title: Almaty

text: Annual average air temperature is equal to , the coldest month is January, (on average), the warmest month (July) (on average). In average years frost starts on about 14 October and ends on about 18 April, with sustained extreme cold from about 19 December to about 23 February, a period of about 67 days. Weather with temperature above is average for about 36 days a year. In the center of Almaty, like any large city, there is a "heat island" – the average daily temperature contrast between the northern and southern suburbs of the city is 3.8% in the coldest days and 2.2% in the hottest five days. Therefore, frost in the city center starts about 7 days later and finishes 3 days earlier than in the northern suburbs. Annual precipitation is about . April and May are the wettest months, during which about a third of the city's annual precipitation is received.


title: Almaty

text: It is not uncommon to see snow or a cold snap hitting Almaty as late as the end of May. For example, in the last quarter century, such snowfalls were recorded on 13 May 1985, 1 May 1989, 5 May 1993 and 18 May 1998. The record latest snowfall in Almaty was on 17 June 1987.


title: Almaty

text: Almaty sometimes experiences winter rain, despite heavy preceding snowfall and low temperatures. The most memorable winter rain took place on 16 December 1996 during a military parade to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic.


title: Almaty

text: Almaty Weather Station's GM mostly records south-easterly wind (30%), its resistance increases during the summer (37%) and falls in winter (19%). Wind speeds exceed 15 m/s on about 15 days a year, on average.


title: Almaty

text: Industrially developed and densely populated areas in the south and southeast of Kazakhstan are situated in the zones where the maximum magnitudes of expected earthquakes are from 6.0 to 8.3 (the intensity of I0=8–10).


title: Almaty

text: The south seismic active zone of Kazakhstan is a part of the North Tian-Shan ridge system. The main city of Almaty is located near the Zailiski Alatau mountain base. In recorded history prior to the late 19th century, three catastrophic earthquakes are known to have taken place there. The following are the dates of occurrence and extracts from the historical chronicles of the times:


title: Almaty

text: Within the past 125 years, three more strong destructive earthquakes occurred here, with centres not more than from the current city location. Their magnitudes were 9 and 11 on the MSK scale – 64, and their centres were located within . Centres were located in a south and south–east directions:


title: Almaty

text: Almaty is the most cosmopolitan city of Kazakhstan. As of 2018, ethnic Kazakhs made up 61.45% of the city population, representing an increase from 22% during the country's independence.


title: Almaty

text: the national statistics committee reported Almaty's population as 1,797,431. This was a 37% increase upon the 1999 census figure of 1,129,400, and 44% higher than the 1989 USSR census figure of 1,071,900.


title: Almaty

text: The metropolitan area centred upon Almaty includes the cities and towns of Esik, Kaskelen, Talgar, and Kapchagay, and much of Enbekshikazakh, Jambyl, Ile, and Talgar districts, all of which lie within 1.5 hours travel of Almaty city.


title: Almaty

text: Almaty is largely considered to be the heart and soul of Kazakhstan's classical and popular cultures. The Almaty Region and the city itself have a distinct vibe and pace compared to other regions and cities in Kazakhstan. Contemporary Almaty has a more European vibe due to more cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating and public green space. Kazakh culture and zeitgeist identify as the genetic origin, or fatherland, of the wild apple "Malus siversii". Almaty is the historical and contemporary capital of intellectualism in Kazakhstan as a result of Almaty's location along the Ancient Silk Road and that many Russian intellectuals were exiled to the region and to Karlag. The Abai Kazakh State Opera and Ballet Theatre has anchored the city's theater scene since 1934 and was founded around a community of local performance artists. The Kasteyev State Museum of Arts was founded in 1935, is the largest museum in Kazakhstan, and has the largest collection of artworks by Kazakh classic and contemporary artists.


title: Almaty

text: Theatrical art began to develop in the city of Verny a few years after the construction of the Russian fort. On 21 November 1872, the Society of Dramatic Art Lovers staged the first production in the city: A. N. Ostrovsky's play, "Stay in Your Own Sled". Later, plays were performed at public, military, and commercial gatherings. An abridgement of Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar" was the first opera staged in the city, by the Kolpakovsky three-year city school on 23 February 1913 at the Commercial Assembly, to commemorate the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty.


title: Almaty

text: The flowering of theatrical art in the city began during the Soviet period of Alma-Ata, resulting from the transfer of the capital of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic from Kyzylorda to Alma-Ata. Thus, the Kazakh Drama Theater, the first Kazakh professional theater, moved to the city. In the 1930s, the Opera and Ballet Theater (1934) and the Puppet Theater (1935) were established in the city. Also, theater companies founded in different cities of the republic began to move to the capital: the Russian Drama Theater (moved from Semipalatinsk in 1934), the Uyghur Musical Comedy Theater (from Chilik, 1962), the Korean Musical Comedy Theater (from Kyzylorda, 1968), and the German Drama Theater (from Temirtau, 1989).


