Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Unsurprisingly, this is Wurster Hall, home of the Architecture School (aka "College of Environmental Design") at UC Berkeley: https://www.sosbrutalism.org/cms/15892267



Horrific, but salvageable. Put on a wide overhang flat roof, so rain no longer streaks down the wall, and wash/paint it. Then, it will just be a large no frills classroom building. Not great, but no longer offensive either.


Ive never understood why this style of architecture is seen as "horrific" and "offensive". It looks nice. I like to see the materials a building is made of. I am so sick stucco and paneling trying to hide the material a building is made of. If you want to paint it paint a mural. Why must everything be sterilized and flattened.


Because they didnt bother to put a roof on it for ideological reasons (postwar architects were obsessed with cubes, purely because it made a statement), so rain streaks down and those skidmarks looks awful on big concrete slabs.

So they at least need to wash it and put on a roof that prevents it from happening again.

Apart from that, this building is fine overall.

It's odd though, because I would call this building sterilized and flattened as well!


The rain streaks look great to me as well! Its kind of like a pair of well worn leather shoes has creases and lines where the foot bends or how a well worn pair of jeans fades on the knees and wrinkles. Not that I am against a roof for this building, or even adding some materials like brick or maybe timber could be interesting.

I think this about lots of 'brutalist' buildings: theyre gorgeous as is and might be improved a bit and receive less hate if they used more materials than just concrete and glass. Brick, Timber, and stone even after all people love all the Frank Loyd Wright stuff and he used plenty of raw materials.


Yeah, for sure, buildings in nice materials with nice details, would be nice! But I dont think that's what brutality buildings generally are.

But the streaks, oh no, that's just foul lol. Weathering is nice on a buildings, but not grotesquely like that


I'm with you in that I don't hate all brutalist architecture, but Wurster is generally acknowledged to be ugly in real life.


Legitimately makes some prisons look inviting. The bare concrete, which the dirt makes it look like it is rotting away, gives it the charm of an uninhibited ruin. Even on the brightest days the shadows of the building will make you inexplicably cold, while the oppressive outside has cut many conversations short.


Its beautiful! I will never understand the hate for this type of building?


Is this a maximum security architecture school?


Wurster? Wurstest .




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: