“We fell in love with the raw sculptural honesty of brutalism, which led us to the fundamental principles of béton brut.”
Béton brut (a French term for ‘raw concrete’) refers to the use of concrete in a way that leaves it unfinished. It was made popular by modernist architects such as Auguste Perret and Le Corbusier. The latter started using the term when referring to the construction of Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, France. It was a concrete apartment block built in 1952 that architectural enthusiasts and students make pilgrimages to today.
From the modernist movement came brutalism. The architectural style that emerged during the same era in the UK employed raw materials and celebrated the form of structures over applied decoration. Exposed concrete as well as unpainted brick and steel were common materials, as were geometric shapes and a subdued colour palette.
The style inspired the design of a penthouse in Singapore by Dennis Cheok, who runs cross-disciplinary design studio UPSTRS_. In fact, he christened the apartment Béton Brut. Raw concrete
