Question

in an essay examining mid - twentieth - century architectural movements, an art historian argues that british brutalist architecture represented not merely an aesthetic preference for exposed concrete but a deliberate ideological statement. the historian claims that brutalist architects sought to embody egalitarian social values through their rejection of decorative elements and their embrace of materials that revealed rather than concealed the building’s construction.
9 mark for review
which quotation from a scholarly work on architecture would most effectively support the historian’s claim?
a “the brutalist style spread rapidly across university campuses and municipal buildings throughout the 1960s, becoming the dominant visual language of public institutional architecture in britain.”
b “critics of brutalism often pointed to the style’s apparent hostility to human scale and comfort, arguing that the massive concrete forms alienated rather than welcomed the public they were meant to serve.”
c “the economic advantages of cast - in - place concrete, which required less skilled labor than traditional masonry, made brutalism attractive to postwar governments facing severe housing shortages.”
d “architects like alison and peter smithson conceived of their unadorned concrete structures as democratic spaces where the building’s honesty about its own construction mirrored a desired transparency in public life.”

Explanation:

The historian's claim is that British Brutalist architecture was an ideological statement embodying egalitarian social values. We need a quotation that links Brutalist architecture to ideological/egalitarian values.

• Option A talks about the spread of Brutalism, not its ideological statement.
• Option B focuses on criticisms of Brutalism, not support for the ideological claim.
• Option C discusses economic advantages, not ideological values.
• Option D states that architects like the Smithsons saw their unadorned concrete structures as democratic spaces, with the building’s honesty mirroring desired transparency in public life. This directly connects Brutalist architecture to democratic (egalitarian) ideological values, supporting the historian's claim.

Answer:

D. Architects like Alison and Peter Smithson conceived of their unadorned concrete structures as democratic spaces where the building's honesty about its own construction mirrored a desired transparency in public life.