"SOS Brutalism" est un signal de détresse. Depuis les années 1950, d'éminents architectes ont réalisé un peu partout dans le monde des bâtiments sans aucune compromission. Utilisant de manière prédominante, mais non exclusive, le béton brut, beaucoup de ces constructions sont aujourd'hui menacés, sinon de démolitions, du moins de reconstructions souvent imparfaites. Depuis peu, une initiative pour préserver cet héritage majeur du vingtième siècle semble prendre un nouvel élan, surtout depuis qu'elle a été soutenue par le Musée Allemand d'Architecture (DAM). Celui-ci présente, du 8 novembre 2017 au 25 février 2018 à Francfort l'exposition "SOS Brutalism - Save the Concrete Monsters" dont le présent ouvrage constitue le catalogue.
"SOS Brutalism" is a distress signal. Since the 1950s, eminent
architects around the world have realized buildings expressing an
uncompromising attitude. Predominantly, yet not exclusively, they used
exposed concrete, or béton brut (hence the term brutalism), for the
construction. Today, many of these always controversially discussed
buildings are in danger of demolition or, at least, of reconstruction
that often may change their appearance beyond recognition. In recent
years, an initiative to protect and preserve this significant global
heritage of 20th-century architecture has gained momentum, mainly in the
internet. Using the hashtag #SOSBritalism, the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM, German Museum of Architecture) in Frankfurt on the Main and the Wüstenrot Foundation participate in this campaign with a vast collaborative research project.
The result of this research to date is a global survey of brutalist
architecture of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, presented in an exhibition
at DAM in autumn 2017 and a coinciding and uniquely comprehensive book.
Some 100 contributors document around 120 key buildings from this
period, including many previously unpublished discoveries that are in
acute danger of loss through neglect of intended demolition. Moreover,
the book features overviews of brutalism in architecture in twelve
regions around the world. Case studies of hotspots such as the
Macedonian capital Skopje or New Haven, Connecticut, and essays on the
history and theory of brutalism round out this lavishly illustrated
book. The supplement collects papers of an international symposium on brutalism in architecture held in Berlin in 2012.
The book is published in conjunction with the exhibition SOS Brutalism—Save the Concrete Monsters at DAM in Frankfurt on the Main (8 November 2017 to 25 February 2018) and at Architekturzentrum Wien (3 May to 6 August 2018).
