Sunday, February 9, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

HomeNewsArchitecture professor to...

Architecture professor to talk about ‘The Brutalist’ movie at Triplex event on Feb. 2

The fictional movie, set in the 1950s and '60s, centers around architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian immigrant to the United States and a Jewish Holocaust survivor.

Great Barrington — Elihu Rubin, Henry Hart Rice Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Studies at Yale University, will lead a discussion of the film “The Brutalist” at The Triplex on Sunday, February 2, at 1:30 p.m.

The fictional movie, set in the 1950s and ’60s, centers around architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian immigrant to the United States and a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Tóth settles with a relative in Pennsylvania but initially struggles in his new homeland until he encounters wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce).

Over time, Buren supports Tóth by hiring him to construct an institutional building and eventually helping him to bring his wife and niece to America. Over the course of the film, however, Tóth struggles with his relationship with his boss, trying to finish the building up to his own strict standards, and the personal challenges that come with the changes in his life.

The film’s title references a style of architecture, Brutalism, popular from the 1950s through the 70s, that is defined by its bold designs with minimal ornamentation and a focus on structural elements and showcasing raw materials. “I think the movie gets right to the connection between Brutalist architecture, the advent of modern architecture in the United States, and the influence of emigre European architects, which all influenced modern architecture,” Rubin told The Berkshire Edge. “This character, László Tóth, is an amalgam of different people, without being a real person at all.”

Rubin explained that the movie addresses “part of the initial uneasiness with Brutalist architecture many people have when first confronting it or being exposed to it.” “It isn’t much of a giveaway to the plot to say that László is building an institutional building for a single patron on top of a site that Harrison controls,” Rubin said. “But over time, we have seen institutional buildings and religious buildings, especially churches and synagogues, being produced in a Brutalist architectural style during this period. The movie’s plot is significant because Buren is a patron and assigns László to build on an isolated site. This plot device allows the movie to distill and clarify the relationship with the architect, the patron, and the site, as opposed to getting into a whole movie about urban studies. I think the movie reveals something about the materiality of Brutalism, which is usually associated with exposed and reinforced concrete.”

Rubin said that many architects used Brutalism to “break out of the box” of typical designs. “Some architects believed that exposed reinforced concrete is a good way to be expressive,” Rubin said. “In its mud shape, concrete can be made into any form before it hardens into a concrete form. It arrives on the [construction] site as mud, and so you can be quite expressive and creative in terms of how the building takes shape.”

Many examples of Brutalist structures in New England can be found the Buildings of New England website.

The website cites Doris Bunte Apartment Tower built in 1967, and the Harvard Medical School built in 1965, both in Boston, as examples of New England brutalism.

“I think the Brutalist architectural style should be remembered as a style that was innovated by several talented architects, including Marcel Breuer and Paul Rudolph,” Rubin said. “I also associate Brutalism as part of an urban renewal of American cities in the 1950s and 1960s. It was a de facto style of architecture of the public sector at the time. I hope that people can open their eyes to, if not the beauty, but the excitement in the design of the buildings. I think Brutalist-style buildings may not be user-friendly or accessible. But there is a craft associated with the buildings where there are efforts to manipulate space and light. Many Brutalist-style buildings feature exciting spatial experiences which is part of the film, the importance of generating a spatial experience and impacting the visitor of the space on an emotional level.”

For more information about the February 2 event, visit The Triplex’s website.

spot_img

The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.

Continue reading

James Weldon Johnson Foundation and the NFL celebrate the 125th anniversary of the hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

Author and lyricist Johnson wrote significant work at his writing cabin in Great Barrington.

Fighting a hate with no boundaries: Jewish Federation of the Berkshires looking for support in its ‘Hate has no home here’ campaign

"We also know that hate never travels alone," Jewish Federation of the Berkshires Executive Director Dara Kaufman told The Berkshire Edge. "We’re in a community where if you stand up for one, you stand up for all."

The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.