title: Almaty

text: After Kazakhstan regained independence in 1991, a large number of new independent theaters appeared in the city. Often these are modern youth concert venues created by enthusiasts. They face funding problems, as maintaining a permanent theater company is costly.


title: Almaty

text: A significant contribution to the study of the history of culture, ethnography of southern Kazakhs in the late 19th–20th centuries was made by Turkestan scientists and local historians, united around the scientific societies and cultural and educational institutions of Tashkent. In 1874, from the private collections of travelers who visited Semirechye with a scientific and regional purpose and with the help of the local intelligentsia, a museum was first created in the city of Verny, which was later transformed into a village museum of the Semirechye Cossack Host. This date is the day of the foundation of the first museum in Semirechye. The foundation of the A. Kasteev Museum of Arts was laid by the Kazakh State Art Gallery named after T.G. Shevchenko, founded in 1935. Its main tasks were to collect the best works of Kazakh artists and organize their creative business trips. In 1936, museums in Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) donated a significant number of paintings, graphics, sculpture and applied art to the gallery. By the end of the 1950s, the gallery's funds numbered over 5,000 exhibits, including paintings, reproductions of works by pre-revolutionary and Soviet artists, Western European and Eastern masters of art. In the 1970s and 1980s, new buildings were built for existing museums, and new thematic museums were opened: books, musical instruments, archeology, and others. A significant contribution to the development of the museum business was the opening of the Museum of the History of Almaty, which created an association of museums in the city of Almaty and the state institution "Gylym Ordasy", which united 4 museums, which allows to systematize scientific work.


title: Almaty

text: The first film screening in the city of Verny took place in 1900, when the physicist K.O. Krause arrived in the city. On it, hand-painted glass transparencies were demonstrated with the help of an overhead projector. The film show took place on 25 January in the Pushkin Garden. In January 1911, the building of the first private cinema "Twentieth Century" was opened at the intersection of Pushkin and Gogol streets, which belonged to the entrepreneur A. R. Seifullin. For the demonstration of films, the cinema was equipped with the first power plant in the history of the city, produced by the British company "Petter", with 14 horsepower. The cinema building burned down in February 1918. Starting in the 1930s, summer cinemas began to appear in the parks of the city, which were later transformed into full-fledged cinemas. Thus, the Rodina Cinema was first opened in the Central Park in 1937. In 1957, it was rebuilt from a seasonal venue into a wide-screen cinema with an auditorium for 712 seats. In another park of the city, the Park of the Federation of Soviet Republics, the Progress Cinema was opened, later renamed Alma-Ata. By the early 1990s, there were 21 cinemas in the city. All cinemas were divided into first, second and third screens. The cinemas of the first screen, in which the premieres of new films took place, were "Alatau", "Tselinny" and "Arman". Film films arrived at the cinemas of the third screen in a deplorable state, with glues and cuts. That is, the quality of showing the film depended on the screening of the cinema. Cinemas in the city were single-screen, two halls were owned by the cinema centers "Kazakhstan", "Arman" and "Tselinny". In the 2000s, cinemas began to open in shopping and entertainment centers, and as a result, existing stationary cinemas began to lose popularity and close.


title: Almaty

text: Almaty generates approximately 20% of Kazakhstan's GDP (or $36 billion in 2010). The city accounts for above 20% of government revenues and 60% of bank credits. The nation is the most powerful economically in Central Asia and Almaty is a key financial center. It is considered to be a Beta- Global City as of the 2012 GaWC study.


title: Almaty

text: One of the largest industries in Almaty is finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to Kazakhstan's balance of payments. Almaty is home to Halyk Bank, which is the largest bank in Central Asia, Kaspi Bank, and other major banks. The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange is based in Almaty.


title: Almaty

text: Under construction is the 'Almaty Financial District and Esentai Park'. This was designed by T.J. Gottesdiener, who designed both 7 World Trade Center in New York City and Tokyo Midtown. Its goal is to become the largest business centre in Central Asia. Esentai Tower, a 37-floor building in the park, is the tallest mixed-use building in Kazakhstan, housing offices of companies such as Ernst & Young, HSBC and Credit Suisse. The first Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kazakhstan opened in 2013 in Esentai Tower.


title: Almaty

text: Along with professional services, media companies are concentrated in Almaty. The media distribution industry has been growing rapidly since 2006. Major broadcasting channels KTK and NTK are based in Almaty, as are several national newspapers.


title: Almaty

text: There are plans to construct a Western Europe-Western China highway, passing through Almaty. A new airport in Almaty expects to handle about 45 million tonnes of cargo each year. Air Astana is headquartered in the Air Astana Centre 1 in Almaty. Prior to their dissolution, Air Kazakhstan and Kazakhstan Airlines were also headquartered in Almaty.


