Brutalist buildings in Victoria

I'm thinking of the CIBC tower, Royal Bank at Fort and Douglas, Sitkum Lodge, the medical building across the street from the Jubilee Hospital, the office block behind the RBCM, the Eric Martin Pavillion. What about Spectrum School in its original form and that goofy complex at Shelbourne and McKenzie (also in its original form)?

And that one on Blanshard between Pandora and Cormorant. Shocking but true, Victorians weren't afraid to slap a coat of brown brick on their brutalist buildings. I suppose the alternative would have been Tudor-Brutalist or some such thing.

Edited by aastra, 04 December 2015 - 06:18 PM.

Martin Segger (in his book) describes that ~1950 building as "minimalist Moderne".

CHEK-TV's building is another one for the brutalist list.

I am in charge of cleaning up the appearance of 2020 Richmond Medical Building as it is dirty. I was thinking of "ice blasting" it to restore the original brick and concrete finish and then sealing it with a mat clear sealer. Someone else suggested re-cladding it but I can't see that looking any better.

Any suggestions?

Edited by amor de cosmos, 04 December 2015 - 11:51 PM.

^ maybe this wouldn't be practical in that case but the salk institute in inlaid with teak rather than brick. or is that the sort of thing you meant by re-cladding? wood seems to give it a softer look, see the interior of the saanich municipal hall also.

 

Yes those are the kind of ideas I was looking for.

Do you think it is wrong to want to try and change an exterior like this? ....   or should it be restored to its original finish?

The pollution that has embedded itself into the concrete over the years makes it look awful. It reminds me of a neglected building in Chernobyl. I have to do something with it.

I am in charge of cleaning up the appearance of 2020 Richmond Medical Building as it is dirty. I was thinking of "ice blasting" it to restore the original brick and concrete finish and then sealing it with a mat clear sealer. Someone else suggested re-cladding it but I can't see that looking any better.
 
Any suggestions?
 
2020.jpg

The thing that ruins the original architecture of a building are all the rube goldberg communication antennas that keep getting added and stuck on in whatever space is available with no thought to how it looks from the street.

Yes those are the kind of ideas I was looking for.
 
Do you think it is wrong to want to try and change an exterior like this? ....   or should it be restored to its original finish?
 
The pollution that has embedded itself into the concrete over the years makes it look awful. It reminds me of a neglected building in Chernobyl. I have to do something with it.

 I had never heard of ice blasting:

I should have been more specific.

https://en.wikipedia...ry-ice_blasting

I would be afraid of the long-term effects of a sealer.

Again, I should have been more specific. I was thinking more of a "densifier" as opposed to a "coating"

https://en.wikipedia...crete_densifier

i don't think theres's anything wrong with cleaning up the exterior.

My thoughts exactly.

What we are experiencing at 2020 Richmond is exactly the same as the Eppich house. Have a look at the right hand side of the picture where the concrete wall on the extreme right does not have a history of rain washing pollutants down over it. There must be a different configuration at the top of the wall that impedes that.

This is what we have to clean up and restore the look to original. I think we will need to install some small metal flashing on the tops with a drip ledge.

Here is a shot of the west side (rear) of the building that will soon face the new "Ian's Coffee" development.

Nasty.

We have our work cut out for us here.