So all that brutalist architecture, what if we just painted it? Not one colour, patterns to break it up.

3 years ago by BarqsHasBite to c/asklemmy

Has this been done somewhere?

Any other ways to make it look better than tearing it down? Whole bunch of fake glass?

cleanandsunny 53 points 3 years ago

Let me introduce you to Tirana, Albania which has done exactly as you suggest! They elected a former painter as mayor in 2000, and the rest is history. So many of the brutalist buildings in the city are now covered with bright colors, murals, patterns, and more. You can check out some before and after images here: https://blog.ted.com/...

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someguy3 22 points 3 years ago

He was asked to opt for more neutral colors. “I told them no. Compromise in colors is grey,”

Lol.

Had to look up the tedtalk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDNgnrt_D8w

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Paradachshund 8 points 3 years ago

As an artist myself, I like this guy.

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cleanandsunny 2 points 3 years ago

I should have linked that too, but yes, he’s great!!

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glimse 2 points 3 years ago

I really like the solid color, the rainbow, and the checkerboard. The ones with the lines/patterns are somehow significantly worse to me

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cleanandsunny 4 points 3 years ago

If you image search it you will find all kinds of cool stuff! Even better if you get a chance to wander around Tirana and find hidden ones!

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Nemo 35 points 3 years ago

Brutality architecture, done well, already looks amazing!

That said, yes, their tendency towards large unbroken planes of material make them prime candidates for murals, and you see a lot of that in places like Chicago that had a big Brutalist phase.

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sbv 5 points 3 years ago

I feel like most brutalist buildings are designed by a committee. They want the building to look like it provided maximal value for money, so they try to avoid looking good.

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iusearchbtw 34 points 3 years ago

It's been done quite a bit throughout Eastern Europe. Here are some examples from Poland:

Certainly a nicer colour scheme than dirty soul-crushing grey.

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Lojcs 11 points 3 years ago

Those don't look brutalist to me. I feel like brutalism calls for more than just grey blocks of concrete.

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HonoraryMancunian 7 points 3 years ago

It has to look at least a little bit evil

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CiderApplenTea 3 points 3 years ago

Not sure if you're making a clever joke, or if you don't know that brutalism is defined by using steel and concrete in large blocks. Might be a mega "woosh" on my part though haha

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Lojcs 3 points 3 years ago

I wasn't making a joke. It doesn't feel right to call every unpainted concrete box brutalist.

Edit: https://mcmansionhell.com/...

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peto 16 points 3 years ago

Some graffiti is, I think, traditional at this point and a good mural can do wonders to humanize it. I have a feeling that patterns are not actually going to improve it though. The problem is often the form rather than what the material looks like. You could paint it to look like a row of thatched cottages but that would to me be even more depressing.

You are also then committed to repainting it regularly or it's going to quickly look even worse than when you started.

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mosiacmango 11 points 3 years ago

Plants, especially vines, tend to go great with brutalism. The living contrast adds color and life to durable structures.

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creditCrazy 5 points 3 years ago

Vines in my opinion are great dicore maybe that's because I'm a sucker for abandoned building vibes idk what it is that makes me love looking at abandoned buildings it's one of the reasons I love portal 2's abandoned sci Fi look if I wasn't for the high heights and turrets I would love to explore abandoned apeture

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corroded -14 points 3 years ago

Graffiti is vandalism. It is not traditional, and it's not art. It's a crime; there is no exception unless it's done on private property with permission from the property owner.

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KISSmyOS 8 points 3 years ago

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lars 5 points 3 years ago

Imagine someone buys the Mona Lisa and declares that its not art and da Vinci grafittied their privately owned piece of canvas. Artists around the globe in shambles.

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corroded -1 points 3 years ago

You're right, but you have to draw the line somewhere. If someone decides to light a building on fire and call it "performance art," nobody considers it anything but a crime. If someone spray-paints a vulgarity on the side of a school, few would call that "art," but a mural on the side of a concrete wall is "street art." The subject matter and the quality of the painting doesn't make the determination between art and vandalism; it's just vandalism.

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Catoblepas 3 points 3 years ago

Lol.

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zero_iq 1 point 3 years ago

How many more millennia are needed before you'll consider graffiti an established tradition?

How do you feel about even newer practices like "farming" and "democracy"? Do you think they'll catch on too? Or just new-fangled nonsense?

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serpentofnumbers 13 points 3 years ago

Not sure if this counts as brutalist, but the post made me think of this example from Portland

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someguy3 3 points 3 years ago

Have a before photo?

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DrChickenbeer 5 points 3 years ago

There is no before, it was decorated as soon as it was built by the designer-- it was always intentional. (the building is like 8 years old iirc)

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Fosheze 7 points 3 years ago

Now I just want to see big buildings painted with WWI dazzle camo.

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someguy3 7 points 3 years ago

"How far away is that building?"

"I just don't know."

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Fosheze 3 points 3 years ago

Ooh. I should do dazzle cammo on my house.

But then the mailperson would never be able to guess the speed and heading of my house to deliver packages.

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psychothumbs 7 points 3 years ago

It can't quite get brutalist buildings to look as good as non-brutalist buildings, but yeah painting them is a great move that really improves the vibe.

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intensely_human 5 points 3 years ago

Run neon tubes along every edge.

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TheBiscuitLout 5 points 3 years ago

The Bierpinsel in Berlin has been painted in a few different ways, and looked great in all of them. Do an image search for it, you’ll see what I mean

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iwan2c 4 points 3 years ago

Does this count?
https://media.hotnews.ro/...

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someguy3 1 point 3 years ago

Need a before photo too.

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SkybreakerEngineer 2 points 3 years ago

I feel like I remember reading about a city that basically encouraged graffiti, and would rotate through local artists every few months or so. Seems like a great way to give the place some character

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iwan2c 1 point 3 years ago

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