Brutalism has fascinated me ever since I began playing with architecture. The rigid materials unmoving; the large, uniform structures; the eeriness that keeps one at bay. It instills intense feelings that cannot entirely be described. These were emotions that I wanted to evoke through a structure.

I first sketched a drawing meant to be tall and menacing if viewed from the ground. From there, I used uniform stanchions close together to meet the brutalism theme. These were not meant to keep the individual in but to create a sense of menace and entrapment. Flow is still an important aspect of any structure, therefore I added a progression to the pillars, a path through the edifice.

When seen from a lower viewpoint, the massive structures tower over you, visually pushing you deeper into the floor beneath. This was a theoretical structure but could have more realism. I would’ve used a more uniform and brutalist material next time such as concrete.

I have always been interested in city design. Each time I drove by my home city of Grand Rapids I would say “There’s my city” as a little kid, pretending I built it myself. As I’ve grown, I’ve dreamt of cities built upon one theme to seem uniform and thought out; this was my iteration of that.

To make the structure feel large and imposing I added large buildings amidst those shorter to bring about a diminutive feeling. Hot glue is very common among most of my models, particularly this one; it is the simplest adhesive that I could use and proved very versatile for maintaining the structure.

The makeup of the city when viewed from a lower perspective creates a feeling of being pulled down and trapped within its walls. When seen from above, the complexities and sections of the structure all become visible, showing the nature of the controlled viewpoint.

My main intent with this project was to create a starting point for a series of rigidity-themed projects. I wanted to control the viewpoint of these structures and make them feel constricting and stable. This work was meant to come with hard-cut edges and end the eyes’ journey abruptly.

To create a form out of simplicity and reduce the detail of the structure I simply used straight lines. This form has clear-cut edges on a blank white background to cut the eye travel short. I focused my vision in one spot to draw the piece without shifting my gaze as I drew.

Although small, the sketch conveys an abrupt feeling from one side to the other. Whatever polygon the eyes are placed upon seems to jump off of the page as the center of the work, with the rest of the sketch growing out of it.