German artist recreates Brutalist buildings with LEGO blocks

Brutalist architecture has a perfectly appropriate name.

The design conveys, well, brutality. The movement, which was most popular in the middle of the 20th century, was marked by its cold, sterile appearance. Extremely functional, very linear, and lots of concrete. A retrofuturistic attempt at modernism. 

It’s a little funny, then, to see Brutalist buildings recreated with the same type of blocks that can be used to construct the Firehouse Headquarters from "Ghostbusters."

German artist Arndt Schlaudraff uses LEGO blocks to build notable Brutalist structures. He posts photos of his work on his Instagram account.

 

This is the Villa Hutheesing by Le Corbusier. It's probably the biggest model i ever build and took nearly all my bricks. #lecorbusier #villahutheesing #lego #legoarchitecture #legoarchitecturestudio #brutalism #brutalarchitecture #architecture

A photo posted by Arndt Schlaudraff (@lego_tonic) on Mar 2, 2016 at 11:46am PST

Not all Brutalist structures are plain, nor do they have beauty only in their subtlety. Some of the models Schlaudraff have made are really striking. Some entries are fictitious, and some are based off of existing buildings. Schlaudraff doesn’t sell his pieces; instead, he take photos and destroys the models so he can repurpose the bricks.

The artist spoke with Dezeen about his fascination with Brutalism and LEGOs.

 

This is my tribute to the work of Giuseppe Perugini and his fabulous Casa Sperimentale, a brutalist masterpiece of the late 1960's #casasperimentale #GiuseppePerugini #brutalism #brutalarchitecture #lego #legoarchitecture #legoarchitecturestudio #architecture

A photo posted by Arndt Schlaudraff (@lego_tonic) on Feb 25, 2016 at 12:26am PST

 

My doorkey was the inspiration for this very quick-n-dirty build next project. New ideas can come from everywhere! #lego #legoarchitecture #legoarchitecturestudio

A photo posted by Arndt Schlaudraff (@lego_tonic) on Mar 4, 2016 at 6:44am PST