Is anyone else appreciating this?
What stunning architecture we have on campus. Did you realize famed CN Tower architect John Hamilton Andrews built the South Residences during Guelph’s expansion in the 1960s? His love of raw concrete and angles seems to know no bounds and though many of you might look at those buildings on the south edge of campus and wonder, “Why, Guelph? Oh why?” they are, in fact, an incredible example of the brutalist style of architecture. Tall evergreens now hide many of the most beautifully finessed angles of the residences (reminiscent of Montreal’s Expo ’67 Habitacion), but rest-assured, the building’s remarkably ageless appeal is that it looked just as harsh and fortress-like when it was built as it does now.
Originally coined by Swedish architect Hans Asplund, the term “brutalism” was used to describe a new form of modernism that was a crisper and more honest use of the raw concrete, or béton brut (the beginning of the evolution to the term brutalism) modernism was known for. Swiss architect Le Corbusier is probably the most famous brutalist designer, though he is more often known for his modernism. You may know his work from the wonderful world of Lego – they have used his modernist Villa Savoye in their more adult focused Architecture collection, which includes the famed Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as the Sydney Opera House by Jørn Utzon.
In contrast to those bright, clean lines of modernism, brutalism feels heavy. Its weight and impact are not hidden by smoothness or curves. Instead, the buildings often feel awkward and ill-fitted to their surroundings, no matter where they have landed. This is ever so true on the University of Guelph campus, where the historic Johnson Hall lords so elegantly from the top of the green while brutalist edifices like the MacKinnon Building look awkwardly large and cumbersome. Architect Josep Lluis Sert oversaw the brutalist buildings on-campus during Guelph’s expansion in the 1960s. Sert worked under Le Corbusier in his youth, and you can see the strong influence of those horizontal plains he uses over and over – particularly in the overpasses of the South Residences. Getting off the buses in the morning, and looking down at those three strong concrete buildings all in perfect unison, you can understand how the harsh style can be a little overbearing and dark. Even at the time people agreed. Brutalism was not thought to be a new and exciting style – this was a style of architecture that conveyed heaviness and importance.
My favorite example on-campus is the McNaughton Building. Built in 1969 for the study of chemistry, physics, and mathematics, the building has nothing of the hippie tie-dye bursts of colour and free love that were happening that year. Perhaps it was built in reaction to that, perhaps the university wanted to convey the seriousness of the disciplines to be studied within its angled walls. Looking at McNaughton, and how closely they have built the HVAC system for Zavitz Hall to one of its looming angles on the east side, it seems apparent that this building – this cold, harsh style – is not very respected. Have you ever pondered the hilarity of McNaughton’s down facing windows? How wonderfully angled they are? How rich the texture on the concrete is and how perfectly the angles interplay and align? It’s quite a stunning example, and I hope that next time you are hurrying to class, you pause a second and appreciate the beauty of something so harsh. Maybe now that spring has arrived, it’ll be easier to look at cold, dirty concrete and think how underappreciated this style really is.