that is only equaled by the market-place. A plaza de toros is a bullring . Shopping centers may incorporate 'plaza' into their names, and plaza comercial is used in some countries as a synonym for centro comercial i.e. "shopping center". In the United Kingdom, and especially in London and Edinburgh ,

1060-479: A plaza can mean one of several things: Today's metropolitan landscapes often incorporate the plaza as a design element, or as an outcome of zoning regulations, building budgetary constraints, and the like. Sociologist William H. Whyte conducted an extensive study of plazas in New York City : his study humanized the way modern urban plazas are conceptualized, and helped usher in significant design changes in

1166-456: A purpose-built facility for the art museum began in 1962, after A. E. Condell bequeathed funds to the museum on behalf of her son, Arthur Blow Condell. Designs by architects Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley were chosen for the building, with the City of Edmonton donating 2,400 square metres (0.59 acres) at Churchill Square for the site of the new building. The building was opened in 1969, and

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1272-644: A restaurant, espresso bar, gift shop, and an educational facility with a 150-seat theatre known as the Singhmar Centre for Art Education. The building includes a rooftop patio known as the City of Edmonton Terrace. The building also includes rental spaces for the public, such as Manning Hall. The original structure on the property that was used by the museum, the Arthur Blow Condell building, was opened in 1969 with designs from Donald G. Bittorf, and B. James Wensley. The Brutalist -styled building

1378-400: A true geometric square . Being centrally located, town squares are usually surrounded by small shops such as bakeries, meat markets, cheese stores, and clothing stores. At their center is often a well , monument , statue or other feature. Those with fountains are sometimes called fountain squares . The term "town square" (especially via the term "public square") is synonymous with

1484-729: Is Platz , which also means "Place", and is a common term for central squares in German-speaking countries. These have been focal points of public life in towns and cities from the Middle Ages to today. Squares located opposite a Palace or Castle ( German : Schloss ) are commonly named Schlossplatz . Prominent Plätze include the Alexanderplatz , Pariser Platz and Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Heldenplatz in Vienna, and

1590-460: Is a back formation, since krásnaja (the term for "red") also means "beautiful" in archaic and poetic Russian, with many cities and towns throughout the region having locations with the name "Red Square." Gwanghwamun Plaza ( Korean : 광화문광장) also known as Gwanghwamun Square) is a public open space on Sejongno , Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It against the background of A Gwanghwamun Gate(Korean: 광화문). In 2009, Restoration of Gwanghwamun Gate made

1696-675: Is a cognate of Italian piazza and French place (which has also been borrowed into English). The term is used across Spanish-speaking territories in Spain and the Americas, as well as in the Philippines . In addition to smaller plazas, the Plaza Mayor (sometimes called in the Americas as Plaza de Armas , "armament square" where troops could be mustered) of each center of administration held three closely related institutions:

1802-470: Is a common term for an open area in the heart of the town . In a number of cities, the square has no individual name and is officially designated Central Square , for example Central Square (Tolyatti) . The most famous central square is the monumentally-proportioned Red Square which became a synecdoche for the Soviet Union during the 20th century; nevertheless, the association with "red communism"

1908-424: Is a strict, modernistic design language that has been said to be a reaction to the architecture of the 1940s, much of which was characterised by a retrospective nostalgia. Peter Smithson believed that the core of brutalism was a reverence for materials, expressed honestly, stating "Brutalism is not concerned with the material as such but rather the quality of material", and "the seeing of materials for what they were:

2014-418: Is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town , and which is used for community gatherings. A square in a city may be called a city square . Related concepts are the civic center , the market square and the village green . Most squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets , concerts , political rallies, and other events that require firm ground. They are not necessarily

2120-509: Is considered one of the essential features in urban planning and they are often adjacent to bazaars, large mosques and other public buildings. Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan and Azadi Square in Tehran are examples of classic and modern squares. Several countries use the term "maidan" across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including Ukraine, in which the term became well-known globally during

2226-584: Is known for his brutalist academic buildings. Marcel Breuer was known for his "soft" approach to the style, often using curves rather than corners. In Atlanta , Georgia, the architectural style was introduced to Buckhead's affluent Peachtree Road with the Ted Levy-designed Plaza Towers and Park Place on Peachtree condominiums. Many of the stations of the Washington Metro , particularly older stations, were constructed in

