What are your thoughts on monstrous concrete buildings? Are they heaven or hell? Let me know in the comments, along with how you fared against my score today!
Depends. If they go for it 100%, it can often be cool as hell. A lot of the time however it's merely depressingly ugly, like the third place in this video.
Hovering your cursor over something means nothing. You have to place it somewhere, that's natural. And noone looks for places or names with their cursor. Your eyes are independent of it. Totally pointless thing to point out.
What an odd corner of the internet I found myself in, again. :) I never have been to Liverpool, but I'll make sure to get my balls scanned there, should I ever go. It seems to be just the right thing to do for the occasion!
The first building shown was the River City Apartments in Chicago, and my uncle had lived there for about a year. If you thought the outside was impressive, look up some pictures of the massive atreum inside. Genuinely one of the most impressive looking apartment buildings I have ever seen. Not to mention the prices really aren't that bad for the location and how modern it is.
About Brutalism in France... Le Corbusier, arguably the the most famous French architect, is also credited as the father of Brutalism. He was already making concrete monoliths even before WW2, He had been experimenting with concrete and how it could change architecture as early as the 1910s.
yes I hope many are aware of his famous controversial Paris plan. If for some reason you're not, just search it on youtube, it's going to worth your time.
Yes, I visited the Couvent de la Tourette near Lyon, designed by Le Corbusier and it's really the kind of place that leaves a special memory. So unique! While visiting the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona I had felt similar emotions...
he was born as swiss and grew up in (the french speaking part of) switzerland though, i don't know if he really qualifies as french. He just lived in paris
@@Aeraleach While technically true, he grew up only 3 miles from the french border, lived in france most of his life, more of his buildings are in france than anywhere else (by a longshot), and shows up on lists of french architects. Still though, yes he was Swiss-French.
@@joemungus6063 I have no problem with people's taste or opinion about it. But when you see a bunch of copy and paste of the exact same "I love when Brutalist architecture is combined with lots of greenery, there is something nice in that contrast." Then is it really an opinion anymore?
FYI some cities in France were also heavily bombed during WW2 explaining the presence of brutalism. Le Havre for exemple was entirely rebuilt after the war, the whole city is drawn in this type of architecture. Another reason was I think the lack of housing during the 50s 60s and 70s in some urban areas (especially in Paris' region): many buildings (even cities) were built and the architects were given quite some freedom to do what they wished ! But that's not a subject I am really mastering so the explaination might be incomplete !
Not so much architectural freedom as "we need is quickly, and we need it cheaply". That is what became of "brutalism". From the beginning it was fascination with concrete as a material, it was seen as modern and exciting, and it could be shape weirdly (like the Sydney Opera House and many others). But it took over and is now just mass produced boxes.
True, you refer to the "villes nouvelles" ("new cities") around Paris such as Évry (south), Cergy-Pontoise (west) or Marne-la-Vallée (east), a huge urbanism plan designed in the 60's to create autonomous poles around the capital.
@@57thorns Yes indeed! But I was also thinking about some housing projects like for instance in "Noisy le grand" (which were built by Ricardo Boffil ) and had a quite marked esthetic commitment. (Idk if it is a good exemple). If the economical motivation was indeed important, artistics / political motives were too i think
@@Creed__Bratt0n Most definitely, some places (like Paris, it was place Violtaire) require a lot of upkeep and if there is an economic downturn raw concrete is not known to be water resistant, so quick degradation is expected. But it sure looked odd and interesting the first ten years or so. Meanwhile the "commie blocks" were built to last 40-50 years at the most, so they are braking down now as well. Stone buildings from the 1700s and 1800s were built to last, but are a pain to modernize internally, especially with things like toilets, showers and modern kitchens.
Kind of disappointed the buildings in the thumbnail didn't come up as I recognised them as a pair of buildings in Yerevan, I thought they were really cool buildings to randomly walk past when I was there last year.
You said you hadn't known France to be particularly big purveyors of Brutalist architecture. Well, the term Brutalist actually comes from French. The French word Brut (meaning raw) is applied to this type of concrete: Béton Brut meaning 'raw concrete'. Basically describing the usage and application of concrete that is then left unfinished...as is synonymous with the BRUTalist architecture. I suppose it was taken as a happy coincidence that the word Brut was very similar to the word Brutal (in fact, they are probably of the same etymological stem in Latin/French) - visual brutality that these stark concrete beasts exude. So, maybe the French were big into Brutalism after all. By the way, I like Brutalist architecture, as you said: in small doses. I am a fan of 'mid-century' fashion, architecture and futurism generally and brutalism is a snapshot of the thoughts post-war town planners (by the way, 'Unbuilt' is a great book, about post-war town planning ideas). In my home city of Manchester, like most other British cities, there are plenty of eye-catching, stark, impressive concrete behemoths. Many are under threat, such as the famous 'toast rack' to the south of the University of Manchester and other examples in the former UMIST (North) Campus, Reynolds Building with its unusual zig-zaggy facade - I think it is earmarked to go, due to redevelopment. I say keep the unique and interesting ones, get rid if the concrete has deteriorated to a such an extent that it is a streaky mucky grey mess and cracked to f___.
