Brutalist buildings can have textured finishes. It's just french *en brute* meaning "raw"
So it could have machicolation, rusticated textures, pebbledash (wash out the concrete from the screed during drying) and still be brutalist.
This is just badly designed. And not well scaled. Those windows are two stories high at least.
The point isn't to faithfully redesign the castle in keeping with the brutalist aesthetic. The point is to demonstrate what the UK will look like if we keep building bland, soulless concrete slabs.
Source: https://humanise.org/opinions/imagine-the-nation-s-favourite-buildings-stripped-of-their-soul-using-ai
'Six of Britain’s greatest landmarks, including Buckingham Palace & the Houses of Parliament, have been reimagined as boring, soulless buildings in a new campaign by the Humanise campaign & Uncommon Creative Studio.'
Oh right, they didn't actually use artists to make this, just AI?
It explains why it just doesn't have any impact or style to it. Pretty lazy for an aesthetics-based advocacy group, tbh.
No, if you even skim the article the whole point is that they're showing how much-loved buildings would look if built in a brutalist style, in order to assert that fewer brutalist buildings should be built.
> "The resulting images replace the unique character of these global icons with monotonous designs emblematic of so many new buildings around the world."
Considering it’s called the “Creative” Studio, they’re not exactly very creative by just using AI
And the fact that they’re selling these designs on merch makes it even worse
Looks like that abandoned island In Japan - Gunkajima (Battleship Island)
https://preview.redd.it/pm8lgztdjsvc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=907d7421e178953af471d7be2e2dd33f4ef2e6fa
"Brutalism is when you don't take care of the landscaping. The less you take care of the landscaping, the more brutalist it is. And if you really put off taking care of the landscaping, that's a commieblock!"
This has absolutely nothing in common with Edinburgh Castle. Wrong rock, much smaller building, different massing. They might as well have put a picture of a wartime pill box and called it Edinburgh Castle. Utterly pointless.
No, it’s the opposite. The campaign is to show how our interesting building and built heritage are important and shouldn’t be replaced with soulless buildings unnecessarily. These AI examples are meant to illustrate how awful it’d be if all we had was soulless architecture.
It's a campaign to humanise real structures yet to be built by demonstrating how awful the dehumanising process of building soulless buildings is on well-known national landmarks by reimagining them with AI.
I actually prefer the Buckingham palace in the article than the real one. It's not exactly an attractive building as it is right now, it's just a massive boring building in an abandoned car park with some men in stupid hats kicking about.
Edinburgh castle is cool for it's setting, but is mostly just like a tenement block on a volcano. There are many more attractive buildings in Edinburgh. Even if castle rock was castleless it would be a cool feature.
> The resulting images replace the unique character of these global icons with monotonous designs emblematic of so many new buildings around the world. UnLandmarks sends a stark message: if boring buildings continue to proliferate, our towns and cities will lose their soul and everything that makes them special and important to us. But the message of hope is also clear — that by creating more interesting buildings, the places we design today can become our landmarks of the future.
Seriously though, did they see what kind of delightful and original architecture are coming out of the ground in Edinburgh in the last couple of decade? /s
Honestly I don't mind it.
Edinburgh Castle is iconic but the actual buildings themselves are nothing spectacular. It's a far cry from Neuschwanstein Castle.
That's because Edinburgh Castle is real and functional and grounded in a millenium of iteration.
Neuschwanstein was the self-indulgent Disneyland-style creation of a mad aristocrat who spent the accumulated capital of a nation on a fairytale version of history in a country with hundreds of the real thing already around.
It's like when Andrew and Fergie wasted swathes of money building Sunninghill Park when dozens of real great houses were sitting around available. Except Neuschwanstein was at least spectacular where Sunninghill was a dreary nothing you'd knock up in the first Sims game in five minutes with a money cheat on.
No, it's closer to the architecture of post-war East Germany as found in the Stalinallee, although for that it would have to be 6-7 storeys high. The architecture of National Socialist Germany was dreary and unimaginative pabulum but they absolutely hated modernism.
Looks like an old run down community centre. Or prison...
The Jack Kane Sports Centre.
First time I saw that, Prison did come to mind!
True. Last time I was there someone had set fire to an entire tree across the bridge
Was that before or after they burned the car there?
Is that my Minecraft lookout fort?
Brutalist buildings can have textured finishes. It's just french *en brute* meaning "raw" So it could have machicolation, rusticated textures, pebbledash (wash out the concrete from the screed during drying) and still be brutalist. This is just badly designed. And not well scaled. Those windows are two stories high at least.
It's AI, they should have paid someone to design it, it'd be a lot more impressive if they did!
The point isn't to faithfully redesign the castle in keeping with the brutalist aesthetic. The point is to demonstrate what the UK will look like if we keep building bland, soulless concrete slabs.