title: Almaty

text: The economy of Almaty and Almaty Region continues to grow, and is expected to increase by nearly 6.5 percent per year until 2020. To mitigate the rapidly increasing electricity demand caused by this growth, the Kazakh authorities decided to upgrade the power system by building the new transmission line and modernizing the substations. The Alma Transmission Project, supported by the World Bank, has helped achieve this goal.


title: Almaty

text: In 1854, the Tsarist government built a military fortification on the left bank of the Almaty River. The construction was supervised by Major Peremyshelsky and engineer-lieutenant Aleksandrovsky. By the autumn of the same year, construction work was completed. With their arrival, the area of Almaty began to develop rapidly, and a few prominent buildings were constructed during this time including the Little Stanitsa and the Tatar Slobodka. A major earthquake in 1887 destroyed 1798 brick houses and killed 322 people. After the earthquake, numerous notable buildings were constructed including the House of the Regiment of Military Assembly (1908), Ascension Cathedral, the House of Public Assembly, and others. Paul Gourdet, who is credited for most of Almaty's urban architecture of the time, used an approach to design Russian Revival architecture, which is evident in some of his designs including the Medical College, the Voznesensky Cathedral, the merchant Shakhvorostov's house, the former Women's College, the former City Orphanage, and numerous other buildings. Andrei Zenkov is another prominent architect and major contributor to some of Almaty's most notable buildings. At the time, Zenkov was in charge of the construction projects of the Semirechye regional government.


title: Almaty

text: From 1966 to 1972, most of the buildings constructed during the era were earthquake-proof multi-story housing blocks. During this period, many schools, hospitals, cultural, and entertainment facilities were constructed in post-modernist style, including Lenin's Palace (now Palace of the Republic, 1970), Hotel Kazakhstan (1977) and the Medeu (1971).


title: Almaty

text: According to the city's Department of Natural Resources and Resource Use Management, the city had 125 fountains. Among them is the "Oriental Calendar" Fountain, whose 12 sculptural figures represent the 12 animals of the Kazakh 12-year animal cycle (similar to its Chinese counterpart).


title: Almaty

text: There are now more than 120 fountains in Almaty, 61 of which are communally owned. Fountains, together with an extensive irrigation ditch network, play a big role in Alma-Ata – together they create a single complex of reservoirs and watercourses of the city. Every year at the end of spring, the city celebrates the "Day of Fountains" holiday where for the first time after winter, all the city's fountains are turned on. In 2006, a new fountain was opened on Lake Sayran. Previously, the highest fountain in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) gushed from this lake– a stream of water 10 cm in diameter reached a height of 50 meters. The fountain has been closed since 2008.


title: Almaty

text: The Medeu is an outdoor speed skating and bandy rink. It is located in a mountain valley (Medeu Valley, or the valley of Malaya Alma-Atinka River) on the south-eastern outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan. Medeu sits 1,691 metres above sea level, making it one of the highest skating rinks in the world. It has 10,500 square meters of ice and utilizes a sophisticated freezing and watering system to ensure the quality of the ice.


title: Almaty

text: Medeu was built in 1972 in the gorge of the same name, 15 km from the city. "Medeo" was called "the factory of records", since 126 world records were set on the ice of a high-mountain skating rink in 33 years. A unique feature of the ice rink, located at an altitude of 1700 m, in thin air and high quality ice, provided by pure mountain water without admixture of salts. In addition, Above the sports complex there is a mudflow protection dam and the Shymbulak. In the 1990s, the Medeu was the venue for the Voice of Asia international music festival (Asia Dauysy).


title: Almaty

text: Şymbūlaq is a ski resort near Almaty, located in the upper part of the Medeu Valley in the Zailiisky Alatau mountain range, at the elevation of 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) above sea level. The resort area is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Almaty city by the Medeu road. It is popular for its mild climate, a large quantity of sunny days and a great amount of snow through the winter (from November until May). The resort offers both day and night skiing.


title: Almaty

text: Big Almaty Lake is a natural lake located in Trans-Ili Alatau mountains on 2511 above the sea level near Almaty (15 km South from Almaty).


title: Almaty

text: Like a majority of lakes in Trans-Ili Alatau, this lake formed as the result of an earthquake. The lake is a major source of drinking water for the region. People can access the lake by car (approximately 1 hour drive from the city center), bike, or hiking (approximately a half-day trip).


title: Almaty

text: The First President's Park is an urban park located in Almaty at the intersection of Navoi Street and Al-Farabi Avenue in the Bostandyq District. The park was opened in July 2010.


title: Almaty

text: Creation of the park began in 2001. The park is broken into three main areas–the avenue, boulevard, and dendrological areas. Greenery was planted according to dendrological plan. In honor of the participation of the city of Almaty in the Olympic torch relay of the Beijing Olympic Games, approximately one hundred spruces and birches were planted. In 2011, a hundred Tien-Shan spruces were also planted. Plans include a set of water projects over an area of 9.5 hectares.


