South Bank Concrete
This stairwell is of part of the riverside approach to the National Theatre.
The Royal National Theatre (generally known as the National Theatre) in London is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly-funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain.
From its foundation in 1963 until 1976, the company was based at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo. The current building was designed by architects Sir Denys Lasdun and Peter Softley and structural engineers Flint & Neill and contains three stages, which opened individually between 1976 and 1977. It overlooks the River Thames in the South Bank area of central London.
The style of the building was described by Mark Girouard as "an aesthetic of broken forms" at the time of opening; however, architectural opinion was split. Even enthusiastic advocates of the Modern Movement such as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner have found the Béton brut concrete both inside and out overbearing. Most notoriously, Prince Charles described the building in 1988 as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting". Sir John Betjeman, however, a man not noted for his enthusiasm for brutalist architecture, was effusive in his praise and wrote to Lasdun stating that he "gasped with delight at the cube of your theatre in the pale blue sky and a glimpse of St. Paul's to the south of it. It is a lovely work and so good from so many angles...it has that inevitable and finished look that great work does."
Despite the controversy, the theatre has been a Grade II* listed building since 1994. Although the theatre is often cited as an archetype of Brutalist architecture in England, since Lasdun's death the building has been re-evaluated as having closer links to the work of Le Corbusier, rather than contemporary monumental 1960s buildings such as those of Paul Rudolph. The carefully-refined balance between horizontal and vertical elements in Lasdun's building has been contrasted favourably with the lumpiness of neighbouring buildings such as the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall.
It is now in the unusual situation of having appeared simultaneously in the Top 10 "most popular" and "most hated" London buildings in opinion surveys. A recent lighting scheme illuminating the exterior of the building, in particular the fly towers, has proved very popular, and is one of several positive artistic responses to the building.
Béton brut is architectural concrete left unfinished or roughly-finished after casting and left exposed visually. The imprint of the wood or plywood formwork used for forming is usually present on the final surface.
The use of béton brut was pioneered by Auguste Perret and other modern architects. It flourished as a part of the brutalist architecture of the 1960s and 70s. - details from Wikipedia.
South Bank Concrete
This stairwell is of part of the riverside approach to the National Theatre.
The Royal National Theatre (generally known as the National Theatre) in London is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly-funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain.
From its foundation in 1963 until 1976, the company was based at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo. The current building was designed by architects Sir Denys Lasdun and Peter Softley and structural engineers Flint & Neill and contains three stages, which opened individually between 1976 and 1977. It overlooks the River Thames in the South Bank area of central London.
The style of the building was described by Mark Girouard as "an aesthetic of broken forms" at the time of opening; however, architectural opinion was split. Even enthusiastic advocates of the Modern Movement such as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner have found the Béton brut concrete both inside and out overbearing. Most notoriously, Prince Charles described the building in 1988 as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting". Sir John Betjeman, however, a man not noted for his enthusiasm for brutalist architecture, was effusive in his praise and wrote to Lasdun stating that he "gasped with delight at the cube of your theatre in the pale blue sky and a glimpse of St. Paul's to the south of it. It is a lovely work and so good from so many angles...it has that inevitable and finished look that great work does."
Despite the controversy, the theatre has been a Grade II* listed building since 1994. Although the theatre is often cited as an archetype of Brutalist architecture in England, since Lasdun's death the building has been re-evaluated as having closer links to the work of Le Corbusier, rather than contemporary monumental 1960s buildings such as those of Paul Rudolph. The carefully-refined balance between horizontal and vertical elements in Lasdun's building has been contrasted favourably with the lumpiness of neighbouring buildings such as the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall.
It is now in the unusual situation of having appeared simultaneously in the Top 10 "most popular" and "most hated" London buildings in opinion surveys. A recent lighting scheme illuminating the exterior of the building, in particular the fly towers, has proved very popular, and is one of several positive artistic responses to the building.
Béton brut is architectural concrete left unfinished or roughly-finished after casting and left exposed visually. The imprint of the wood or plywood formwork used for forming is usually present on the final surface.
The use of béton brut was pioneered by Auguste Perret and other modern architects. It flourished as a part of the brutalist architecture of the 1960s and 70s. - details from Wikipedia.