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The Morning Star 2026 Conference
The Atlas of Brutalism
Revelatory images of a maligned architectural movement, whose democratic intent has transformed the public space
Rozzol Melara, Carlo Celli, Trieste, Italy 1982

“BRUTALISM” — the greatest misnomer in cultural vocabulary today — is in fact quite the opposite. An architecture of care, it embraces humanism, solidarity and unbridled imagination and by definition is participatory, aspirational and inherently democratic.

It hasn’t always succeeded aesthetically but as an endeavour it has had universal appeal for decades.

rand Central Water Tower, GAPP Architects & Urban Designers, Midrand, South Afica, 1996 and (right) Reading Pavilion, Jinhua Architecture Park by Herzog & de Meuron, Jinhua, China, 2006
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