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2332-601: Is known in the Southwestern United States , is a common feature within the boundaries of the former provincial kingdom of Santa Fe de Nuevo México . They are a blend of Hispano and Pueblo design styles, several of which continue to be hubs for cities and towns in New Mexico , including Santa Fe Plaza , Old Town Albuquerque , Acoma Pueblo 's plaza, Taos Downtown Historic District , Mesilla Plaza , Mora , and Las Vegas Plaza . In U.S. English ,

2438-755: Is largely brutalist, designed as an expression of Afrikaans identity. Several universities in Southeast Asia also feature brutalist designs, including those at the Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmaceutical University , the Royal University of Phnom Penh , and the Industrial College of Hue . A 2014 article in The Economist noted its unpopularity with the public, observing that a campaign to demolish

2544-587: Is located at Churchill Square, a public square in downtown Edmonton . The building takes up 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) of the property, which includes over 3,000 square metres (32,000 sq ft) of climate-controlled exhibition spaces. The building was designed by Randall Stouts Architects, Inc., from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Local architects and engineering firms HIP Architects, Stantec , BPTEC Engineering, and Read Jones Christoffersen assisted Randall Stout's design team; while Ledcor Group of Companies provided construction management for

2650-487: The bao cấp era (lit: subsidizing), the period during which the country followed Soviet-type economic planning . Many Soviet architects , most notably Garol Isakovich , were sent to Vietnam during that time to help train new architects and played an influential role in shaping the country's architectural styles for decades. Isakovich himself also designed some of the most notable brutalist buildings in Vietnam, including

2756-603: The Award of Merit by the American Institute of Architects in 1976 for distinguished accomplishment in library architecture. However, in recent years, as public attitudes towards brutalism have shifted, the library has been referred to as one of the "ugliest" buildings in Georgetown and Washington, D.C. Examples of brutalist university campuses can be found in other countries as well. The Robarts Library at

2862-967: The Canada Council for the Arts' New Chapter program. The museum's collection of historical Canadian art includes works by Jack Bush , Emily Carr , Henry George Glyde , Illingworth Kerr , Cornelius Krieghoff , Pegi Nicol MacLeod , James Wilson Morrice , Marion Nicoll , Paul Peel , Bill Reid , Jean-Paul Riopelle , Carl Schaefer , Lilias Torrance Newton , and members of the Group of Seven . The museum's collection of modern and contemporary art feature works by Canadian artists including Robert Boyer , Janet Cardiff , Chris Cran , Marlene Creates , Dean Drever , Aganetha Dyck , Douglas Haynes , Alex Janvier , Brian Jungen , Rita Letendre , Amy Malbeuf , Liz Magor , Lyndal Osborne , Jane Ash Poitras , and Takao Tanabe . The museum's collection of photographs

2968-562: The Central Hall of the University of York with its surrounding colleges, designed by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall & Partners, who would go on to build the universities of Bath , Stirling and Ulster . A notable pairing of brutalist campus buildings is found at Durham University , with Ove Arup 's Grade I-listed Kingsgate Bridge (1963), one of only six post-1961 buildings to have been listed as Grade I by 2017, and

3074-728: The Euromaidan . A piazza ( Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjattsa] ) is a city square in Italy , Malta , along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. Possibly influenced by the centrality of the Forum (Roman) to ancient Mediterranean culture, the piazze of Italy are central to most towns and cities. Shops, businesses, metro stations, and bus stops are commonly found on piazzas, and in multiple locations also feature Roman Catholic Churches , such as in places known as

3180-565: The Florey Building at Queen's College, Oxford , both also Grade II*), is described in its listing as "a distinctive example of a new approach to education buildings, from a period when the universities were at the forefront of architectural patronage". The building of new universities in the UK in the 1960s led to opportunities for brutalist architects. The first to be built was the University of Sussex , designed by Basil Spence , with

3286-758: The Grand-Place in Brussels and the Grote Markt in Antwerp ). The Grote Markt or Grand-Place is often the location of the town hall , hence also the political centre of the town. The Dutch word for square is plein , which is another common name for squares in Dutch-speaking regions (for example Het Plein in The Hague ). In the 17th and 18th centuries, another type of square emerged,

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3392-637: The Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago , United States, is notable as the first completed building in the world to carry the title of "new brutalist" by its architects. At the time, it was described as "the most truly modern building in England". The term gained increasingly wider recognition when British architectural historian Reyner Banham used it to identify both an ethic and aesthetic style, in his 1955 essay The New Brutalism . In