That´s just Soviet buildings... They are all over Eastern Europe, and it´s not really brutalist. You do have a lot of the most ornate and beautiful buildings though, the ones that survived the war!
@@olenilsen4660 Baltics don't have many ornate old buildings. You can count on fingers true old towns there. He also probably meant true unique brutalism that Baltics have. Soviets while used boring same apartment buildings they had special designs for libraries, sport arenas, government buildings, universities, swimming pools and so on.
@@JohnyG29 Yes. Meigs Field (now closed) on an island just east of the city center of Chicago was the default starting location in MSFS way back when. Sears Tower was very prominent in the sparse skyline of those early games.
As a french, when reading the title of the video I wondered if you’d have any other country than France during your game Absolutely every administration building of every city of the country is a concrete monstruosity. To that, you have to add all the medium and big cities hospitals plus of course the suburb projects. Of course, it’s luckily not what you see the most as a visitor. But as an inhabitant, brutalist architecture feels like home.
Of course we want more videos about brutalism. I am in fact subscribed to the subreddit specialized in that topic. Please do more videos, no matter what they are about. Your voice would stop a war.
I loved this! Please do more of this map, I love the obscurity of brutalist architecture, it’s always so interesting, almost like traveling back in time.
I've found brutalist architecture interesting ever since I was young, although I didn't know what it was called then; I just thought it was cool that some buildings look like evil lairs. I understand why people dislike it but it creates unique spaces and atmospheres that will never be recreated again
Thank you for mentioning Coventry! Its not the most pleasant place - but growing up there really sparked my love for brutalist architecture and concrete structures, I'm always in awe of things built in that style as a result.
In France, phone numbers land line beginning are : 01 : around Paris 02 : north west like Normandy or Brittany 03: north est (Lille, Strasbourg) 04: south est (Marseille, Lyon) 05: south ouest (Toulouse, Bordeaux) It could help😊
Tom, this was brilliant. I watch your videos all the time, but have never played Geoguessr myself. I clicked the link, created an account and struggled to follow along. Heap of fun and more please!
Your french pronounciation is not that bad! I was surprised how you pronounced "Banque populaire" and "rives"! "Rives de Paris" means "Shores of Paris"
I kinda guessed that is what it meant. I know a bit of Spanish and remember the word for river bank was ribera. Kind of similar....no?? I have forgotten tonnes of my Spanish level B1 yet remember that obscure word!
"need to find ivry" mouse is over a city with ivry in it, 5 minutes later, "well i give up i'll go up here" moves mouse from over ivry to the other side of the city
As a fan of architecture, I was really excited to see you play through this map, and as a Chicagoan I was especially excited to see you get Bertrand Goldberg's River City in the first round. Great vid!
I find that first paris sprawling complex very beautiful. The overtaken by nature aesthetic is my favourite. I wish I could explore a post-human extinction city that's been taken back by nature.
Agree that greenery drastically improves brutalism. Complements nicely with the (excessive) harshness of the concrete. Almost make it seem like a rock formation sometimes, definitely with this more haphazardly shaped building. You could call it eco-brutalism, but due to the smaller units it compromises this building is also a well known example of the movement called structuralism, which you may like.
@@hydrocharis1 I came here to comment the same thing, my favorite aesthetic is nature overgrowing on brutalist architecture. There is something so poignant about mother earth reclaiming these structures that have an authoritarian connotation. I like how you compare it to a rock formation, I would love to see a solarpunk world built atop these structures.
France was very very damaged by WWII when it comes to bombings, several big cities were totally destroyed by the english when trying to chase the nazis. This led to tons of ugly 60's concrete monstrocities as you call them. A few example from the top of my head are : Saint-Nazaire (100% destroyed), Saint Malo (80% destroyed), Calais (95% destroyed), Dunkerke (90% destroyed), Le Havre (82% destroyed), Saint-Lô (77% destroyed) and there are a lot more.