title: Almaty

text: An aerial tramway line connects Almaty with a popular recreation area at the top of Kök Töbe (, which means 'Blue Hill'), a mountain just to the southeast. It has a variety of tourist attractions, such as a zoo, amusement-park-style rides and restaurants.


title: Almaty

text: The city television tower, Almaty Tower, is located on the hill. It was built in between 1978 and 1983, and is 371.5 m tall. The TV tower, located at an altitude of 1000 m above sea level, is the tallest structure in Almaty. Its height is almost 372 m, and it sits at an elevation of 1130 m. The base of the tower is a reinforced concrete foundation in the form of a three-storey sectional basement. The barrel of the tower is a metal stepped hexahedron with a diameter of 18 m at the base, 13 and 9 m at the locations of maintenance services at heights of 146 and 252 m. The structure was built taking into account the seismic mountainous terrain and can withstand an earthquake of up to 10 points. The television tower is a complex of an operating radio and television transmitting station with a special mode of operation, therefore it is inaccessible for sightseeing tours of the city from a height. The tower, illuminated at night by powerful searchlights, is visible from almost anywhere in the city.


title: Almaty

text: The Park of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen is a major park in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The park is located in east-central Almaty in the area surrounding Zenkov Cathedral. It is dedicated to and named after the Panfilov Heroes, 28 soldiers of an Almaty infantry unit who died fighting Nazi German invaders outside of Moscow in World War II. The group takes its name from Ivan Panfilov, the General commanding the 316th division which, in spite of heavy casualties, believed at that time managed to significantly delay the Germans' advance on the capital, buying time for the defenders of the city. An eternal flame commemorating the fallen of the Russian Civil War and the Great Patriotic War burns in front of the giant black monument of soldiers from all 15 Soviet republics.


title: Almaty

text: Sayran Bus Terminal provides intercity bus connections within Kazakhstan, as well as international connections to Kyrgyzstan and China and regional bus connections west of the city. Sayakhat bus terminal provides regional bus connections to places north and east of the city.


title: Almaty

text: Kazakhstan Temir Joly's has two stations Almaty-1 (located 20 minutes drive from Almaty, and reserved mostly for cargo) and Almaty-2 located within the city and reserved mostly for passengers. In 2011 the Almaty Metro opened, and a light rail line is planned.


title: Almaty

text: A bicycle-sharing system, Almaty-bike, has been in operation since September 2016. People can buy a monthly card and ride freely.


title: Almaty

text: The historic bandy team Dinamo won the Soviet Championships in 1977 and 1990 and the European Cup in 1978. Their home ground was Medeu. Bandy was introduced for the first time at the 2011 Winter Asian Games. Medeu was the main arena at the 2012 Bandy World Championship. The second arena built for the championships is an alternative field at Almaty Central Stadium. The city is now a candidate to host also the 2020 Bandy World Championship. The Federation of International Bandy has opened an office for Asia, which is located in Almaty.


title: Almaty

text: The 2011 Asian Winter Games were held jointly in Almaty and Astana. The ice hockey and ski jumping competitions were held in the city at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace and Sunkar International Ski Jumping Complex respectively. The biathlon, cross-country skiing, and ski orienteering competitions were held at the nearby Soldatskoe Valley Cross Country Skiing and Biathlon Stadium; the Alpine skiing and bandy competitions were held in nearby Shymbulak and Medeo respectively.


title: Almaty

text: The Yenbek Almaty ice hockey team played from 1965 to 1985 and from 1999 to 2009. HC Almaty currently plays in the Kazakhstan Hockey Championship.


title: Almaty

text: The city's primary football team is FC Kairat founded in 1954 and one of the most successful Kazakh clubs. Futsal club AFC Kairat hs won the UEFA Futsal Cup in 2012–13 and 2014–15. Basketball team BC Almaty won the 2015 and 2016 editions of the Kazakhstan Basketball Cup.


title: Almaty

text: Following the successful hosting of the 2011 Winter Asian Games, Almaty made a bid to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014, but was eliminated from consideration, not making the "short list" of candidate cities. Almaty was the 2017 Winter Universiade host. The city was exploring possible bids, such as the 2018 Winter Olympics, but did not submit one. Almaty submitted a bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics in August 2013, but lost to Beijing. Despite these failures, Almaty may still consider to submit a bid to host the 2030 Winter Olympics.


title: Almaty

text: The fictional espionage novel "Performance Anomalies" takes place in Almaty, Kazakhstan and many of the city's landmarks make an appearance, including Panfilov Park, Zenkov Cathedral, The Kazakh Museum of Folk Musical Instruments, Kok-Tob (Kök Töbe), Shymbulak, Zelyony Bazaar, and several well-known avenues.


