CONCRETE UTOPIAS: WHAT'S (NOT) SO BRUTAL ABOUT BRUTALISM
AN IN-PERSON LECTURE | REGISTRATION COMING SOON
This seasonal event will be held at the special venue of the Beechwood National Memorial Centre, Sacred Space Room, 280 Beechwood Avenue, Ottawa
It has been said that brutalist architecture is “unloved but not unlovely.” Beyond the monolithic, opaque, concrete façades are buildings filled with drama, mystery, and strong civic focus. In the postwar building boom and leading up to Canada's Centennial, grand and heroic ideals of civic welfare and cultural identity were translated into a new vision for Ottawa. The strong character of brutalist architecture that followed from these plans and visions embodied renewed hope, stability, and humanity. Yet, today these buildings are commonly (mis)read as imposing and inhuman “eyesores” and little care is given to their heritage value when buildings are renovated or demolished.
In this talk, Dr. Sarah Gelbard highlights Ottawa's brutalist heritage through some of its key buildings including the National Arts Centre and Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. She will share how understanding the values and ideals behind these plans and buildings helps us to question what went wrong when they became built realities instead of Utopian visions.
Light refreshments and a chance to mingle will follow the lecture and Q&A session.
Dr. Sarah Gelbard (she/her) is a critical community-based urban planning and architecture scholar. Her research and community work engage with stories of participatory planning, community practices, neighbourhood change, and complex histories of power, exclusion, and urban inequities. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, and a contract instructor at the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University. For well over a decade, Sarah has been sharing her love of Ottawa's brutalist architecture with a popular walking tour as well as several published pieces in Spacing magazine and the Centretown Buzz, and featured in several interviews on the CBC.