re: I just realized how much Brutalist architecture is seeping in Washington DC

One of the additional travesties of Brutalist architecture is that it has an insanely high cost of maintenance. The raw concrete has to be treated consistently with a sealant or the building degrades.

Simply put there was a lot of bad architectural movements post WWII. The International Style, was pretty awful as well. Basically utilitarian square boxes, boring as can be. E.g. Seagram building in NYC and the UN building. That style was developed in the 30's but really took hold in the 50's and 60's. At least they used open space and light in those designs.

Luckily there has been some nice work done once we hit the post-modern era. Phillip Johnson and I.M. Pei designed some really iconic and beautiful buildings, like the PPG building in Pittsburgh. But largely modern architecture is really disjointed and bad.

If you want to see the worst of the worst when it come to Brutalism, look no further than the Buffalo City Court Building. No windows, no light just giant slabs of concrete that look like something straight out of Gotham city.

Buffalo City Court