The Yale School of Architecture is hosting a traveling exhibition that began at the DAM (German Architecture Museum) in Frankfurt am Main in 2017. The exhibition represents a selection from the first-ever global survey of Brutalist architecture of the 1950s through the 1970s. The website #SOSBrutalism now covers over 2,180 buildings.

This expressive style emerged during a postwar period marked by experimentation and societal upheaval. It came to represent a heroic image of institutions, both existing and newly founded, in regions that had recently gained independence from Colonialism. It is also exceptionally photogenic and, in recent years, has reached cult status on social media. That said, many people still only see these buildings as ugly concrete monsters and many face the risk of demolition or have already been lost. Considering this, #SOSBrutalism was started as a campaign to connect initiatives with the goal of preserving Brutalist buildings worldwide.

The exhibition is organized in 11 geographical regions and seven thematic chapters, giving a sense of the breadth of Brutalism’s global spread and nuanced depth in understanding some of the features, complexities, and critiques of the movement. In addition to these illustrated panels, the exhibition at the Yale School of Architecture includes several unusually large-scale models and a series of cast and 3D-printed miniatures. For this installment, a new thematic chapter was added covering the unique legacy of Brutalist architecture in New Haven.

Through Saturday, December 10
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, CT
Details