I know I was shocked that Tom thought the German aerial bombings of England could’ve been more damaging than what France went through. I guess because Paris was never really bombed it isn’t as obvious to foreigners.
Why are French so concerned with buildings? We were liberating France, not just 'chasing the nazis'. yThe French forces literally fled Paris in order to save the buildings. Maybe if they didnt act like that then the nazis wouldnt of conquered France so quick. If you werent aware, Britain was bombed to smithereens also. My city was flattened, and could be seen burning from Fance. They were debating abandoning the city after that, but chose to rebuild cheaply in the end.
@@oisin3495 Do you know why Paris is so well preserved? Because the French literally left it and let the nazis take it over, precisely to preserve the buildings Quote: ''Paris fell to the Germans yesterday. The French, having decided not to fight in the capital itself, have withdrawn south of the city. In deciding not to defence Paris the French Command "aimed at sparing it the devastation which defence would have involved. The command considered that no valuable strategic result justified the sacrifice of Paris."'' Even though they could of held out, or at least tried. Us British pleaded with them , but nope, buildings were more important to them. Did the french ever really thank us for liberating them ? Nope. We get a destroyed country, including our capital, for trying to save them, whilst they run away from their capital to save it instead of fighting. And post ww2 they treated us like an enemy again almost straight away, blocking attempts to join the common market etc. If things were the other way around in ww2, us Brits would be speaking German, because no way would the French of tried to save us. France can go do one along with Gemany.
In french a "rive" means a side, an edge, or a riverbank. So "rives de Paris" litterally means on the side / at the edge of Paris. I also wanted to point out how the french telephone system numbering works, but POWERFULL Tristan already did the job! Like english cities, some french cities were flatten to rubble during WWII, but other brutalist and "grands ensembles" came out of necessity due to rapidly increasing population during the 60s combined with exodus from colonies during decolonization (hundreds of thousands fled Algeria for example). Although a few of these buildings are ...let's say 'iconic' and could be presereved, most are eyesores doomed to be blown off (with some hints of satisfaction when that happen to be honest!) Thanks as always for sharing your GeoGuessing skills!
The second one, when you look at it on Google Earth, it is an insane building, really cool looking as well, especially if you look at the shape of the roof, and how it kinda snakes around 4 different blocks. There's also another building that also looks really cool right next to it
I am surprise you don't know about it yet but here's a tip for France: when you see a land line phone number on an ad, the first two digits indicates the area. 01 - Paris/Ile de France 02 NW area 03 NE 04 SW 05 SE area. 06 07 are cell phone numbers.
Pretty much agree with your take, Tom. I always wonder if the general view of "Brutalist Architecture" would be different if it had a different name? I realise the name comes from the French for raw, as in "raw concrete", but in English we can't help associate it with "brutality". I'm sure it has an effect on how we view some of these buildings, even before we see them, because we already have the word "brutal" in our minds.
Great game, Tom! I did pretty well this time with 24,767! Round 1 - When I visited Chicago in 2019 I did the architecture river tour, so I recognized this location immediately, without even turning around to see the Willis tower. Round 2 was tough, but I managed to cinch it by seeing the Ivry, just as you did. But boy, your mouse was hovering literally directly over Ivry-sur-Seine as you were saying "Is Ivry even an real place?" I was screaming at my monitor haha Round 3 - This one was really tough. Spent a good 15 minutes scanning the surroundings of Paris for a big roundabout over a motorway with the right angles, but wasn't able to find it. Wound up guessing the complete other side of Paris. Round 4 - Instantly felt like Southern France to me (I have some family in Marseille) and guessed Montpellier on a whim. Found a spot by an aqueduct that sort of lined up, but sort of didn't, so I assumed it was somewhere else. Guessed anyway and to my surprise got a nifty 4994! Round 5 - Easy for all the same reasons you mention (Thank you, LiangJi!) Keep em coming, would love to play this map again!
That was good fun. Sorry to be that pedantic guy, but France was the second most bombed country after Germany during WW2. Allies dropped the equivalent of 550 000 tons of bombs on the occupied territorry, killing 75 000 citizens and destroying cities (especially in the west, Le Havre being the most famous exemple). That's why France is a great spot for brutalism : it had to be rebuilt. This architecture was particularly successful in the cities forming the "red belt" around Paris (meaning : led by communist mayors), such as Ivry-sur-Seine.
I got the royal Liverpool hospital straight away. Mainly because I live here and my bus route goes right past it. They're knocking it down now and building a park there I think because they built a new hospital behind it.
