Brutalist Buildings of Melbourne (broadband)

This building was way cool in 1958:

The great wall of RMIT:

With all architectural styles there are good and bad buildings. St Kilda library and engineering school good. RMIT Building very bad.

The RMIT building (does it actually count as a building) probably won't be replaced any time soon either given the state of RMIT's finances. Oh well, they make good Tsunami Barriers.

Grollo said:

The great wall of RMIT:

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Here it is from the back - no better at all - ugh!

Our modern heritage is set in concrete
24 December 2005 [Source]

The stern frontage of the R.A.W. Woodgate Centre at MLC, Kew.
Photo: Craig Abraham


Victoria's examples of a famed architectural style are to be preserved, reports Julie Szego.

YOU know the buildings even if you don't know they're historical gems. There's the Harold Holt Swim Centre in Glen Iris, the Plumbers and Gasfitters Employees Union in Carlton, and the Total Carpark in Russell Street, which looks like a stack of floating concrete decks crowned by a television set. They are buildings sculpted from textured, off-form concrete, with slabs of blank wall and sharp angles. They are confronting, muscular, focused and, well, brutal.

These buildings are some of Melbourne's best examples of "Brutalist" architecture. And moves are under way to preserve and better appreciate such terrible beauties that date from a more optimistic era, despite their stern character.

Experts concede this is likely to be an uphill battle. "Ugly as hell," is one way RMIT associate professor of architecture Doug Evans describes Brutalism. "All that concrete is not very friendly. You could lose a lot of skin on one of those buildings."

But the Harold Holt pool is likely to be placed on the Victorian heritage register as early as February, giving it the highest level of statutory protection. Once this happens, the Stonnington Council will require a permit to carry out what it says are badly needed renovations. Two other Brutalist buildings, Menzies College at La Trobe University's Bundoora campus and the Methodist Ladies College library at Kew, have been nominated for National Trust classification. Preserving the Brutalist aesthetic was one aspect of the campaign that saved at least part of the AFL's Waverley Park in 2000.

Brutalism originated in the mid-1950s in Britain, building on the work of modern architecture pioneer Le Corbusier. The philosophy stresses the unity of form, structure and function. It celebrates the process of construction, often using off-form concrete that reveals timber markings. The Total Carpark, built in 1965, heralded the arrival of the Brutalist style in Victoria.

The fight over the Harold Holt pool dates back to 2001 when the National Trust became concerned over council plans to renovate the centre, which includes indoor and outdoor pools. "They were probably reluctant to recognise this as important modern architecture — that's just reading between the lines," says National Trust senior historian Celestina Sagazio.

The trust then nominated the building, designed by architects Kevin Borland and Daryl Jackson, to Victoria's Heritage Council for listing. In its report, Heritage Victoria describes the pool as being among the "most notable, expressive, earliest and intact examples of the concrete Brutalist movement". The building was praised for its concrete blocks, windows, circular pedestrian ramps, skylights, service ducts and mezzanine observation deck. Brutalism's "ethical concern" for being socially responsive is expressed "through an honesty in the materials used and the centrality of the user in the design of the building".

Two more to add to the collection:

Education Resource Centre, University of Melbourne

Ugly as all hell.

Meteorology & Earth Sciences Building, Swanston Street, Parkville. I really like this one!

Ah, make it go away! Brutalism is the absolute worst style ever to grace the history of "architecture"! It's the most laziest style, as well as the most ugliest thing that can ever grace a city. Simply labelling it as a form of architecture is offensive. The 1960's and 70's were a terrible time to be a building. :\

Brutalism on the Yarra, The World Trade Centre and the old World Congress Centre now called the Melbourne Convention Centre.

The old World Congress Centre is a bit of a dog, even though it was much admired when it was still new, as seen in the postcard below.

Brutalism and waterfront really don't mix:


When the World Trade Centre was built the complex opened out onto the Yarra via the huge atrium and they did up the waterfront in front of it quite nicely, in a late 70's brutal BBQ by the Yarra kind of way. But then Crown moved in and extended the building out in front of the atrium, killing the link between the complex and the waterfont and overshadowing the waterfornt area as well.

The Holiday Inn which is easily the biggest urban design blunder made in Melbourne over the past 25 years. Hopefully when the new convention centre and hotel is built they will tear it down and open up the watefront.

The Olderfleet said:

Education Resource Centre, University of Melbourne

Ugly as all hell.

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aww... when i first came to live in melbourne... i waited right there outside tha black door.... this is where i came to meet my friend after a lecture... heh... it took me an hour to find melbourne uni... :~

it's my first love... :runaway: