The UC Innovation Center by Elemental
Brutalism gets a bad rap sometimes, but I really love it. The buildings from this era of architecture design are boxy, solid, heavy objects that always give me a bit of dread, as if I had stepped into some dystopian future. One could argue that this is in fact a terrible way for a building to make you feel, but I think I like it because it makes me feel like I'm in a movie. After all, a lot of my favorite films use brutalist architecture -- RoboCop, Blade Runner, nearly all the housing blocks in old Hong Kong gagster films...you get the idea. While concrete isn't exactly an inviting surface, there's something I find very beautiful about it. And to some extent, I wish there was more of it around (but don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean that I want everything to be made of concrete boxes).
All that just to say that I really love the UC Innovation Center designed by Elemental. It juts out as the concrete monolith that it is and stands firm among the city landscape. Look at the photo and video below.