3498-595: The Königsplatz in Munich. A large open square common in villages, towns and cities of Indonesia is known as alun-alun . It is a Javanese term which in modern-day Indonesia refers to the two large open squares of kraton compounds. It is typically located adjacent a mosque or a palace. It is a place for public spectacles, court celebrations and general non-court entertainments. In traditional Persian architecture, town squares are known as maydan or meydan. A maydan

3604-1352: The Laval University campus in Quebec City; Habitat 67 , Place Bonaventure , the Maison de Radio-Canada , and several metro stations on the Montreal Metro's Green Line ; the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown; the National Arts Centre in Ottawa ; the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston; the Ontario Science Centre , Robarts Library , Rochdale College in Toronto ; Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Canadian Grain Commission building in Winnipeg ; and

3710-863: The Parliament Building and the City Hall officially named John Mackintosh Square is referred to as The Piazza. In the Low Countries , squares are often called "markets" because of their usage as marketplaces . Most towns and cities in Belgium and the southern part of the Netherlands have in their historical centre a Grote Markt (literally "Big Market") in Dutch or Grand-Place (literally "Grand Square") in French (for example

3816-673: The Piazza del Duomo , with the most famous perhaps being at Duomo di Milan , or government buildings, such as the Piazza del Quirinale adjacent from the Quirinal Palace of the Italian president. The Piazza San Marco in Venice and Piazza del Popolo in Rome are among the world's best known. The Italian piazzas historically played a major role in the political developments of Italy in both

3922-554: The Rarig Center , a performing arts venue by Ralph Rapson from 1971 that has been called "the best example in the Twin Cities of the style called Brutalism". Faner Hall at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has long been controversial for its use of brutalism and has been considered an eyesore on campus, deemed to have a "facade only a mother could love" by the university itself. The Joseph Mark Lauinger Library ,

4028-620: The Royal Institute of British Architects . Denys Lasdun 's work at the University of East Anglia , including six linked halls of residence commonly referred to as 'ziggurats', is considered one of the finest examples of a 1960s brutalist university campus. Other notable examples include the Grade II listed lecture block at Brunel University , used as a location in Stanley Kubrick 's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange , and

4134-623: The United Kingdom , architects associated with the brutalist style include Ernő Goldfinger , wife-and-husband pairing Alison and Peter Smithson , some of the work of Sir Basil Spence , the London County Council / Greater London Council Architects Department, Owen Luder , John Bancroft , and, arguably perhaps, Sir Denys Lasdun , Sir Leslie Martin , Sir James Stirling and James Gowan with their early works. Some well-known examples of brutalist-influenced architecture in

4240-522: The University of Toronto was designed by Warner, Burns, Toan & Lunde and built between 1968 and 1973. Although it has been called "a crowning achievement of the brutalist movement", its opening in 1974 came after public sentiment had turned against brutalism, leading to it being condemned as "a blunder on the grandest scale". Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa (now Kingsway Campus Auckland Park , University of Johannesburg )

4346-636: The Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Palace of Culture and Labour (1985). In his later years, Isakovich, who was awarded the Hero of Labor by the Vietnamese government in 1976, is said to have deviated from the brutalist style and adopted Vietnamese traditional styles in his design, which has been referred to by some Vietnamese architects as Chủ nghĩa hiện đại địa phương (lit: local modernism ) and hậu hiện đại ( postmodernism ). In

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4452-449: The cathedral , the cantabile or administrative center, which might be incorporated in a wing of a governor's palace , and the audiencia or law court. The plaza might be large enough to serve as a military parade ground. At times of crisis or fiestas , it serves as the gathering space for large crowds. Diminutives of plaza include plazuela and the latter's double diminutive plazoleta , which can be occasionally used as

4558-439: The 1930s and 1940s as a result of the Great Depression and the Second World War . From the 1960s to the 1985, the museum's focused its acquisition efforts on paintings and sculptures of modern art . In 2015, the museum's permanent collection was valued at approximately CA$ 30 million . In 2017, the museum received $ 375,000 to acquire works by contemporary First Nations, Inuit and Metis artists for their permanent collection from

4664-450: The 1940s. Derived from the Swedish phrase nybrutalism, the term "new brutalism" was first used by British architects Alison and Peter Smithson for their pioneering approach to design. The style was further popularised in a 1955 essay by architectural critic Reyner Banham , who also associated the movement with the French phrases béton brut ("raw concrete") and art brut ("raw art"). The style, as developed by architects such as

