Gary Hall

Voted ‘Britain's ugliest building’ when it opened in 1967, the #brutalist Southbank Centre has finally been granted listed status:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8d5je92j2ro

It would be good to think a certain book cover — which proudly features said slab of uncompromising #modernism — may have played a small role in its #architectural rehabilitation.

https://www.mediastudies.press/defund-culture-a-radical-proposal

You’re welcome, Southbank.

#BrutalistArchitecture #SouthbankCentre
#london #DefundCulture #culture

London's brutalist Southbank Centre granted Grade II listed status

The complex was voted "Britain's ugliest building" when it first opened in October 1967.

BBC News
Feb 12 at 9:31amWeb
Show threadAlex TurffFeb 12
@garyhall it is ugly, it's just so ugly that it's important that it's preserved so we know what not to do!
Show threadGary HallFeb 12

The South Bank is definitely one of those places people either love or hate. But brutalism is clearly having a moment.

You can now do tours of brutalist Coventry. Even the Thamesmead estate from A Clockwork Orange is being defended against demolition.

What interests me is how quickly yesterday’s ‘ugly’, working-class, municipal modernism becomes today’s heritage asset once it’s rebranded, curated and folded back into the prestige economy.

Concrete doesn’t change as fast as cultural value does.

The question I’m raising with Defund Culture is who gets to decide when something shifts from ‘eyesore’ to ‘icon’? And who benefits from that shift.