NDR/Arte

Terribly Beautiful Eyesores – Brutalist Monsters

Building sins! They disturb, annoy, fascinate. Architects categorise their concrete monsters as ‘brutalism’. Le Corbusier’s ‘La Tourette’ monastery is one such monster, but Charles Desjobert, a Domenican friar and architect, infects us with his enthusiasm for it. The National Theatre in London is disturbing – before revealing its soul as a theatre factory. And the ‘Snake’ in Berlin? A 600-metre-long residential building with a motorway running through its belly? Living here brings people together – and even makes many proud!

First broadcast: 15.09.2023 at 09:30 on ARTE

Writer/Director: Dag Freyer
Camera: Chris Valentien, Benjamin Wistorf
Sound: Vito Becker, Jörg Theiss
Sound mixing: Pierre Brand
Editing: Imke Koseck
Graphics and animation: Andreea Wende, Michael Wende
Production: Franziska Henkel
Production management (NDR): Melanie Clausen
Commission editor (NDR): Claudia Cellarius
Producers: Maria Willer, Bernhard von Hülsen

A production of 3B-Produktion
Commissioned by NDR, in co-operation with ARTE.