Brutalism is the techno of architecture, baron and menacing. Brutalist buildings are hard to maintain and to destroy. They can’t be remodeled easily or changed, so they stay the way the architect intended. The movement has come roaring back into style because permanence is very attractive in our cacophonous and crumbling world.

Like the original, modest intentions of leftish-leaning midcentury-modern structures, which were meant for the Everyone, but have now often ended up serving as lavish status symbols. brutalism—especially the few homes and converted civic buildings that people can actually live in today—is preyed on by aesthetically focused elites. in addition, it is the case when any style is on the finger tips of rediscovery, it is also simultaneously on the verge of obliteration by those who have not yet caught on to its value.

Unsurprisingly, there are heated arguments over which designers and architects completely qualify as brutalists . The category is broad and undefined. I can see why Corbusier and Kahn might be included, but I find them too humane. So you will not find their work in these pages. Really brutal brutalism—raw, blocky, cold, and cubistically minimal.

It was a experimental and exciting architectural movement, and there are very few places on the map without a decent brutalist example or two. Let’s treasure and preserve the brutalists from those who are determined to reduce them—starting with the icons above.