4770-437: The 1951–1961 Chandigarh Capitol Complex in India; and the 1955 church of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp , France. Banham further expanded his thoughts in the 1966 book, The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic? , to characterise a somewhat recently established cluster of architectural approaches, particularly in Europe. In the book, Banham says that Le Corbusier's concrete work was a source of inspiration and helped popularise

4876-406: The 1960s. This style had a strong position in the architecture of European communist countries from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s ( Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia , East Germany , USSR , Yugoslavia ). In Czechoslovakia, Brutalism was presented as an attempt to create a "national" but also "modern socialist" architectural style. Such prefabricated socialist era buildings are called panelaky . In

4982-416: The 1970s in the world. The treatment of the form and details is slightly associating the building with postmodernism and is today one of the rare surviving representatives of this style's early period in Serbia. The artistic expression of the gate marked an entire era in Serbian architecture. In Vietnam , brutalist architecture is particularly popular among old public buildings and has been associated with

5088-453: The 20th century, the museum occupied various sites including a former Edmonton Public Library building, and the fourth floor of the Civic Block and the Edmonton Motors; building before settling into the former home of Richard Secord in 1952. Recognizing that the majority of its collection, and exhibition activities were in the area of fine arts, the institution opted to change its name to the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1956. Efforts to construct

5194-423: The Alberta Museum Association, the Canadian Heritage Information Network , the Canadian Museums Association , and the Virtual Museum of Canada . Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase

5300-514: The Arthur Blow Condell building was partially demolished with significant portions of the existing structure incorporated into Stout's design. Construction of the new building formally began in June 2007. The museum was closed to the public from March 2007 to January 2010 in order to facilitate the construction of the new building; with a museum exhibiting its collection in a former Hudson's Bay Company property at Enterprise Square from April 2007 to December 2009. The museum's inaugural exhibitions after

5406-403: The British capital include the Barbican Centre ( Chamberlin, Powell and Bon ) and the National Theatre ( Denys Lasdun ). In the United States , Paul Rudolph and Ralph Rapson were both noted brutalists. Evans Woollen III , a pacesetter among architects in the Midwest , is credited for introducing the Brutalist and Modernist architecture styles to Indianapolis , Indiana. Walter Netsch

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5512-427: The East Campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago ) under a single, unified brutalist design. Netsch also designed the brutalist Joseph Regenstein Library for the University of Chicago and the Northwestern University Library . Crafton Hills College in California was designed by desert modern architect E. Stewart Williams in 1965 and built between 1966 and 1976. Williams' brutalist design contrasts with

5618-415: The Edmonton Art Club in addition to 24 works on loan from the National Gallery of Canada collection. Growth of the museum's collection was slowed during the 1930s and 1940s, as a result of the Great Depression and the Second World War . During this period, the museum maintained a number of art education classes, as well as exhibiting works on loan from the National Gallery of Canada. In the first half of

5724-454: The Edmonton Museum of Arts, with a mandate to promote fine arts, and preserve historical relics from the region. The institution was established after Maud Bowman, the museums founding director and president enlisted the support of the Edmonton Art Club, and several other business, and political leaders. The museum held its first exhibition in the Palm Room of the Hotel Macdonald , with work on loan from local collections that included members of

5830-406: The Grade I listed Falmer House as its centerpiece. The building has been described as a "meeting of Arts and Crafts with modernism", with features such as hand-made bricks that contrast with the pre-fabricated construction of other 1960s campuses, and colonnades of bare, board-marked concrete arches on brick piers inspired by the Colosseum. It is also considered one of the "key Brutalist buildings" by

5936-468: The Grade II-listed Dunelm House (Richard Raines of the Architects' Co-Partnership ; 1964–66), described in its listing as "the foremost students' union building of the post-war era in England" but only saved from demolition in 2021 following a five-year campaign by the Twentieth Century Society . One of the earliest brutalist buildings in the US was Paul Rudolph 's 1963 Art and Architecture Building at Yale University where, as department chair, he

6042-448: The Italian Medieval Era and the Italian Renaissance. For example, the Piazza della Signoria in Florence remains synonymous with the return of the Medici from their exile in 1530 as well as the burning at the stake of Savonarola during the Italian Inquisition . The Italian term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza , the French term place, the Portuguese praça, and the German Platz. Not to be confused, other countries use

