UIC Behavioral Sciences Building

  I was challenged by Gethin to visit buildings in the Chicago area that fall under the Brutalism architectural style. A style which derives its name from the French term béton brut or “raw concrete". This type of architecture became popular in the 1950's and can be identified by its use of rough surfaces, massive forms, unsual shapes, and experssions of structure.

The building I innitially picked was designed by a famous American architect based in Chicago, by the name of Walter Netsch. This particular building is located at the University of Illinois in Chicago and houses the Behavioral Science Department.

Although, I had roamed around the University grounds in the past, and had taken some photographs, I had not had the same goals as this particular visit. 

Today's visit was to take photos of the inside of the building as well as the outside design to show exactly why it fell into the Brutalistic genre of architecture.

To get to the building, I had to cross the Eisenhower Expressway using the overpass.

 Naturally, I had to stop and click.

Although, it was still pretty early in the day, the sun was showing its strength already, and promising to create one of the hotest days of the season. 

Mind you it was also the first day of summer.

But challenges are meant to be met and I believe I met it to some extent.

My goal was to get inside the building and this being summer time, I was not sure if doors would be open. 

But it turned out to be my lucky day.  A door or two were open and I was able to get inside.

But once inside, no other doors were open to the classrooms, hence I just walked around the open area.

 

There were a whole bunch of these staircases around the entire building. All looked alike. But what was intriguing was the design.

I went out the above door which lead me to the area pictured below. Still above ground, but apparently a place where students could sit outside and relax. 

Not the coziest of places but still....

It doesn't seem like a lot of photos from someone who loves to click, but then when most doors were closed and most of the open areas were similar to each other, clicking the same scenario over and over again, did not make sense.

But while I met Gethin's challenge I did not stop there. I walked around the campus and clicked some more. 

I will post those in the next upcoming blog.

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