IN architecture, the brutalist style is that with an emphasis on materials, textures and construction, producing highly expressive forms.

This architectural style came about in the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-World War 2 era. The term was coined by the British architectural critic Reyner Banham to describe the approach to building particularly associated with the architects Peter and Alison Smithson in the 1950s and 1960s.The term originates from the use, by the pioneer modern architect and painter Le Corbusier, of 'beton brut' or raw concrete in French. Banham gave the French word a punning twist to express the general horror with which this concrete architecture was greeted in Britain.