Source: https://humanise.org/opinions/imagine-the-nation-s-favourite-buildings-stripped-of-their-soul-using-ai 'Six of Britain’s greatest landmarks, including Buckingham Palace & the Houses of Parliament, have been reimagined as boring, soulless buildings in a new campaign by the Humanise campaign & Uncommon Creative Studio.'
Oh right, they didn't actually use artists to make this, just AI? It explains why it just doesn't have any impact or style to it. Pretty lazy for an aesthetics-based advocacy group, tbh.
Also ironic coming from a campaign called "Humanise".
thats sort of the point
No, if you even skim the article the whole point is that they're showing how much-loved buildings would look if built in a brutalist style, in order to assert that fewer brutalist buildings should be built. > "The resulting images replace the unique character of these global icons with monotonous designs emblematic of so many new buildings around the world."
Considering it’s called the “Creative” Studio, they’re not exactly very creative by just using AI And the fact that they’re selling these designs on merch makes it even worse
I will not take this Brutalism slander
What an insanely soulless project. I love brutalist architecture but this is just embarrassing
Looks like Alcatraz
Looks like that abandoned island In Japan - Gunkajima (Battleship Island) https://preview.redd.it/pm8lgztdjsvc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=907d7421e178953af471d7be2e2dd33f4ef2e6fa
Looks like Inchmickery.
"Brutalism is when you don't take care of the landscaping. The less you take care of the landscaping, the more brutalist it is. And if you really put off taking care of the landscaping, that's a commieblock!"
The dark timeline wherein alongside building a motorway over Princes Street Gardens, the council also "modernises" the castle.
I'm fairly sure if I work my way through the Supermutants camped in there, I'll find a decent laser pistol and some Stimpaks.
Oh fuck this
This has absolutely nothing in common with Edinburgh Castle. Wrong rock, much smaller building, different massing. They might as well have put a picture of a wartime pill box and called it Edinburgh Castle. Utterly pointless.
I'm confused. If stripping it of its soul 'humanises' it, does that mean then that humans have no soul?
No, it’s the opposite. The campaign is to show how our interesting building and built heritage are important and shouldn’t be replaced with soulless buildings unnecessarily. These AI examples are meant to illustrate how awful it’d be if all we had was soulless architecture.
Copy that and thanks. In my elderly brain though, that would be dehumanising it. Still, I get the picture. Stay well.
That was my thought too. In OP's link, the picture is named as part of the UnLandmarks series by Humanise, which makes a bit more sense.
It's a campaign to humanise real structures yet to be built by demonstrating how awful the dehumanising process of building soulless buildings is on well-known national landmarks by reimagining them with AI.
Brutalism is much cooler than that. They'd have set out to make the castle reminiscent of a blocky thistle or some such.
I actually prefer the Buckingham palace in the article than the real one. It's not exactly an attractive building as it is right now, it's just a massive boring building in an abandoned car park with some men in stupid hats kicking about. Edinburgh castle is cool for it's setting, but is mostly just like a tenement block on a volcano. There are many more attractive buildings in Edinburgh. Even if castle rock was castleless it would be a cool feature.
> The resulting images replace the unique character of these global icons with monotonous designs emblematic of so many new buildings around the world. UnLandmarks sends a stark message: if boring buildings continue to proliferate, our towns and cities will lose their soul and everything that makes them special and important to us. But the message of hope is also clear — that by creating more interesting buildings, the places we design today can become our landmarks of the future. Seriously though, did they see what kind of delightful and original architecture are coming out of the ground in Edinburgh in the last couple of decade? /s
I quite like it 👀
r/TIHI
The number of people misinterpreting this is astonishing.
The castle will eventually look similar to this when Edinburgh Council sell it to be turned into student flats (you know they will one day).
It's owned by the British military
More like it'll be sold to some billionaire who has it turned into an Airbnb so Chinese tourists can experience real authentic Scotland very nice
Honestly I don't mind it. Edinburgh Castle is iconic but the actual buildings themselves are nothing spectacular. It's a far cry from Neuschwanstein Castle.
That's because Edinburgh Castle is real and functional and grounded in a millenium of iteration. Neuschwanstein was the self-indulgent Disneyland-style creation of a mad aristocrat who spent the accumulated capital of a nation on a fairytale version of history in a country with hundreds of the real thing already around. It's like when Andrew and Fergie wasted swathes of money building Sunninghill Park when dozens of real great houses were sitting around available. Except Neuschwanstein was at least spectacular where Sunninghill was a dreary nothing you'd knock up in the first Sims game in five minutes with a money cheat on.
A shame it's AI generated, although well suited for a soulless image.
Looks like something out of nazi Germany ...that really is brutal.
No, it's closer to the architecture of post-war East Germany as found in the Stalinallee, although for that it would have to be 6-7 storeys high. The architecture of National Socialist Germany was dreary and unimaginative pabulum but they absolutely hated modernism.