6148-480: The November issue of Architectural Design . She further stated: "It is our intention in this building to have the structure exposed entirely, without interior finishes wherever practicable." The Smithsons' Hunstanton School completed in 1954 in Norfolk , and the Sugden House completed in 1955 in Watford , represent the earliest examples of new brutalism in the United Kingdom. Hunstanton school, likely inspired by Mies van der Rohe 's 1946 Alumni Memorial Hall at

6254-420: The Smithsons' Robin Hood Gardens (2017) in East London , John Madin 's Birmingham Central Library (2016), Marcel Breuer's American Press Institute Building in Reston, Virginia , Araldo Cossutta 's Third Church of Christ, Scientist in Washington, D.C. (2014), and the Welbeck Street car park in London (2019). Public square A town square (also a plaza , public square or urban square )

6360-483: The Smithsons, Hungarian-born Ernő Goldfinger , and the British firm Chamberlin, Powell & Bon , was partly foreshadowed by the modernist work of other architects such as French-Swiss Le Corbusier , Estonian-American Louis Kahn , German-American Mies van der Rohe , and Finnish Alvar Aalto . In the United Kingdom, brutalism was featured in the design of utilitarian, low-cost social housing influenced by socialist principles and soon spread to other regions around

6466-666: The UK as part of urban redevelopment following the Blitz . Squares can also be quite small and resemble courtyards, especially in the City of London . In some cities, especially in New England , the term "square" (as its Spanish equivalent, plaza ) is applied to a commercial area (like Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts ), usually formed around the intersection of three or more streets, and which originally consisted of some open area (many of which have been filled in with traffic islands and other traffic calming features). Many of these intersections are irregular rather than square. The placita (Spanish for "little plaza"), as it

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6572-437: The United States have been recognized, such as the Pirelli Tire Building in New Haven's Long Wharf. The Twentieth Century Society has unsuccessfully campaigned against the demolition of British buildings such as the Tricorn Centre and Trinity Square multi-storey car park but successfully in the case of Preston bus station garage, London's Hayward Gallery , and others. Notable buildings that have been demolished include

6678-427: The University of Sydney (his State Office Block is another), the High Court of Australia and Warringah Civic Centre by Christopher Kringas , the MUSE building (also referred to as C7A MUSE) which was the original Library at Macquarie University before the new library replaced it, and WTC Wharf (World Trade Centre in Melbourne ). John Andrews 's government and institutional structures in Australia also exhibit

6784-432: The bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design. The style commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick , angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette; other materials, such as steel , timber , and glass , are also featured. Descending from the modernist movement , brutalism is said to be a reaction against the nostalgia of architecture in

6890-428: The brutalist style. Architectural historian William Jordy says that although Louis Kahn was "[o]pposed to what he regarded as the muscular posturing of most Brutalism", some of his work "was surely informed by some of the same ideas that came to momentary focus in the brutalist position." In Australia , examples of the brutalist style are Robin Gibson 's Queensland Art Gallery , Ken Woolley 's Fisher Library at

6996-409: The building underwent an CA$ 88 million redevelopment, and was reopened to the public on January 31, 2010. Its collection includes over 6,000 works, with a focus on art produced in Alberta, and other parts of western Canada . In addition to exhibiting its permanent collection, the museum also hosts travelling exhibitions and offers public education programs. The museum was established in 1924 as

7102-453: The buildings. Buildings may use materials such as concrete, brick, glass, steel, timber, rough-hewn stone, and gabions among others. However, due to its low cost, raw concrete is often used and left to reveal the basic nature of its construction with rough surfaces featuring wood "shuttering" produced when the forms were cast in situ . Examples are frequently massive in character (even when not large) and challenge traditional notions of what

7208-414: The church of the Westminster Abbey in British Columbia. Prominent Vancouver-based architect, Arthur Erickson was responsible for several noteable brutalist developments including Simon Fraser University 's main campus building, the MacMillan Bloedel Building , Vancouver's Evergreen Building, the Museum of Anthropology and Vancouver Law Courts . In Serbia , Božidar Janković was a representative of

7314-446: The concrete becomes streaked with water stains and sometimes with moss and lichen , and rust stains from the steel reinforcing bars . Critics of the style find it unappealing due to its "cold" appearance, projecting an atmosphere of totalitarianism , as well as the association of the buildings with urban decay due to materials weathering poorly in certain climates and the surfaces being prone to vandalism by graffiti. Despite this,

