Tag Archives: concrete
20140917. Architect Viljo Revell’s concrete saucer at Toronto City Hall.
20140903. Toronto’s elevated Gardiner Expressway is stark yet visually appealing.
This is the eastbound Jarvis St off-ramp looking west.
20140730. Putting all the Brutalist planters in one place in preparation for the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto.
This is as Canadian as concrete gets! It is not the letters CNE stamped in the concrete but rather what the concrete is made of. If you look closely, you can make out the smooth pebbles that the cement is mixed with. This type of concrete is found throughout Canada; in Brutalist buildings, concrete benches and the ground we walk on in places like Montreal’s Olympic park. It must be a lot of work hauling these around but I hope they keep them to remind us of our architectural past.
20140627. An elegant exposed concrete descent into the underground (Distillery District, Toronto).
20140618. A different angle on Manulife Financial at 250 Bloor St E (c.1968) in Toronto.
20140520. Buffalo’s grand Standard Elevator (c.1928, Architect A.E. Baxter).
– Note the architectural details at the front of the elevator.
– The two large dark towers are moveable “marine legs” that take up grain from docked ships.
– Buffalo is/was considered the “elevator capital” of America.
20140511. Buffalo’s City Court Building is the epitome of Brutalism (c.1974)
“The windowless walls which present an impentratable facade to Niagara Square, were designed to protect the courtrooms and judges’ chambers from outside distractions, as well as to accomodate sculpture and define space.” From “Buffalo Architecture: A Guide.”
20140426. The Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Brutalist Milton Courthouse.
20140325. Brutalism in the Toronto District School Board – Central Technical School Arts Centre (c.1964, Architect Macy DuBois).
20140312. The extreme brutalism of York University’s Curtis Lecture Halls.
Perhaps the rectangular concrete masses reveal the specific functional zones of the building – lecture halls. Only a small section on the other side has windows.
20140218. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College St, Toronto. Architecture: International Style.
Although the CAMH building facades are made with concrete, it is an example of the International architectural style not Brutalism.
Photo 20130827. Colour and cracks in a concrete underpass (St. Clair and Warden).
