Raze or retrofit? Brutalism on the brink

Following its emergence in the post-war rebuild era of the 1950s, the style grew in popularity during the 1960s and 1970s before falling out of favour. During its heyday, the minimalist, exposed-concrete designs were thought of as modernist and functional – but they were never universally loved.

Some have stood the test of time and gained new fans as Brutalism has been re-appraised, such as the Barbican Estate in London or the Kyoto International Conference Centre in Japan. And in 2024, Hollywood film The Brutalist won three Oscars for its depiction of the life of a Brutalist architect. 

But the life of a Brutalist building can be a perilous one, as demonstrated by five examples from around the world that have been recently saved or deemed to have reached the end of their time.

This 10-storey inverted pyramid hotel in the Tunisian capital shut down in 2000 and fell into disrepair. Despite the best efforts of Tunisian conservation group, Edifices et Memoires, to campaign for its preservation, its demolition was confirmed in 2025. 

Local authorities described the building as being in a “catastrophic state” after years of neglect and too far gone for any kind of renovation or adaptive re-use.

However, it wasn’t always a story of decline for the Hotel du Lac. When it first opened in the early 1970s, the luxury hotel instantly become a distinctive part of the city skyline and there were even rumours that its shape inspired the ‘Sandcrawler’ desert transporter in Star Wars (although this has never been proven).

Plans first emerged in 2017 to tear down this Brutalist outpost of Kuwait in Japan, but by 2020 that decision had been reversed and the embassy still stands today. 

The building is also considered to be part of the Metabolist movement in architecture, which was popular in Japan in the 1960s, and to some onlookers it resembles a number of boxes stacked on top of each other. Within the building is a shared garden and offices on the lower floors, while the ambassador’s residence is on the upper floors.

When Japanese architecture and design publication Bunga Net asked the embassy about the building’s demolition in 2020, it received the following answer: “We did announce a demolition in the past, but there are no plans at this time.” Japanese Brutalism fans will be hoping those plans aren’t revisited in the near future. 

The building that housed the Museum of London from 1976 to 2022 (a new Smithfield Market location opens in November 2026) and Bastion House beside it are both scheduled for demolition, to be replaced by a new office development. 

The two Brutalist properties nearly earned a reprieve when campaign group Barbican Quarter Organisation (BQO) was given the opportunity to present its case to the High Court, but that case was dismissed in March 2026. BQO was keen for the buildings to be re-used, citing concerns over the emissions created by the work of demolition and rebuilding.

Rosemary Silver FRICS, member of the RICS professional group panel (PGP) for building surveying and building control, says: “One of the issues with retaining the Museum of London is that the full design for the nearby Barbican site was never implemented, as proposed high-level walkways (known as pedways) were not all built. The original idea was to separate pedestrians from vehicles. But the lack of the walkways made access to the Museum of London less obvious and more awkward. 

“Now car use in the city has declined and a redesign of the whole area may better fulfil Londoners’ changing needs.” 

The Mäusebunker has an unpopular history as an animal-testing laboratory, which is how it got its name (mouse bunker). Its function, combined with its stark aesthetic, gave it a sinister edge in the minds of many Berliners.  

While plenty of protests took place outside during its animal-testing days, the experiments on mice eventually stopped and it is thought to be inactive now. And when the building’s owner, Charité, announced plans to demolish the property in 2020, local residents rallied round and began a petition to save it.

In 2023, the Berlin State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments placed the former research facility under ‘monument protection’, securing its future. Finding an active use for the building is considered the best way to maintain the site, but a new use is yet to be confirmed.

Just across the harbour from the Sydney Opera House, the original design of the Sirius Building was inspired by Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada. Its purpose was to re-home public housing tenants who had been displaced by a nearby redevelopment.

The building was sold in 2019 after the New South Wales government controversially refused to grant it heritage listing in 2017. A retrofit was completed in 2024 and after redevelopment it is now 75 modern luxury apartments. Part of that retrofit involved updating the exterior with copper-clad pods that extend the size of apartments.

“Materials have different lifespans, and proactive maintenance plays its part too,” says Silver. “Brutalist concrete buildings are capable of being stripped back and then improved thermally and possibly extended, keeping much of their original design. 

“It’s the change in thermal requirements that pose challenges along with fire protection to steel structures, that can lead to a decision of whether a building can be successfully and viably reused. Brutalism is a pure design which has many enemies. That should not be the reason for demolition or refacing.”