7420-452: The department, and designed by Colin St John Wilson and Alex Hardy, with participation by students at the university. This inspired further brutalist buildings in Cambridge, including the Grade II listed University Centre and the Grade II listed Churchill College . The Grade II* listed History Faculty Building, the second building in architect James Stirling 's Red Trilogy (along with the University of Leicester Engineering Building and

7526-433: The designs from Los Angeles–based architect Randall Stout was chosen as the winning design for the museum. The redevelopment doubles the exhibition space within its structure, as well as provided an off-site storage site for its collection. On the same day the winning design was announced, the museum was renamed the Art Gallery of Alberta, in an effort to reflect its expanding focus on art from all of Alberta. In April 2007,

7632-637: The essay, Banham described Hunstanton and the Soho house as the "reference by which The New Brutalism in architecture may be defined." Reyner Banham also associated the term "new brutalism" with art brut and béton brut , meaning "raw concrete" in French, for the first time. The best-known béton brut architecture is the proto-brutalist work of the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier , in particular his 1952 Unité d'habitation in Marseille , France;

7738-469: The former South Vietnam , notable buildings that are said to carry brutalist elements include the Independence Palace (1966) designed by Ngô Viết Thụ , the first Asian architect to become an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects . However, whether South Vietnamese architecture prior to 1975 was brutalism or not remains a matter of dispute, with some architects argued it

7844-494: The gate's front space as a public plaza. The square has been renovated to modern style has new waterways & rest Areas, exhibition Hall for Excavated Cultural Assets in 2022 Aug. The Spanish-language term for a public square is plaza ( [ˈplasa] or [ˈplaθa] depending on the dialectal variety). It comes from Latin platea , with the meaning of 'broad street' or 'public square'. Ultimately coming from Greek πλατεῖα (ὁδός) plateia (hodos) , it

7950-667: The last few decades. These squares are the site of government buildings, museums and other public buildings. One such square, Tiananmen Square , is a famous site in Chinese history due to it being the site of the May Fourth Movement , the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China , the 1976 Tiananmen Incident , the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests , and all Chinese National Day Parades . The German word for square

8056-432: The lavish Atlas of Brutalist Architecture (Phaidon, 2018). Many of the defining aspects of the style have been softened in newer buildings, with concrete façades often being sandblasted to create a stone-like surface, covered in stucco , or composed of patterned, precast elements. These elements are also found in renovations of older Brutalist buildings, such as the redevelopment of Sheffield's Park Hill . Villa Göth

8162-575: The main library of the Georgetown University Library System, was designed by John Carl Warnecke and opened in 1970. Originally conceived with a traditional design similar to other buildings at Georgetown University , the final design of the Lauinger Library embraces brutalism and was intended as a modern interpretation of the nearby Healy Hall , a Flemish Romanesque building. The building once received

8268-451: The making of plazas. They can be used to open spaces for low-income neighborhoods, and can also the overall aesthetic of the surrounding area boosting economic vitality, pedestrian mobility and safety for pedestrians. Most plazas are created out of a collaboration between local non-profit applicants and city officials which requires approval from the city. Throughout North America, words like place , square , or plaza frequently appear in

8374-494: The movement as a whole, have drawn a range of criticism (often being described as "cold" or "soulless") but have also elicited support from architects and a small number of local communities (with many brutalist buildings having become official, if not popular, cultural icons, sometimes obtaining a protected status). The term nybrutalism (new brutalism) was coined by the Swedish architect Hans Asplund to describe Villa Göth ,

8480-401: The movement, suggesting "if there is one single verbal formula that has made the concept of Brutalism admissible in most of the world's Western languages, it is that Le Corbusier himself described that concrete work as ' béton-brut '". He further states that "the words 'The New Brutalism' were already circulating, and had acquired some depth of meaning through things said and done, over and above

8586-464: The municipal government. The museum's permanent collection features over 6,000 works, the majority of which were produced after the 1950s. Many of these works were acquired by the museum through private and public donors. The museum's collection has an emphasis on art that was produced in Alberta, or western Canada . The museum's permanent collection began in 1924, although its growth was slowed during

8692-592: The museum and the National Gallery of Canada issued a joint press release announcing a three-year partnership, which saw the use of the Art Gallery of Alberta's galleries to exhibit works from the National Gallery's collection. The program was the first "satellite program" between the National Gallery of Canada, and another art museum. In 2017, the museum started an initiative of providing free admission for minors and post-secondary students. The property

