Strike up a conversation about the world's most beautiful buildings, and it might be a while before anyone mentions an example of brutalist architecture. There could be numerous French buildings on the list like the Palace of Versailles or something more recent like the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, but Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation in Marseille probably won't be at the top of anybody's list.
Yet that building, completed in 1952, has been called the architect and designer's "most significant and inspiring" by ArchDaily. Made of bréton-brut concrete, which was inexpensive in post-WWII Europe, the innovative building housed 1,600 individuals and included spaces for dining, shopping and gathering. And its heavy look and raw material established brutalism, a style that has been fighting for its rightful place in the imagination of architecture lovers ever since.
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