More Buildings

Here is a no-name building that abuts Waterloo train station - I take this photo yesterday on my way home from Rothko. It is horribly bleak, constructed I'm sure when London began filling its bomb craters (I recall Ludgate Hill at Blackfriars Bridge nearby Botts & Co - there was a city block of rubble from WWII; today it is a modern high-rise). The appropriately named "brutalism" architectural style of the 1950s and 1960s, as pictured, evolved from the work of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. An offshoot of modernism, it was uncompromising in its approach, believing that practicality and user-friendliness should be the first and foremost aims of architectural design. Materials such as steel and concrete are favoured. The city skyline began to rise in the 1960s with the construction of Centre Point (1963-67), which rose to 120 meters smack dab in the middle of London at Oxford St and Tottenham Court Road - an abomination unless you are in it, then wonderful views. Other early high-rise edifice include Hyde Park Barracks (1967-70) and the Barbican residential arts and conference complex; the 124 meter Euston Centre (1963); and the Post Office Tower, reaching 124 meters.

“A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe and 50 times: It is a beautiful catastrophe.”
Le Corbusier