I got a massive clue on my round in Liverpool. There was a new fence installed around the building with gigantic Liverpool New Royal Hospital writing over it
A lot of people from Liverpool actually cannot stand the Beatles, who gave a big middle finger to their birthplace once they made some money. Probably about the seventh or eighth best artist even from that city, IMO. 🙄
@@WeaselKing1000 I see where you're coming from with that comment and I absolutely respect it. But as a non-Liverpudlian, I tell you they're my favorite band ever, I just love their music.
@@WeaselKing1000 While their pop wasn't the most experimental, they did bring experimental elements into the mainstream, and that shaped pop and rock for years to come. Are you from Liverpool?
@@stephenoxf I'm not, but I have heard it said by some who are. And yeah, no denying there are many many bands that wouldn't have existed without what the Beatles did first. I just don't care for their music for the most part. My comments get a bit carried away in the small hours of the morning...
Last one was probably built as an automatic telephone exchange. Somewhat similar buildings were used like that and demolished in last 15 years in my city.
I really like brutalism. My university has some outstanding examples of the the style, and after some research and seeing some more examples in other cities, I think I do know why. Brutalism does play a lot with air and light, actually. Also, spaces for plants and for water are included in the plans, and it does create a very nice atmosphere, if the places are properly maintained. My favorite building styles are ones out of the 20’S and 30’s, i also like the similarities. The concrete texture (and tiles and metal) is nice, too. I just vibe with any form of texture in building materials… My friends really hate our brutalist buildings tho. But also, these are the more outstanding examples, that have some more thought and design behind them. I do kinda keep brutalism and some of the really basic “Plattenbauten” of the era separated.
I can appreciate the shapes, but the grey makes them look so depressing and dull, and they're often dirty as well, making it even worse. If they'd been brilliantly white, graphite gray, chrome, copper or a mix of different colors and materials, they'd be much easier to stomach.
I got 17,859. I'm very happy with that after getting a big "0" on the first one. Why was I so certain that was Sydney?? Thanks for the video & challenge, Tom!
I really like the second one i don't know why really. Maybe because it's so aggressive with it's sharp, precise angles and grey concrete while it wrestles with the wild green which is slowly overtaking it. Good stuff.
Doing this in Jan 24 and the Liverpool one has a different streetview from the one in the video, with the hospital name clearly visible, making it much easier to find.
while looking at the panel with different pictures (fête de l'humanité and so on) at the top right near to "affichage réservé aux associations locales" ,you could spot the city "Ivry" for ivry sur seine" it is slightly blur and hard to spot but it helps me a lot.
Re #1 Officially its Willis Tower, but everybody still calls it Sears Tower. The John Hancock Center is north of The Loop (downtown) behind the other buildings. Re #2 your curser was right on top of it when you said “I wonder if thats a place” lol
World War 2 France - it was conquered relatively quickly by the Germans (despite being defended by the combined British + French armies), but then the Germans occupied it, and the ALLIES spent the next five years bombing it. France was damaged much more than the UK ever was, with 400,000 buildings destroyed and another 900,000 buildings seriously damaged, and 70,000 people killed - close on double the damage done to the UK. Parts of France then looked like parts of Ukraine today, and needed to be built back almost totally. So yeah, they caught the concrete bug even worse than we did. As a country with generally higher government spending, assisted by Marshall Plan funds, it was also more prone to 'big projects' making a statement, for which a brutal block of concrete was perfect.
Just some random comments that will go under months later ... Sears equals Willy's tower Chicago (old vs. new name), in the actual footage it says "Royal Hospital Liverpool" right into your face - and I just found out a few days ago how much fun it is to play along, because GeoPeter mentioned you don't need a GeoGuessr-account, thanks 😊. I'm glad you didn't put a time-limit on it, that stresses me out!
France was bombed a lot during the war. By both camps depending on the advancement of the liberation effort. I grew up in Caen, and it was 97% destroyed. Basically only the church and the castle were left. Many western cities were the same like Le Havre, Brest or Lorient, and are all concrete now
It's pretty obvious that you don't really care about your videos anymore. No effort put into your guesses just slap dash guesses without any investigation. Very bad.
great game Tom! I think thats the first time I ever beat you in a play-along. just followed my gut and got 24,287 :)) to be fair, I was pretty lucky with that montpellier round. it was sort of an insane guess for me haha
17:27 “Wow that’s one of the most brutal, shocking pieces of architecture I have ever seen it really is and I live in Birmingham so that really is something” ~ Tom Davies (2023)
![This "Brutalist Architecture" map is fascinating.. [PLAY ALONG]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
