Friday, July 30, 2010

Arte Para la Gente: Beautiful brutalism

It’s been an off week for me in terms of blogging and I sincerely apologize for what appears like my lazing about on this website. Hopefully things can return to normal next week and have a full slate of posts on areas like the U.S. immigration debate and regional political conflicts.

This week the Trinity Square shopping mall and parking garage in Northeast England will be torn down. The complex- best known for its depiction in the 1970 British cult film “Get Carter”- was built in the Brutalism architectural style. Brutalism was trendy in the 1960s and 1970s, and buildings such as Trinity Square are defined by its angular and blocky shapes in addition to “the exposure of the building's functions…in the exterior of the building.” The style has since fallen out of favor in most architectural circles.

One of Argentina’s foremost architects was famous for promoting the Brutalism movement in his native country. Clorindo Testa was the artist behind numerous several well-known buildings in Argentina such as the headquarters in Buenos Aires for Bank of London and South America (today the National Mortgage Bank). Built in 1959, the “resulting design of Testa's bank is a box within a box” that incorporates glass more than typical Brutalism structures of the era.

Below is part of a video interview with Testa where he discussed his creativity behind some of Argentina’s well-known modern structures:

Online Sources- Metafilter, Wikipedia, YouTube, galinsky.com

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