Digital ACT Reading Practice Question #1728

The deterioration of public sentiment toward Brutalist buildings was accelerated by: Passage Excerpt (Humanities): Emerging in post-war Europe as municipalities faced bombed city centers and housing shortages, Brutalism championed raw reinforced concrete (béton brut) as an honest building material. Architects like Le Corbusier, the Smithsons, and Ernö Goldfinger rejected decorative facades of bourgeois architecture, insisting structures reveal skeletons, mechanical ducts, and raw textures. In housing blocks and civic centers, Brutalism represented utopian social optimism: durable, egalitarian spaces built for the working class. Yet within three decades, public sentiment soured. In damp northern climates, unsealed concrete weathered poorly, developing dark water stains critics likened to decay. Contemporary debates over preserving or demolishing Brutalist icons highlight a persistent clash between architectural ideology and the lived sensory experience of city residents.