Reyner Banham The New Brutalism Pdf Fixed ^new^ May 2026
Reyner Banham’s seminal 1955 essay, "The New Brutalism," published in The Architectural Review
The New Brutalism: A Revolutionary Approach to Architecture
- Memorability as an image – A building must be instantly recognizable, almost as a visual icon.
- Clear exhibition of structure – No hiding beams, ducts, or joints.
- Valuation of materials “as found” – Raw plywood, unpainted brick, exposed aggregate.
The Philosophy:
It wasn't just about "brutal" concrete (from the French béton brut ); it was about the "as-found" quality of materials—showing the pipes, the wires, and the structure without decorative masks. reyner banham the new brutalism pdf fixed
Reyner Banham, the acerbic and brilliant critic, did not invent the term “Brutalism,” but he crystallized it. His 1955 article in Architectural Review , later expanded into the 1966 book The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic? , gave the movement its founding manifesto. Banham famously broke Brutalism down into a triptych of visual legibility: 1) Memorability as an image (the building was a stark silhouette), 2) Clear exhibition of structure (beams, ducts, and concrete formwork left exposed), and 3) Valuation of materials “as found” (raw concrete— béton brut —with the grain of the timber shuttering still visible). The ethos was anti-finish. Where modernism sought the seamless white box, Brutalism demanded the scarred, the rough, the unapologetically heavy. Reyner Banham’s seminal 1955 essay, "The New Brutalism,"
