Beautiful brutalism: why one Ottawa urbanist thinks concrete can't be beat

You might think the dozens of hulking concrete buildings that dot Ottawa's downtown are cold, impersonal eyesores.

Well, Sarah Gelbard wants to change your mind.

Tonight,Gelbard will be extolling the virtues of the much-maligned building style known as brutalismas part of a talk for the Westboro Brainery, a community-run series of educational courses on everything from understanding architecture trendsto making kimchi.

"If you take a bit of time to get to know these buildings, you actually see this very different character," says Gelbard, co-director of architectural idea hub yowLABand an editor of urbanism magazine Spacing Ottawa.

Characterized by anextensive use of concrete, brutalism flourished in Canadaduring the 1960s and the 1970s as a reaction to the modernist glass and steel buildings of the early 20th century, says Gelbard.

Today, however, popular sentiment seems to be moving away from what Gelbard calls the"introverted" charms of brutalist buildings.Earlier this year, the National Arts Centre perhaps Ottawa's most distinctlybrutalistbuilding received $110.5 million toreimagineits concrete front entrance in time for Canada's 2017 celebrations.

In 2014, demolition crews brought downthe11-storeySir JohnCarlingbuilding, abrutalistoffice tower near the Experimental Farmthat had housed Agriculture Canada employees for more than four decades.

• National Arts Centre gets $110M for makeover
• Ottawa library board approves plan for new central branch
• Sir John Carlingbuilding demolition carried out

Gelbard says it's unfortunateOttawansdon't think morehighly ofthose two buildings as well as the Ottawa Central Library, which could look quite different if a new central branch is eventually approved since brutalism was the style that coincided with much of the city's urban development.

"Because a lot of Ottawa was built through the 1960s and 1970s, it had a huge impacton the [urban] environment. But we don't really think of those as great buildings."

Moreover,it would be a shame if brutalism disappeared altogether from the city's skyline, she adds.

"We need a bunch of different types of buildings in the city," says Gelbard. "In ten years our vision is going to change, and we're going to miss the days when we had warm, welcoming, cozy spaces."

Gelbard's Westboro Brainery talk is sold out, but you canperuse our photogallery of some of the best or,depending on your tastes, the worst examples of brutalism in the nation's capital.