The order has since been overturned by incoming president Joe Biden. In America, former president Donald Trump's Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again executive order condemned brutalism and called for classical architecture to become the style for new federal courthouses. The UK government's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission favours traditional architecture and is a 'fetishisation of Georgian architecture,' he said. In place of brutalism, some populist politicians are today advocating a return to traditional styles of architecture, Calder said. Politicians advocating 'return of traditional forms' 'Brutalism is a relatively easy target, starting with the conflation of the term Brutalism with the adjective 'brutal', which many opponents of the style use in describing its buildings,' said Deane Madsen, the founder of online brutalism appreciation society Brutalist DC. But the negative connotations of the term helped make it easy to demonise. Its name, which was coined by Alison and Peter Smithson, is a play on bГ©ton brut, the French term for raw concrete. It soared in popularity in the 1950s during the post-war rebuilding of the UK, reaching its peak internationally in the mid-1970s. Read: Robin Hood Gardens demolition is an 'act of vandalism' says Simon SmithsonД«rutalism, characterised by bold monolithic forms cast from exposed concrete, is one of the 20th century's most controversial architectural styles. 'The nature of the building on the site is really of not much relevance to them.' 'In most cases, brutalist buildings are demolished because developers think they can put something bigger and more lucrative on the site,' she explained. 'In the natural cycle of building maintenance, will be needing a complete redoing of all their services,' said Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society.

Brutalist buildings were often cheaply built and many are in need of refurbishment. This wave of demolition is not always driven by political ideology. In the USA, brutalist buildings such as Paul Rudolph's Burroughs Wellcome building and Shoreline Apartments have fallen victim to the wrecking ball.Д®lsewhere, landmarks such as Kenzo Tange's Kuwait embassy in Japan, the HГґtel du Lac by Raffaele Contigiani in Tunisia and Gerd HГ¤nska's former animal research laboratory in Germany called MГ¤usebunker, have been scheduled for demolition.Д«rutalist buildings in need of refurbishment In 2018, the Robin Hood Gardens housing estate by British architects Peter and Alison Smithson was demolished, while buildings including the Derby Assembly Rooms by Casson, Conder & Partners and Swansea Civic Centre by CW Quick are under threat. The purge of buildings built in the brutalist style is accelerating today. 'So historically, an awful lot of the architecture that the economic right now dislikes was originally built by the economic right.' Paul Rudolph's Burroughs Wellcome building was demolished earlier this year

'The association between brutalism and the left is not a true one historically, but I think it is a true one in people's minds today,' added Calder. 'To many critics, also came to stand for big government and the alienation of mass society,' he explained. 'There is a connection to be made between the advent of neoliberal policies and the attack on the welfare state from the 1970s onwards and the mounting criticism of brutalism,' agreed Verlaan, who is also a former editor of online magazine Failed Architecture. 'There were lots of social housing built in that style, which was being deliberately run down and badly maintained,' Calder added.Д«rutalism criticism linked to 'advent of neoliberal policies' In the UK at that time there was 'a successful bashing of it in those terms under the Thatcher period by the right because, by that stage, these buildings were in a sorry state in many cases'. However, right-wing attempts to link the style to socialist ideals date back to the seventies and eighties. 'There are some very, very visible manifestations of the welfare state in brutalist architecture,' Calder said, pointing to iconic structures including Trellick Tower, a social housing tower in London designed by Erno Goldfinger, and the Southbank Centre, a public art complex on the Thames.Д¬alder, who is the author of new book Raw Concrete and Architecture: From Prehistory to Climate Emergency, added that many brutalist buildings were built by private developers rather than the state. Above: Trellick Tower (Steve Cadman via Wikimedia Commons) Top image: Robin Hood Gardens was demolished in 2017 (Dezeen).

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