I come to find out that these butt ugly buildings are of a style called “Brutalism” from the French “Breton Brut” which means raw concrete. It is a style of architecture which is supposed to be true to the materials of which the building is constructed. Most of the time that is concrete. The style was started by a French guy named Corbusier. Many college campuses have lots of Brutalist Buildings. I knew that they were ugly. I just didn’t know that ugly had its own name.
The architecture is certainly true to its material with no decoration but it is ugly. The buildings in Tulsa that I am referring is a complex of the City County Library, old City Hall, Police Headquarters, and the Civic Arena. They are all grouped together and share one of those wide expanses of concrete which is supposed to be a plaza but is brutally cold or hot, depending on the season, but always windswept.
Civic Arena – Nice on the inside, Ugly on the outside. Being remodeled to a convention center with lots of meeting rooms.
Tulsa Police Headquarters
Slightly used vacant City Hall – Asking price about $1 million. Will probably have to be demolished.
Library – cramped outmoded. I love what’s inside but we need a new one. It will be a long time though.
For learning about other parts of the world we share check out That’s My World.
Yogi what a title to your post! That’s interesting about where the word brutalism came from. LOL I guess at one time these buildings were concidered modern. I guess money wise it proably will be cheaper to knock the old city hall down then to keep paying for the upkeep on it. Last time I was in city hall was when we went down there to get our marriage license.
What a great way to wake up this morning. This post was great. You should put those little add to any icons at hte bottom of your post. I would have totally “Stumbled” this. Of course, I don’t put addtoany buttons on most of my posts either – I forget – takes too long, what’s the point, right? That line – didn’t know ugly had a name. I was kind of in a funk when I woke up this morning and this got me laughing, yogi!
p.s. – Tulsa does have many beautiful buildings. Just wanted to acknowledge that!
I think the big city near which I grew up (only a couple of hours from Tulsa, but in another state) had the same type of architecture for its civic buildings. I never knew what it was. Just that it was. Very interesting!
p.s. Your link was not to the right place. Please be so kind to double check before you hit “enter” so guests can find your post. I found it and fixed it, but that doesn’t always happen. Thanks so much. And your departure from “nice” if fine!
Couldn’t disagree more with this post. In my opinion the civic center is one of the most architecturally significant projects in the city of Tulsa. The Project included an allstar team of some of Tulsa finest architects, Bob Jones, Dave Murray, Joseph Koberling, Malcom McCune, Chalres Ward, Black and West and Edward Durrel Stone (new york). The resulting complex of buildings was a beautifully powerful center of civic pride for the city of Tulsa in the 50’s and 60’s. In reality the complex isn’t an example of Brutalist architecture at all. Brutalist architecture would have been created out of nothing but concrete and that doesn’t describe the Civic Center at all. Sure there is concrete but there are a myriad of other exquisitely detailed materials as well. Instead it is great example of mid-century modern monumentality in planning and design. Originally photographed by the master of architectural photography Julius Shulman (who will be featured at the OKC art museum next month) the center was a smartly composed complex of civic buildings that defined the city of Tulsa as a progressive modern city. The project was featured in many architectural periodicals of the time. “Architecktur und Geminschaft” listed the “Tulsa Civic Center” as the world’s foremost architectural project for 1955, one of twenty-three top architectural achievements in the world during the past century.
While agree that tulsa has some great art deco architecture in the city, in terms of true merit the “Civic Center” is of better architectural quality than any of them, of course this last statment is only my opinion.
I would also like to direct you toward http://www.moderntulsa.net, an organization through the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture that was created specifically to promote and awareness about these architectural gems.
I agree shane, well said. I was very happy to hear last week that the library had purchased another building on N. Lansing to relocate some of the support services rather than build a new library. There is an interesting article in this month’s Preservation magazine about Boston’s city hall and the struggle to protect it, http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2009/march-april/boston-city-hall.html
I think that I have the link fixed. Apologies to everybody for my being so careless.
I would encourage everybody to check out the links referenced by commenters Shane Hood and Derek above. I found them very interesting and something to think about.
Thanks for the origin of brutalism- I never knew that.
I’ve always liked the Tulsa Central Library. When I was a kid the “porch” was open along the second floor perimeter and it was very cosmopolitan to hang out there. Well, as cosmopolitan as a 12 year-old can be. Through the years the huge civic plaza concept proved to be a terrible idea. But we always thought the Civic Center was cool.
One of my favorite Tulsa buildings is the control tower at Tulsa International. Lack of adornments doesn’t automatically mean ugly.
Hi Yogi. Nice to visit your Den.
After a string of “nice” posts I also felt obliged to publish a picture and story of something ugly today.
Architecture’s beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess.
I always wondered why the word beton is used in Israeli Hebrew for concrete. Thanks for teaching me that it is really French.
I’ve always referred to that area as Red Square. It may be significant architecture, and I understand line and form and all that, but it’s not an inviting place, as far as open spaces go. I mean, they tried, but it didn’t work. We build parks in the same ill-concieved manner.
Yogi: Neat tour of the different building. That City Hall is probably gone.
OMG I wasn’t sure what to expect LOL, so kinda relieved! I have to concur with you though.
I hear what Shane Hood and Derek say above and looked at their links. The buildings may be award winning and all that but the place as a whole does not work for actual human beings. The plaza itself is not an inviting place to visit or even walk on. The fountains are all dry and groady looking. The whole thing is a mess.
Thanks for the pictures and walk through of more interesting Tulsa buildings.
It’s brutal to look at them.
I thought we were going to hear about some horrible crime at the beginning of the post. I’m relieved that Brutalism turned out to be a form of architecture!
The style doesn’t appeal to me, either, but I guess somebody likes it.
Interesting post! They don’t all have to be nice.
True to its material seems like a weird idea. Like asking the cake you baked to be obvious about its flour. Why?
These examples are interesting.
So instead of playing bejeweled with me on Facebook you are researching brutalism?!
Ha.
Brutal buildings for brutal times…something so unforgiving about them…
Very unusual and interesting post. The buildings here remind me of a university close to my home town. It is set in beautiful, rolling countryside and most of the buildings are in the brutalist style. what were people thinking!!
I’m from OKC but like to go to Tulsa to take photos of architecture there, and I find this complex of buildings quite fascinating and an architectural revelation. Each building is so wonderfully distinctive but works so cohesively with the surrounding buildings, and the entire environment seems timeless to me. As for the common areas, I think that they would really work well if there were more activity in that part of downtown, but with all of the parking lots surrounding the buildings, the area is a vast wasteland. A few restaurants, some tables with umbrellas, working fountains, and outdoor concerts may bring the place to life and get people out. It would certainly be cheaper and less wasteful to invest a few dollars in the area rather than tear everthing down and start all over.
成人漫畫,成人文學,成人遊戲,成人電影,成人論壇,成人,做愛,aio,情色小說,ut聊天室,ut聊天室,豆豆聊天室,聊天室,尋夢園聊天室,080視訊聊天室,免費視訊聊天,哈啦聊天室,視訊聊天,080聊天室,080苗栗人聊天室,6k聊天室,視訊聊天室,成人聊天室,中部人聊天室,免費視訊,視訊交友,視訊美女,視訊做愛,正妹牆,美女交友,玩美女人,美女,美女寫真,美女遊戲,hi5,hilive,hi5 tv,a383,微風論壇,微風,伊莉,伊莉討論區,伊莉論壇,sogo論壇,台灣論壇,plus論壇,plus,痴漢論壇,維克斯論壇,情色論壇,性愛,性感影片,校園正妹牆,正妹,AV,AV女優,SEX,走光,a片,a片免費看,A漫,h漫,成人漫畫,免費A片,色情網站,色情遊戲,情色文學,麗的色遊戲,色情,色情影片,同志色教館,色色網,色遊戲,自拍,本土自拍,kk俱樂部,後宮電影院,後宮電影,85cc免費影城,85cc免費影片