8798-478: The museum's board of directors and facility management on practice and changes. The museum is accessible through public transit from Churchill station , a station for the Edmonton LRT system. The museum provides a discount visitors who travelled by public transit. Parking spaces for automobiles and bicycles is not provided by the museum, with museum visitors reliant on surrounding parking spaces maintained by

8904-679: The phrase to refer to an unrelated feature of architectural or urban design, such as the "piazza" at King's Cross station in London or piazza as used by some in the United States, to refer to a verandah or front porch of a house or apartment, such as at George Washington's historic home Mount Vernon . Several countries, especially around the Mediterranean Sea, feature Italian-style town squares. In Gibraltar, one such town square just off Gibraltar 's Main Street , between

9010-474: The politics of many cultures, and the names of a certain town squares, such as the Euromaidan or Red Square , have become symbolic of specific political events throughout history. The city centre of Adelaide and the adjacent suburb of North Adelaide , in South Australia, were planned by Colonel William Light in 1837. The city streets were laid out in a grid plan , with the city centre including

9116-609: The project. The original budget for the renovation was CA$ 48 million , although it was later increased to C$ 88 million. The patinated zinc and stainless steel design was intended to demonstrate the museum's "commitment to contemporary art". The exterior of the building features a 190 metres (620 ft) steel ribbon, intended to represent the North Saskatchewan River , and the aurora , geographical phenomenons and features of Edmonton. The building's interior also features an "aurora" inspired room. The building includes

9222-529: The renovation included: Edgar Degas : Figures in Motion ; Karsh : Image Maker ; and The Murder of Crows , the North American premiere of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller 's sound installation. After the museum reopened on 31 January 2010, annual memberships to the Art Gallery of Alberta increased, with the museum seeing 30,000 visitors within the first six weeks of reopening. In December 2009,

9328-507: The rooms behind those walls, such as the mayor's office or the city council chambers. From another perspective, the design of the Hunstanton School included placing the facility's water tank, normally a hidden service feature, in a prominent, visible tower. Rather than being hidden in the walls, Hunstanton's water and electric utilities were delivered via readily visible pipes and conduits. Brutalism as an architectural philosophy

9434-795: The so-called royal square (French: Place royale , Dutch: Koningsplein ). Such squares did not serve as a marketplace but were built in front of large palaces or public buildings to emphasise their grandeur, as well as to accommodate military parades and ceremonies, among others (for example the Place Royale in Brussels and the Koningsplein in Amsterdam ). Palace squares are usually more symmetrical than their older market counterparts. In Russia, central square ( Russian : центра́льная пло́щадь , romanised : tsentráĺnaya plóshchad́ )

9540-537: The so-called "Belgrade School of residence", identifiable by its functionalist relations on the basis of the flat and elaborated in detail the architecture. Known example, Western City Gate also known as the Genex Tower is a 36- storey skyscraper in Belgrade , Serbia , which was designed in 1977 by Mihajlo Mitrović . It is formed by two towers connected with a two-storey bridge and revolving restaurant at

9646-411: The steep terrain of the area and was chosen in part because it provided a firebreak from the surrounding environment. One of the most famous brutalist buildings in the United States is Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego . Designed by William Pereira and built 1969–70, it is said to "occup[y] a fascinating nexus between brutalism and futurism" but was originally intended as

9752-585: The style is appreciated by others, and preservation efforts are taking place in the United Kingdom. Although the Brutalist movement was largely over by the late 1970s and early 1980s, having largely given way to Structural Expressionism and Deconstructivism , it has experienced a resurgence of interest since 2015 with the publication of a variety of guides and books, including Brutal London (Zupagrafika, 2015), Brutalist London Map (2015), This Brutal World (2016), SOS Brutalism: A Global Survey (2017), and

9858-691: The style. Canada possesses numerous examples of brutalist architecture. In the years leading to the 100th anniversary of the Confederation in 1967, the Federal Government financed the construction of many public buildings. Major brutalist examples, not all built as part of the Canadian Centennial , include the Grand Théâtre de Québec , the Édifice Marie-Guyart (formerly Complex-G), Hôtel Le Concorde , and much of

9964-518: The top. It is 117 m (384 ft) tall (with restaurant 135–140 m (443–459 ft)) and is the second-tallest high-rise in Belgrade after Ušće Tower . The building was designed in the brutalist style with some elements of structuralism and constructivism . It is considered a prime representative of the brutalist architecture in Serbia and one of the best of its style built in the 1960s and

10070-539: The widely recognised connection with béton brut . The phrase still 'belonged' to the Smithsons, however, and it was their activities above all others that were giving distinctive qualities to the concept of Brutalism." New brutalism is not only an architectural style; it is also a philosophical approach to architectural design, a striving to create simple, honest, and functional buildings that accommodate their purpose, inhabitants, and location. Stylistically, brutalism

10176-423: The woodness of the wood; the sandiness of sand." Architect John Voelcker explained that the "new brutalism" in architecture "cannot be understood through stylistic analysis, although some day a comprehensible style might emerge", supporting the Smithsons' description of the movement as "an ethic, not an aesthetic". Reyner Banham felt the phrase "the new brutalism" existed as both an attitude toward design as well as

10282-716: The world, while being echoed by similar styles like in Eastern Europe. Brutalist designs became most commonly used in the design of institutional buildings, such as provincial legislatures, public works projects, universities , libraries , courts , and city halls . The popularity of the movement began to decline in the late 1970s, with some associating the style with urban decay and totalitarianism . Brutalism's popularity in socialist and communist nations owed to traditional styles being associated with bourgeoisie, whereas concrete emphasized equality. Brutalism has been polarising historically; specific buildings, as well as

10388-455: Was actually modernism . In recent years, public sentiments in Vietnam towards brutalist architecture has shifted negatively, but the style is said to have made a comeback recently. An early example of brutalist architecture in British universities was the extension to the department of architecture at the University of Cambridge in 1959 under the influence of Leslie Martin , the head of

10494-441: Was both client and architect, giving him a unique freedom to explore new directions. Rudolph's 1964 design for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is a rare example of an entire campus designed in the brutalist style, and was considered by him to be "the most complete realisation of his experiments with urbanism and monumentality". Walter Netsch similarly designed the entire University of Illinois-Chicago Circle Campus (now

10600-492: Was listed as historically significant by the Uppsala county administrative board on 3 March 1995. Several brutalist buildings in the United Kingdom have been granted listed status as historic, and others, such as Gillespie, Kidd & Coia 's St. Peter's Seminary , named by Prospect magazine's survey of architects as Scotland's greatest post-war building, have been the subject of conservation campaigns. Similar buildings in

10706-467: Was named the "Arthur Blow Condell Memorial Building". Further renovations to the building in 1977 saw the creation a new wing, replacing an exterior courtyard. Proposals to renovate the building were made in June 1998, although serious discussions about its funding did not begin until 2001. In 2005, the museum launched an architectural competition, with 27 architects submitting applications. In September 2005,

10812-472: Was often associated with a socialist utopian ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially by Alison and Peter Smithson , near the height of the style. Indeed, their work sought to emphasize functionality and to connect architecture with what they viewed as the realities of modern life. Among their early contributions were " streets in the sky " in which traffic and pedestrian circulation were rigorously separated, another theme popular in

10918-666: Was partially demolished in 2007 to accommodate the reconstruction of the building. However, approximately 67 per cent of the older museum structure was retained during the reconstruction, with most of the retained portions used as the new building's foundation, or lower floors. The new building's third-floor terrace was the roof of the Arthur Blow Condell building. The museum building was designed to be accessible with automatic doors and provides wheelchairs upon request, and free admission for accompanying care workers . The museum also operates an "equity committee" that serves to identify barriers rooted in ableism, racism, or exclusion; and advises

11024-442: Was picked up in the summer of 1950 by a group of visiting English architects, including Michael Ventris , Oliver Cox, and Graeme Shankland, where it apparently "spread like wildfire, and [was] subsequently adopted by a certain faction of young British architects". The first published usage of the phrase "new brutalism" occurred in 1953, when Alison Smithson used it to describe a plan for their unbuilt Soho house which appeared in

11130-403: Was started in 1977 and presently has over 1,500 photographs. The museum's collection of photographs includes historical photographs by Edward Curtis , Karl Blossfeldt , Walker Evans , and Yousuf Karsh , and contemporary photographs by Lynne Cohen , and William Eakin . The museum also maintains a prints collection that includes over 850 works by Thomas Bewick . The museum is affiliated with

11236-436: Was the aesthetic "image", or "coherence of the building as a visual entity". Brutalist buildings are usually constructed with reoccurring modular elements representing specific functional zones, distinctly articulated and grouped together into a unified whole. There is often an emphasis on graphic expressions in the external elevations and in the whole-site architectural plan in regard to the main functions and people-flows of

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