A Nordic Revolt Against ‘Ugly’ Modern Architecture

[Teasing the Korean]

As if we didn't have enough proof that the world is going to hell, some Scandinavians want to ruin things even more. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-08-01/a-scandinavian-uprising-against-modern-architecture

[danasgoodstuff]

Good for them.

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2023 at 4:53 PM, danasgoodstuff said:

Good for them.

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As a devotee of modernism, I heartily disagree.  

[danasgoodstuff]

  On 8/5/2023 at 5:02 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

As a devotee of modernism, I heartily disagree.  

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Modernism was an interesting idea, but we're past that now.  Or is that post?

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2023 at 5:04 PM, danasgoodstuff said:

Modernism was an interesting idea, but we're past that now.  Or is that post?

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Given what's going on in the US and Europe, we need the spirit of modernism now more then ever, IMHO.

[Rooster_Ties]

  On 8/5/2023 at 5:17 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

Given what's going on in the US and Europe, we need the spirit of modernism now more then ever, IMHO.

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Spoken like a true elitist! 
 

(and I should know… I’m right there with you on that point.)

[Daniel A]

Until a couple of years ago, this was the School of Architecture in Stockholm, built in 1967-1969. It has often been voted the ugliest building in the city, but I quite like it. It's a pity that they have moved to other premises.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Daniel A

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2023 at 9:50 PM, Daniel A said:

Until a couple of years ago, this was the School of Architecture in Stockholm, built in 1967-1969. It has often been voted the ugliest building in the city, but I quite like it. It's a pity that they have moved to other premises.

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While I'm not an architecture expert, that building appears to lean more into brutalist territory than modernism, unless brutalism is considered to be a sub-category of modernism.  Thoughts?

[Daniel A]

For sure it's brutalist, but I think there's a link back to the more classic modernism.

I'm no expert either, but I think contemporary architecture in Sweden gradually ran out of ideas in the 80s up to recently, but I see some recent signs of improvement. Every decade during the 20th century was distinctive up to the late 80s, when a lot started to look like a recycled, watered-down version of modernism. But I think there's still some hope.

[mjazzg]

  On 8/5/2023 at 5:17 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

Given what's going on in the US and Europe, we need the spirit of modernism now more then ever, IMHO.

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Certainly some of its optimism

  On 8/5/2023 at 9:56 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

While I'm not an architecture expert, that building appears to lean more into brutalist territory than modernism, unless brutalism is considered to be a sub-category of modernism.  Thoughts?

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Brutalism undergoing a major re-evaluation in UK.

I'd say it was a style that followed but is distinct from Modernism as a style

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2023 at 10:07 PM, mjazzg said:

Certainly some of its optimism

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Yes, but some scary stuff too. 

[Chuck Nessa]

I was at the Munch museum in Oslo last July and thought it was striking.

 

 

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2023 at 10:07 PM, mjazzg said:

Brutalism undergoing a major re-evaluation in UK.

I'd say it was a style that followed but is distinct from Modernism as a style

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I think of brutalism generally as distinct from modernism, although early brutalism still seems to have a moderne/primitive aspect about it.  I have mixed feelings about brutalist architecture, but my negative opinion of it is colored in part by Boston's disastrous West End Redevelopment Project of the 1960s, which destroyed an entire neighborhood in the name of "urban renewal."  The neighborhood was leveled and replaced by high-rise condos and two massive, imposing, austere brutalist government structures.  One of these has appeared in a number of films.  It was designed by Paul Rudolph, who earlier had built a number of amazing modern homes in Sarasota, FL. 

  On 8/5/2023 at 10:17 PM, Chuck Nessa said:

I was at the Munch museum in Oslo last July and thought it was striking.

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Was never there, but based on photos, I would agree.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Teasing the Korean

[mjazzg]

  On 8/5/2023 at 10:19 PM, Teasing the Korean said:

I think of brutalism generally as distinct from modernism, although early brutalism still seems to have a moderne/primitive aspect about it.

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Yes, I agree. 

Lots of pretty disastrous housing developments in the style here too but also some that are now enjoying a re-evaluation. A style that certainly divides opinion, still.

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/5/2023 at 10:49 PM, mjazzg said:

Yes, I agree. 

Lots of pretty disastrous housing developments in the style here too but also some that are now enjoying a re-evaluation. A style that certainly divides opinion, still.

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Our home decor is mid-century moderne, but we have a few pieces in the early brutalist style that go with what we have, including my parents' swag lamp that was in our family room when I was a kid.

[gmonahan]

I think modern architecture can be lovely. I like the National Museum of Qatar with its multiple surfaces, but I've always detested brutalist architecture. It reeks to me of late Communist buildings. The Munch museum looks interesting, the National Museum in Oslo, not so much. I like the Guggenheim in Bilbao too.

[danasgoodstuff]

  On 8/6/2023 at 1:03 AM, gmonahan said:

I think modern architecture can be lovely. I like the National Museum of Qatar with its multiple surfaces, but I've always detested brutalist architecture. It reeks to me of late Communist buildings. The Munch museum looks interesting, the National Museum in Oslo, not so much. I like the Guggenheim in Bilbao too.

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Well, there's modern and then there's modern, right?

[JSngry]

I like some curves. 

[Rabshakeh]

  On 8/6/2023 at 4:22 AM, JSngry said:

I like some curves. 

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Curves are nothing more than late 19th century bourgeois decadence. We shall have none of it. 

[Jack Pine]

https://mcmansionhell.com/

 

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/6/2023 at 12:04 PM, Jack Pine said:

https://mcmansionhell.com/

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That is too funny.

[Rooster_Ties]

I’ve grown to love good Brutalism ❤️ — and there’s a lot of it out there. But there’s certainly a fair bit of bad Brutalism too.

One thing it took me a while to notice is that most of the time, you can’t have good Brutalism without really nice, complimentary landscape architecture — sympathetic designs that almost go hand in hand.

“Green” and good landscape design can really elevate a building or complex — and the absence of it is often the difference between the design of the building really working aesthetically or not.

[Jack Pine]

As a country boy, most cities have sort of a scary, dystopian vibe anyway so the modern/brutal architecture fits perfectly in sense. I do lament the loss of local 'vernacular' architecture though. I'd much rather see something like log home, Norwegian farmhouse style, or even Mountain Chalet style, built in my area of the upper midwest, but the 'International Style' is all you see anymore. 

[Teasing the Korean]

  On 8/6/2023 at 1:19 PM, Rooster_Ties said:

I’ve grown to love good Brutalism ❤️ — and there’s a lot of it out there. But there’s certainly a fair bit of bad Brutalism too.

One thing it took me a while to notice is that most of the time, you can’t have good Brutalism without really nice, complimentary landscape architecture — sympathetic designs that almost go hand in hand.

“Green” and good landscape design can really elevate a building or complex — and the absence of it is often the difference between the design of the building really working aesthetically or not.

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Brutalist structures can look really interesting if they are placed in the middle of nowhere, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

[JSngry]

  On 8/6/2023 at 7:40 AM, Rabshakeh said:

Curves are nothing more than late 19th century bourgeois decadence. We shall have none of it. 

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That's more for me!!!