"BRUTALIST" buzzword can someone explain  

A quick visit to Wikipedia
probably will give you more than you need.

There must
have been a recent book, article or exhibition that revived the word -- that's what usually has people repeating something they don't necessarily understand (not you, donsf -- I mean those "experts" !).
Brutalism was an architectural movement, most often mentioned in connection with the post-Purist work of Le Corbusier; Charles Jencks ("Modern Movements in Architecture") refers to the influence of that phase of the Swiss/French architect's work on Japanese architecture on the 'fifties (Kenzo Tange, et al). Kenneth Frampton says that the Cubist painter Fernand Leger influenced L C in this direction; everything from Palladio to the art brut movement are also cited. Architecturally, vernacularism and "as found" materials, and a rejection of traditional refinement of detail and finish, are indicated. The use of exposed cast-in-place concrete is specific to the movement.
SDR U S A

Yes, the
Wikipedia page is quite complete.
Sorry to mangle your signature, donsof.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture

sdr thanks
thanks for your post that was worth reading something i had never heard of...
USA

BRUTALIST
On your next trip to Miami Beach check out the Brutalist look there I have a feeling when Morris Lapidus
and the guys were building there hot spots in Miami Beach there were not thinking about the name Brutalist style!!!!
, This is a classic example of words that loose it in translation!!!! Brutalist is from the French.
In English it sounds very harsh and I doubt that Phillip Johnson, eero Saarine, Charles Eames, would want there name coined to a word like Brutalist!!!!!!

Thanks
Thanks for the info. Wikipedia is on the grow all the time.
I keep seeing people using the word very loosely then. It doesn't really plug into the guy on ebay selling a "brutalist Bertoia" piece, or does it. Should it at least be concrete, or how can brutalism even be applied to furniture and small accesories?
Sounds like the people using the term know less about it than me!
http://cgi.ebay.com/SUPERB-BERTOIA-ERA-ABSTRACT-BRUTALIST-SCULPTURE_W0QQ...

Beton brut
= raw concrete.
The usages on eBay are a scandal, if you ask me. Poor Charles and Ray Eames ! Now Bertoia is suffering the same indignity. But when they use a term most have never heard of, what's the point -- art snobbery ?
Again, I suspect there may have been an article where "Brutalist" was used, somewhere, recently -- maybe Architectural Digest, or Interiors. . .? And history is further disserved.
Am I the art snob ? SDR U S A

SDR
you got that one right !!!! some dumb magazine must have used it... But i have a feeling since my home is going to be in a magazine next month and some research intern did call me to get the facts checked about the story., some one would have caught that silly word ... Now
We the smart ones who read this forum know the real meaning of the word. and we will let some wanabe and yes I said Wanabe!!!!!!!! missbuse the word to think they are brillant,
I can see no use at all for the word discribing Bertoia style furnitue. Polar opposit of what it really is . thanks for bringing this word full circle.

brutalist bye bye
for those interested, check out the mosse humanities building on the university of wisconsin madison campus. slated to be razed in a couple of years. referred to as the ugliest building in madison. entirely undeserved.

glassartist
maybe it was from the Brutalist style that we all love

Another 'sixties museum,
the Berkeley Art Museum here in the Bay Area, will be demolished; it is thought to be seismically unfit. Talk about a Brutalist icon ! I'll try to find a pic. Poor old Mario Ciampi, recently deceased, was responsible for this one. It's presently asisted by some (brutal) steel crutches at strategically located points. Oh, the brutality !

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http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/University_Art_Museum.html

Marcel Beuer
I think they want to demolish the building in Cleveland that Marcel Beuer designed Now it does look like it was Brutalist style ... maybe we are on to something ... These Brutalist buildings must have to go...

British urban planners did...
British urban planners did brutalism in a big way in the 60s. The signal box at Birmingham New Street Station - see pic below - was given listed building status a few years ago - not without some controversy. To me it represents everything you need to know about brutalist architecture.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pictures/image/0,8543,-11104251730,00.html