Research
During research into modernisation and the history of architectural changes in the UK, I have been researching different areas of brutalist architecture. I have done this through research about areas of Britain using Auto Shenanigans on YouTube.
This is a link to his explanation about Worthing where a multi-storey car park has been placed alongside many of the Victorian buildings that have been there for generations. This car park shows the definition of 1960s brutalist architecture and has been listed since 2017 for demolition. However, although this style of building is brutal in its stance, it does have many factors that make it important and stunning in its own way. This style of building was produced as a part of the government’s new town building plan where large-scale building redevelopment was happening all over the county. Due to the way that the UK needed quick cheap buildings to be developed at such a fast rate, concrete was chosen as the building material, as it was the best for cheap and reliable material. This was a part of the reason that the brutalist art style in buildings came about, using mass amounts of concrete to produce almost jungle like structures that towered over different areas of the UK.
This was retrospective research done after the London trip we had where we went to Barbican looking at the brutalist styles of architecture that was used in the design of the area. According to the City of London Corporation, The Barbican Estate started development in 1965 and was developed on land that was destroyed during the blitz. The development took 11 years to fully complete. The complex of different buildings that make the Estate up were designed by the architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon. The building is also Grade II- listed as of September 2001.
(During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.)
City Of London
References
City of London. (n.d.). Barbican Estate history. [online] Available at: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/barbican-estate/barbican-estate-history#:~:text=Construction%20for%20the%20Barbican%20Estate.
http://www.youtube.com. (2024). Grafton Multi-Storey Car Park – Brutalist Architecture In The Victorian Seaside Town Of Worthing. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/HtDA61pEhWg [Accessed 25 Apr. 2024].
Matthew Mills 
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