title: Almaty

text: The International Monetary Fund announced in October 2019 that it would launch a new regional technical assistance centre (RTAC) in Almaty. The centre will provide capacity development services to nine IMF member countries in the CCAM region. The centre is expected to cover the fiscal policy, central bank operations, financial sector supervision, and macroeconomic statistics.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: The Wilds is an American drama streaming television series created by Sarah Streicher for Amazon Prime Video. The series revolves around a group of teenage girls who are left stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash, but are unaware they are the subjects of a social experiment. The cast features Sophia Ali, Reign Edwards, Shannon Berry, Jenna Clause, Mia Healey, Helena Howard, Erana James, Sarah Pidgeon, David Sullivan, Troy Winbush, and Rachel Griffiths. The first season was released on Amazon Prime Video on December 11, 2020, and received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, writing, and plot. In December 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on May 6, 2022. In July 2022, the series was canceled after two seasons.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: A group of teenage girls from different backgrounds—Fatin Jadmani, Dot Campbell, Martha Blackburn, Rachel Reid, Shelby Goodkind, Nora Reid, Toni Shalifoe, and Leah Rilke—are on an airplane when it crashes into the ocean while en route to Hawaii for the Dawn of Eve program, a young women's empowerment retreat. They survive the crash and find themselves stranded on a deserted island. As the girls work to survive as castaways and learn about each other, they are unaware that they are subjects of a social experiment; the plane crash was staged and their stranding orchestrated by Gretchen Klein, the head of the Dawn of Eve program. The girls' adventures on the island are intercut with flashback scenes about their lives before the crash, and flashforward scenes to an underground bunker where two men claiming to be FBI agents, Daniel Faber and Dean Young, interview the survivors after their supposed rescue.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: The second season introduces a group of teenage boys-Kirin O’Conner, Rafael Garcia, Josh Herbert, Seth Novak, Ivan Taylor, Henry Tanaka, Bo Leonard and Scotty Simms- who find themselves in Klein’s second orchestrated crash as part of the Twilight of Adam program. Flashing between their past, lives on the island and questioning by Faber and Young, the boys’ stories come to light while the girls (still being held in the bunker) begin to discover the truth behind their situation and attempt to reach the boys.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: On June 28, 2018, Amazon Studios gave production a pilot order. On August 3, 2018, it was announced that Susanna Fogel had signed on to direct the pilot and serve as executive producer.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: On May 28, 2019, it was announced that Amazon Studios had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was developed by Sarah Streicher who is also expected to executive produce alongside Jamie Tarses from Fanfare; and Dylan Clark and Brian Williams of Dylan Clark Productions. It was also announced that Amy B. Harris would be acting as showrunner and executive producer. On December 19, 2020, Amazon Studios renewed the series for a second season. On July 28, 2022, Amazon canceled the series after two seasons.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: On July 31, 2018, Mia Healey, Helena Howard, Reign Edwards, and Shannon Berry were cast as series regulars. On November 7, 2019, Rachel Griffiths, David Sullivan, Troy Winbush, Sophia Ali, Sarah Pidgeon, Jenna Clause, and Erana James joined the main cast. On May 3, 2021, Zack Calderon, Aidan Laprete, Nicholas Coombe, Charles Alexander, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Reed Shannon, Tanner Ray Rook and Alex Fitzalan were cast in starring roles for the second season.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: Filming for the first season began in October 2019 in New Zealand. Most of the outdoor scenes for the first season were filmed in Bethells Beach, New Zealand. Filming for the second season would relocate from New Zealand to Queensland, Australia and began filming in April 2021. Filming for the second season wrapped in August 2021.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: The series's first season was released on December 11, 2020 on Amazon Prime Video. The second season was released on May 6, 2022.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season received an approval rating of 92% based on 25 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "An addictive thriller that also captures the complex lives of teenage girls, "The Wilds" is worth getting lost in." Metacritic gave the first season a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 11 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: Kristen Baldwin of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the series a B+ and wrote, "Here, the mystery isn't so much why these girls are on the island as how being there will change them—and I, for one, want to go back." Richard Roeper of "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the series 3.5 out of 4 stars and said, "What's so impressive about "The Wilds" is how creator Sarah Streicher and the deeply talented young cast members immerse us in this world so quickly and create an almost instant interest and empathy for these eight teenage girls." The show has received praise from critics and advocacy groups for its diverse cast, which includes indigenous and queer characters, and its "front-and-center" depiction of same-sex relationships.


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 80% based on 20 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's critics consensus states, ""The Wilds" gets a little lost after expanding its ensemble at the expense of its original hook, but the core cast remains as watchable as ever." The second season received a score of 62 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The Wilds (TV series)

text: "The Wilds" was nominated for the Outstanding Drama Series category for the GLAAD Media Awards in 2021.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recognition for her portrayal of icy, aloof, and mysterious beauties for various directors, including Jacques Demy, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, and Roman Polanski. In 1985, she succeeded Mireille Mathieu as the official face of Marianne, France's national symbol of liberty. A 14-time César Award nominee, she won for her performances in Truffaut's "The Last Metro" (1980), for which she also won the David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress, and Régis Wargnier's "Indochine" (1992).


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve made her film debut in 1957 at the age of 13, in a film shot the year earlier when she was only 12. She first came to prominence in Jacques Demy's 1964 musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg". She went on to star for Polanski in "Repulsion" (1965), and for Buñuel in "Belle de Jour" (1967) and "Tristana" (1970). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for "Belle de Jour", and the Academy Award for Best Actress for "Indochine". She also won the 1998 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for "Place Vendôme". Her English-language films include "The April Fools" (1969), "Hustle" (1975), "The Hunger" (1983), "Dancer in the Dark" (2000), and "The Musketeer" (2001). Other notable films include "Mississippi Mermaid" (1969), "Scene of the Crime" (1986), "My Favourite Season" (1993), "8 Women" (2002), "Persepolis" (2007), "Potiche" (2010), "The Brand New Testament" (2015), and "Bonne Pomme" (2017).


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve was born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac in Paris, the daughter of French stage actors Maurice Dorléac (1901–1979) and Renée Simonot (1911–2021). Deneuve has two sisters, Françoise Dorléac (1942–1967) and Sylvie Dorléac (born 14 December 1946), as well as a maternal half-sister, Danielle, whom their mother had out of wedlock in 1937 with Aimé Clariond, but who was later adopted by Maurice and took his surname. Deneuve used her mother's maiden name, which she chose for her stage name, in order to differentiate herself from her sisters. Deneuve attended Catholic schools.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve made her film debut with a small role in André Hunebelle's "Les Collégiennes" (1957) with her younger sister Sylvie Dorléac who, like their older half-sister Danielle, was an occasional child actress. She subsequently appeared in several films for director Roger Vadim as well as in "" (1960), which caught the eye of Jacques Demy, who cast Deneuve in his romantic film musical


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" (1964), the film that brought her to stardom. Deneuve played the cold but erotic persona, for which she would be nicknamed the "ice maiden", in Roman Polanski's horror classic "Repulsion" (1965), reinforcing it in Luis Buñuel's "Belle de Jour" (1967), and reaching a peak in "Tristana" (1970). Her work for Buñuel would be her best known.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Further films from early in her career included Jean-Paul Rappeneau's "A Matter of Resistance" (1966), Demy's musical "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort" (1967) (opposite her sister Françoise Dorléac), and François Truffaut's romantic thriller "Mississippi Mermaid" (1969). Deneuve limited her appearances in American films of the period to "The April Fools" (1969), a romantic comedy with Jack Lemmon, and "Hustle" (1975), a crime drama with Burt Reynolds. Her starring roles at the time were featured in such films as "A Slightly Pregnant Man" (1973) with Marcello Mastroianni and "Le Sauvage" (1975) with Yves Montand.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: In the 1980s, Deneuve's films included François Truffaut's "Le Dernier métro" (1980), for which she won the César Award for Best Actress, and Tony Scott's "The Hunger" (1983) as a bisexual vampire, co-starring with David Bowie and Susan Sarandon, a role which brought her a significant lesbian following, mostly among the gothic subculture. She made her debut film as a producer in 1988, "Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre", alongside frequent co-star Gérard Depardieu.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: In the early 1990s, Deneuve's more significant roles included 1992's "Indochine" opposite Vincent Perez, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a second César Award for Best Actress; and André Téchiné's two movies, "Ma saison préférée" (1993) and "Les Voleurs" (1996). In 1997, Deneuve was the protagonist in the music video for the song "N'Oubliez Jamais" sung by Joe Cocker. In 1998 she won acclaim and the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival for her performance in "Place Vendôme". In the late 1990s, Deneuve continued to appear in a large number of films such as 1999's five films "Est-Ouest", "Le temps retrouvé", "Pola X", "Belle maman", and "".


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve's part in Lars von Trier's musical drama "Dancer in the Dark" (2000), alongside Icelandic singer Björk was subject to considerable critical scrutiny. The film was selected for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. She made another foray into Hollywood the following year, starring in "The Musketeer" (2001) for Peter Hyams. In 2002, she shared the Silver Bear Award for Best Ensemble Cast at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance in "8 Women". In 2005, Deneuve published her diary "A l'ombre de moi-meme" ("In My Own Shadow", published in English as "Close Up and Personal: The Private Diaries of Catherine Deneuve"); in it she writes about her experiences shooting the films "Indochine" and "Dancer in the Dark". She also provided the voice role of Marjane Satrapi's mother in Satrapi's animated autobiographical film "Persepolis" (2007), based on the graphic novel of the same name. Her 100th film appearance was in "Un conte de Noël" released in 2008.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve's later work includes "Potiche" (2010) with frequent co-star Depardieu, "Beloved" (2011), alongside former co-stars Ludivine Sagnier and Chiara Mastroianni, the popular French adventure comedy "" (2012) with Gérard Depardieu and Valérie Lemercier, screenwriter and director Emmanuelle Bercot's "On My Way" (2013), Palme D'or winning writer/director Pierre Salvadori's comedy drama "In the Courtyard" (2014), and André Téchiné's drama "In the Name of My Daughter" (2014). She co-starred alongside Catherine Frot, in writer/director Martin Provost's French drama "The Midwife" (2017).


