Casting Concrete

Abstract

This thesis investigates the evolution in the perception of Brutalist architecture based on depictions of physical and fictional examples in popular cinema. Looking into how societal and aesthetical factors resulted in brutalist architecture, an egalitarian and utopian movement at its inception, taking on the stereotypical role of the dystopian-future aesthetic in popular media subconscious. This thesis analyses the foundational ideas of the Brutalist movement and examined several film examples to establish this assumption. Illustrating the main points, and its adoption throughout cinema, by using notable real and paper architecture case studies that have played a key role in this transition. Chiefly the Thamesmead Estate portrayed in, among others, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, followed by the fictional architecture of Bladerunner and its sequel by Ridley Scott and Denis Villeneuve respectively. Through this process Brutalism, once conceived as a progressive social tool, egalitarian, inspiring, and synonymous with forward-thinking and modern urban housing, took on the stereotypical role of an aesthetic of a dystopian future, one synonymous with overbearing oppressive regimes and failing society. Remaining, in the perception of the public, as futuristic but no longer seen as optimistic.