Unité d Habitation in Marseille is arguably the most influential Brutalist building of all time. It s also one of 17 projects by 20th-century French architect Le Corbusier to be added to UNESCO s list of internationally significant architecture sites. Flickr/Denis Esakov/(CC 3.0)
Strike up a conversation about the world s most beautiful buildings, and it might be a while before anyone mentions an example of Brutalist architecture. There could be numerous French buildings on the list like the Palace of Versailles or something more recent like the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, but Le Corbusier s Unité d Habitation in Marseille probably won t be at the top of anybody s list.
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Even the most daring of architects cannot bring themselves to tear the hearth out of the home
3 months ago
By Edwin Heathcote
I recently came across some photographs of the most remarkable fireplace. Hans Demarmels’ Rebberg House of 1965 is fiercely Brutalist, a sculptural tour de force built with a conviction and sense of shape and form more usually reserved for public buildings an art gallery or a town hall perhaps. But Demarmels condensed the power of brutalist concrete into a domestic fireplace. It is true he added a little Constructivism, perhaps a bit of De Stijl and maybe even a touch of Frank Lloyd Wright and Japanese Metabolism, and from these ingredients cooked up this centrepiece like no other.