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve appeared nude in two "Playboy" pictorials in 1963 and 1965. Her image was used to represent Marianne, the national symbol of France, from 1985 to 1989. As the face of Chanel No. 5 in the late 1970s, she caused sales of the perfume to soar in the United Statesso much so that the American press, captivated by her charm, nominated her as the world's most elegant woman. In 1983, American Home Products retained her to represent their cosmetics line and hired world-renowned photographer Richard Avedon to promote its line of "Youth Garde" cosmetics, for which she famously proclaimed, "Look closely. Next year, I will be 40."


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: She is considered the muse of designer Yves Saint Laurent; he dressed her in the films "Belle de Jour", "La Chamade", "La sirène du", "Un flic", "Liza", and "The Hunger". In 1992, she became a model for his skincare line.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: In 2001, she was chosen as the new face of L'Oréal Paris. In 2006, Deneuve became the third inspiration for the M•A•C Beauty Icon series and collaborated on the colour collection that became available at M•A•C locations worldwide in February that year. Deneuve began appearing in the new Louis Vuitton luggage advertisements in 2007. Deneuve was listed as one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by the "Guardian" in March 2013. In July 2017, Deneuve appeared in a video campaign for Louis Vuitton entitled "Connected Journeys", celebrating the launch of the brand's Tambour Horizon smartwatch, which also featured celebrities, including Jennifer Connelly, Bae Doona, Jaden Smith and Miranda Kerr.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: In 1986, Deneuve introduced her own perfume, "Deneuve". She is also a designer of glasses, shoes, jewelry and greeting cards.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Besides her native French, Deneuve speaks fluent Italian and English and has some knowledge of Spanish, though she does not fluently speak the language. Her hobbies and passions include gardening, drawing, photography, reading, music, cinema, fashion, antiques and decoration. According to a 1996 article published by "The New York Times", Deneuve is a practising Roman Catholic.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve has been married once: to photographer David Bailey from 1965 to 1972, though they separated in 1967. She has lived with director Roger Vadim, actor Marcello Mastroianni, cinematographer Hugh Johnson, and Canal+ tycoon Pierre Lescure.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve has two children: actor Christian Vadim (born 18 June 1963), from her relationship with Roger Vadim, and actress Chiara Mastroianni (born 28 May 1972), from her relationship with Marcello Mastroianni. She has five grandchildren.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve has not had a public relationship since her breakup with Lescure in 1991. They remain friends, and Deneuve's children consider him their stepfather. According to "Gala", in late 2019 Deneuve relied on Lescure while she recuperated from a stroke, and in 2020, Lescure told "Paris Match" that they still talk to each other every day.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Throughout her 20s and 30s, Deneuve reportedly dated actors Sami Frey, Clint Eastwood, Franco Nero, Burt Reynolds, and John Travolta as well as directors Roman Polanski, Jerry Schatzberg, François Truffaut and Milos Forman, talent agent Bertrand de Labbey, singer Serge Gainsbourg and TV host Carlos Lozano. While most of her confirmed liaisons have been with much older men, Lozano was 19 years her junior, and in his late teens when he and Deneuve were involved in the early 1980s.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: In recent decades, Deneuve's lack of a boyfriend of record – in combination with the fact she's kissed women in five films – has prompted speculation about her sexual orientation, which she acknowledged in a 2002 interview with "Knack" magazine: "Now that people know nothing about my private life, they start guessing: is there still a man in her life and who is he then? When they see me two or three times with a female friend they say: we've always known that." Reports from 2000 claimed her beau was a 25-year-old technician she'd met on a recent film, but no writers could identify him. In 2006, Deneuve told "The Daily Telegraph" that she was in a relationship, but would not disclose the name of her partner.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: On 6 November 2019, BBC News reported that Deneuve suffered a mild stroke and was recuperating in a Paris hospital. Despite the health scare, there was no damage to her motor functions. Five weeks later, she was released from the hospital and spent the remainder of 2019 recuperating at her Paris home.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: A 2020 biography of Johnny Hallyday by Gilles Lhote claims that the singer maintained a carefully hidden, 56-year affair with Deneuve that started when they were teenagers in 1961 and continued until Hallyday's death in 2017.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: Deneuve began smoking in 1960 at age 16, and was known to smoke up to three packs a day. She quit in 1985 with the aid of hypnotherapy, but started again in 1996. In 2020, French actress and recent co-star Juliette Binoche told "Vanity Fair" that Deneuve has stopped smoking since her stroke.


