A voice on Polish socialist Brutalist architecture : protection of concrete element surfaces in the context of sustainable development

Half a century after the dominance of Brutalist architecture, the majority of discussions about these buildings concern their continued existence. Sadly today, there is more talk about the demolition of Brutalist buildings than about their protection and preservation. And yet, many Brutalist buildings expressed a progressive vision of community living and sustainable public ownership. The effort to preserve them, therefore, is not merely a fight to defend heritage, but also the idea that through the necessary process of adaptive reuse, maintenance, and preservation of existing buildings, the trend of constant “replacement of the fabric of the building” should be halted. In the era of seeking “sustainable” solutions in architecture, this kind of re-evaluation of the meaning of Brutalism and its concrete matter seems to be more than a will to preserve the legacy of the past. One may say that restoring or even prolonging the life of these valuable reinforced concrete structures, primarily in the form of properly selected protection of the concrete surface, is the core of activities aimed at their conservation