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German artist recreates Brutalist buildings with LEGO blocks

Architects

German artist recreates Brutalist buildings with LEGO blocks

Arndt Schlaudraff brings the beauty out of the rugged, linear style of buildings most popular a half century ago.


By Mike Chamernik, Associate Editor | March 11, 2016
German artist recreates brutalist buildings with LEGO blocks

Photo: Arndt Schlaudraff, via Dezeen

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.

 

 

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.

 

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