Of brutal architecture...

The Brutalists (2024)

https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2025/01/the-
brutalist-on-art-capitalism-and-the-immigrant-experience

Written, Directed: Brady Corbet

It serves as Hollywood's occasional reminder of the plight of Jews in Europe during World War II. Cast with Adrien Brody, who has a personal connection to the Holocaust, what does he get? Ten Oscar nominations and multiple accolades, including a second Best Actor Academy Award for Brody. 

If the plot evokes Brody's character in 'The Pianist' (2002), don't fret. He is also an Eastern European Jewish refugee here and a remarkably gifted individual displaced by the malevolence that humanity inflicts in the name of nationalism, race, and religion. 

A Hungarian Jew, László Tóth, an architect who designed significant buildings in Budapest, finds himself penniless and homeless in the United States. He reaches out to his friend and assists in his furniture business. Tóth becomes acquainted with a wealthy man when the friend is commissioned to build a personal library on the estate. 

J Edgar Hoover building

In summary, Tóth impresses the wealthy man enough to be entrusted with the honour of designing and constructing a massive community hall in the city. 

The remainder of the 3.5-hour story chronicles the ups and downs of their relationship, his troubled friendship with his former boss, how his wife is brought to America, the challenges Tóth faces in bringing his design to life, and ultimately witnessing his creation come to fruition, only to be celebrated some 50 years later. It is all rather predictable. The acting and cinematography are exemplary, nonetheless, deserving of their Oscar wins.

Ryugyong Hotel

The lesson I learnt from watching this movie is that the word 'brutalist' has another meaning. Brutalist architecture is an imposing building style, often characterised by unappealing construction, which became popular after the Second World War in major European and American cities. It is also characteristic of many Eastern Bloc countries, which were predominantly communist. It features raw, monochromatic concrete blocks, creating a linear, geometric appearance both outside and inside. This style is typically used for public institutions, such as courts, universities, libraries, and public works. 

The Brutalists employed linear, monolithic blocks in contrast to older architectural styles, which featured domes, curves, and sculptures. The free world regarded them as imposing and emphasised their grandiosity. The communists believed that their unimaginative design was anti-bourgeois, exactly what they aimed to present to the world. The liberal use of concrete, along with playful variations, somehow signified equality. 

Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh.

Over the years, people have frequently lamented their ugliness. Although these brutalist buildings were initially considered low-maintenance, this proved to be a misconception. The buildings became visually unappealing once moss began to grow. They attempted to circumvent this issue by integrating greenery into the structures. Rust stains around the steel reinforcing bars were also problematic. Three notorious brutalist buildings around the world have at one time or another been voted the ugliest. These are the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, and the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh. Many are being rapidly demolished, but the aforementioned three have so far staved off the wrecking ball.

https://www.buildworld.co.uk/blog/archives/the-ugliest-buildings-in-the-world

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

What happened to all the knowledge?

Shanti Stupa at Dhaulagiri

India has always struck to everyone as the land of mysticism. In its area lies the secret of its many centuries of civilisation and the many forgotten treasures and wisdom of yesteryear. Everyone goes there, in his full view, is yet another splendour of a previously well advanced enlightened with advancement in engineering, sciences, mathematics and ethics so sophisticated that is beyond compare. Some of the things that we see are just mind-boggling. Some of the tales narrated to us are beyond belief, wanting of rational scientific explanation.

At the turn of last year, I had the opportunity to gaze at a fraction of these wonders during a short trip to Odiya. Besides Emperor Asoka and his Kalinga Kingdom which is often mentioned in our textbooks, this tropical climate state is also well known for two other mammoth structures with its logic-defying features.

'The masses' lulling themselves with the notion that their nation, at one time, did rule the world
spiritually, economically and epistemologically. Never mind if it just a 'has been' story. 
At least the past glory can be a nidus the spark for the future.

The river in Dhauli, now just a stream which just saw a flow of crimson tide following the massacre of Kalinga.

Dhauli is the place where Asoka, after all the killings of his siblings, enemies and army, was enlightened here when he saw a river, instead of having running water had a sea of sanguine effluent. This, together with a few pre-forewarned sign reformed him into a Buddhist and a man of peace. In this place stands a stupa built by a Japanese to commemorate that event.

Another structure that is quite jaw-dropping is the 12th century Sun Temple whose construction showcases the richness of Odiya architecture. The people, the Sun-worshippers (not the Californian type), considered the Sun as the reason for their existence. A temple was built to honour it. The architectural outlay is basically to calculate sun positions and to ascertain the time and the seasons.

























At a time when the sciences were rudimentary, and pieces of machinery were primitive, it is indeed perplexing that the people then could actually carve out a temple out of a monolith with such precision and accuracy. Suggestions of alien intervention in these feats cannot be discredited but deserve more merit. The public display of sculptures of couples engaged in various positions of acts of copulation suggests that the Indian society indeed used to be a more liberal society than they are now. What gave, I wonder?

Jagannath Puri [Credit: noisebreak.com]

Yet another temple that would blow your mind away is the Jagannathpuri temple in Puri. It has gained the status of being one of the four magnificent Hindu temples at the four corners of India that one has to visit in his lifetime to achieve Moksha; the others being Dwarka at the west, Rameswaram at the south and Badrinath in the north. Shrouded in many unexplainable mysteries, this Vishnu temple is a display of splendour of Odiyan architecture at its zenith. If you look around Jaganath Puri from any angle at any time of the day, there would not be a single shadow cast from the dome of the main building.

The other unexplained mystery surrounding the temple is the prasadam (divine offerings) cooking technique and its distribution. Science cannot explain why the contents of the top-most pot are found to cooked before the one below when a stack of seven earthen pots are cooked over a fire below. Every day, there is no wastage or shortage of day. Miraculously, the amount prepared is just enough to accommodate the number of devotees and visitors.

noisebreak.com

Unlike other temples, the deities here (Lord Krishna; Balabhadra, his older brother and Subhadra, his younger sister) are wooden ones that are changed every twelve years. It is modelled after the very first prototype where one of the three deities is unfinished as the maker died after a curse. When the King ordered the erection of the temple, the best craftsmen were summoned. The leading artist locked himself to start on his project with the condition that the doors should not be opened until he says so. Curiosity took the better part of the Queen who decided to peek. The artist died, and the King decided to keep the diety as it was. Till this date, the newer statues are made with the third diety with no hands. The urban legend about the craftsman soon dying after completing his project lives on.

Another unique ritual that is found in this temple is the changing of the flag at the top of the dome on a daily basis. For the past 1800 years, a priest with no protective gears or safety harness climbs the dome which is as tall as a 45-storey building to continue the tradition. Legend dictates that if this ritual is broken, the temple would be shut for the next 18 years.
http://noisebreak.com/science-power-lord-jagannath-10-mysteries-puris-jagannath-temple-still-unexplained/

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson