Washingtonians love to hate brutalist architecture. But what if we could solve it?

Ellen Wexler

Assistant Editor, Humanities

The FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC is a looming mass of concrete with rows of identical square windows spanning two city blocks. Many consider the Brutalist behemoth, officially called the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the ugliest structure in the city. Last year, it made headlines at construction supplier Buildworld arranged it as the ugliest building in the United States – and the second ugliest building in the world, after the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh.

It is easy to find Washingtonians who agree with this assessment. Earlier this month, NPRKaity Kline stood outside the colossal structure and asked passersby for their opinions. No one she interviewed had anything nice to say.

“I can’t stand it,” Arielle Carani, a 24-year-old who works across the street from the building, told NPR. “I have to look at it every day when I’m in the office. And it’s just so ugly.”

Brutalism is one divisive An architectural style that values ​​functionality over form and deliberately eschews unnecessary ornamentation. Buildings designed in this style are usually made of exposed concrete, and that’s true occur often stark geometric patterns, deep-set windows, simple lines and unpainted surfaces. Examples of brutalist architecture can be found all over the nation’s capital, where residents love to hate them.

Now an exhibition in the National Building Museum in Washington asks an intriguing question: What if we could solve them?

Titled “Capital brutalism”, the show is the largest ever overview of Washington’s brutalist architecture. Photographs, drawings and archival documents are on display to explore “the enduring legacy of brutalist architecture, whose beauty often goes unnoticed”. statement of the museum.

The exhibition focuses on seven of the city’s most controversial brutalist buildings, as well as the metro system. Even as curators celebrate the controversial style, they are acutely aware of how much hatred Brutalism continues to generate. That’s why they invited top architectural firms to imagine how they would redesign each of the featured buildings.

What did architects think of the famously maligned FBI building? According to the WashingtonPostfrom Michael O’Sullivan, “Gensleran architectural firm known for its philosophy of ‘hackable’ buildings proposes to build a football field and repurpose offices as large shops and a hotel.”

What about the Hubert H. Humphrey Buildingwhere the Department of Health and Human Services is located? The square, eight-story building with narrow, recessed windows could give the FBI headquarters a run for its money. Last summer the AfterDan Diamond and Samantha Latson spoke with more than a dozen current and former employees who had worked in the building — and who were willing to air their grievances about it.

“It’s so ugly, it’s beautiful,” said Andy Slavitt, who led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 to 2017. Other staffers were more diplomatic, describing the building as “functional” and “a bit sad looking.” One even charitably shifted the focus from the structure itself to the ‘beautiful things’ happening inside.

In ‘Capital Brutalism’ architects work together with the company BLDUS has reimagined the building as the headquarters of the so-called ‘Department of Play’, a huge multi-level playground full of spiral slides and climbing equipment. The facility would also provided a daycare center, affordable dining and other amenities.

Another notable building is the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardena doughnut-shaped concrete structure with a central courtyard. Rather than asking architects to redesign the building, curators decided to revisit a real plan from 2013: This proposal included a huge bubble that would be placed in the center of the courtyard and inflated several times throughout the year. Ultimately, officials decided not to do this.

“The plan failed,” writes Bloomberg‘S Kriston Capps, ‘but the drawings represent the kind of formalist thinking – about mass and material and durability and possibility – that responds to Brutalism on its own terms.’

Brutalism emerged in Europe in the aftermath of World War II, as officials around the world considered rebuilding their cities. The idea of ​​sustainable, practical and affordable architecture became increasingly popular and the style eventually spread across the Atlantic.

The word ‘brutalism’ comes from the French term concrete brut (“raw concrete”). Many historians attribute the name to the Swedish architect Hans Asplund figured it out in 1949 while jokingly referring to it Villa Gotha no-nonsense brick residential building in Sweden.

The style became ubiquitous in Washington in the 1960s and 1970s, and all seven buildings in “Capital Brutalism” date from this period. Since their construction, the style has declined in popularity. Most of these structures are more than half a century old and many have fallen into disrepair.

Brutalist buildings can be difficult to renovate, but the choice to demolish them comes with many problems. Knocking down such large concrete structures produces carbon emissions, and experts say preserving them is the most sustainable path forward.

“If you tear them down, it’s so wasteful that in a way it’s really criminal.” Jeanne Bendefounder of architectural firm Studio Gang, told NPR. Instead, she added, “You could build on these interesting buildings and [making] they work for today.”

In the meantime, some believe that these buildings are already working fine. Brutalism has a small but devoted fan base, which its adherents believe (with apologies). John Keats) that “beauty is truth”; that honesty has an aesthetic appeal.

“If modernism is about architecture that is honest, brutalist design is about architecture that is brutally honest,” says Geddes Ulinskas, director of Geddes Ulinskas Architectstold Architectural summary‘s Katherine McLaughlin last year. “Forms are as simple as they can be, and materials are stripped back to be as bare and raw as possible.”

Given these guidelines, Brutalism’s defenders are strongly opposed to attempts to add ornamentation to these structures. In 2017, for example, officials in Washington decided to cover some concrete slabs in the city’s subway stations with white paint. A small but vocal contingent was outraged and urged that the city “keep Metro gloomy!”

Brutalism’s ‘stripped-down philosophy’ reflects a set of values ​​– ‘restraint over excess, function over flair’, as the Afterwrote Kelsey Ables in 2021. “Appreciating brutalist architecture means embracing the essence of things.”

If brutal is beautiful, the more somber the better.

“Capital brutalism‘is on view through February 17, 2025 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

Editor’s note, August 28, 2024: This story has been updated with more information about the redesigned Humphrey Building.