title: Catherine Deneuve

text: In 2000, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her. In 2013, she was honored for her lifetime achievement at the 26th European Film Awards. In 2015, she received the Lifetime Achievement Golden Orange Award from International Antalya Film Festival, Turkey. In 2020, "The New York Times" ranked her number 21 in its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.


title: Glass Animals

text: Glass Animals are an English indie rock band formed in Oxford in 2010. Founded and led by singer, songwriter, and producer Dave Bayley, the group also features his childhood friends Joe Seaward, Ed Irwin-Singer and Drew MacFarlane. Bayley wrote and produced all three Glass Animals albums. Bayley spent his childhood in Massachusetts and Texas before relocating to Oxford, where he met the other band members at school. Their first album, "Zaba" (2014), spawned the single "Gooey", which was eventually certified platinum in the United States. Their second full album, "How to Be a Human Being", received positive reviews and won in two categories at the 2018 MPG Awards for UK Album of the Year and Self Producing Artist of the Year, as well as a spot on the Mercury Prize shortlist. The third, "Dreamland", peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and number seven on the US "Billboard" 200.


title: Glass Animals

text: The band is best known for their biggest hit single "Heat Waves", which went viral on social media platform TikTok. It reached number one in Australia in February 2021 and was voted number one on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2020. The song surpassed two billion streams on Spotify by September 2022, and eventually reached number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and number five on the UK Singles Chart. At the 2022 Brit Awards, the band were nominated for two Brit Awards (Best British Rock Act and "Heat Waves" for Best British Single). They received their first Grammy nomination in the Best New Artist category at the 2022 Grammy Awards.


title: Glass Animals

text: All four member of the band are British and met at St Edward's School, Oxford. Bayley was raised in the US where his father worked, and returned to the UK when he was aged 13. On arrival at St Edwards, where he had a music scholarship, he was introduced to MacFarlane who had also grown up in the US, and who in turn introduced him to Irwin-Singer and Seaward.


title: Glass Animals

text: On 28 May 2012, the band released their debut EP, "Leaflings", which included the single "Cocoa Hooves". The EP was released on independent label Kaya Kaya Records, a subsidiary and imprint of XL Recordings (part of the Beggars Group of labels).


title: Glass Animals

text: In 2013, the band released "Black Mambo / Exxus EP" in Europe, and "Glass Animals EP" in the US. The "Glass Animals" EP also saw the band collaborating with Jean Deaux, a soulful hip-hop teenager from Chicago, on a song titled "Woozy".


title: Glass Animals

text: In 2014, the band made their first visit to the US, performing at "South by Southwest" in Austin, Texas. They released three more singles: "Pools", "Gooey", and "Hazey", along with a collaboration with Argentine singer-songwriter and producer Tei Shi.


title: Glass Animals

text: All five singles were included on the band's debut album, "Zaba", which was released on 6 June 2014. The band performed the single "Gooey" on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" in 2014, and again on "The Late Show" with David Letterman on 24 February 2015, and toured extensively after "Zaba", visiting both hemispheres and played over 130 shows in 2015 alone. Their October 2015 US tour included two sold-out shows at The Wiltern in LA and sold-out shows across America including T5 in NYC, The Riverside in Milwaukee, and the Midland Theatre in Kansas City.


title: Glass Animals

text: A collaboration with American rapper Joey Bada$$, titled "Lose Control", was released on 6 October 2015.


title: Glass Animals

text: On 16 May 2016, the band released the lead single, "Life Itself", from their second album "How to Be a Human Being". "Life Itself" peaked at number 14 on "Billboard"s Alternative Songs chart and spent 26 weeks on Sirius XM's Alt-18 chart, peaking at number one. A music video for the song was released on 7 June 2016. The band also created a website based on the character from "Life Itself".


title: Glass Animals

text: On 25 July, a second single from the album, "Youth", was released along with its music video. This song was also used as a soundtrack in the popular football video game by EA Sports, "FIFA 17". Four days before the release of the album, on 22 August, the band released a third single, "Season 2 Episode 3", about a girl who "spends her entire time watching TV, lounging around, not doing anything, being high, eating mayonnaise from a jar".


title: Glass Animals

text: The full album "How to Be a Human Being" was released on 26 August 2016 by Wolf Tone and Caroline International in Europe, and Harvest Records in the United States. It was inspired by stories of strangers that Bayley met on tour, with each song telling a different story from a different perspective.


title: Glass Animals

text: In July 2018, drummer Joe Seaward was seriously injured when he was hit by a lorry while cycling in Dublin. Seaward's accident and recovery resulted in the band cancelling their remaining tour dates for rest of the year.


title: Glass Animals

text: After touring for "How to Be a Human Being", the band released two singles; "Tokyo Drifting", a duet with Denzel Curry, on 14 November 2019, and "Your Love (Déjà Vu)" on 19 February 2020. On 1 May 2020, the band released a single named "Dreamland", and announced an album of the same name to be released on 10 July 2020. The beginnings of Dreamland originated after drummer Joe Seaward's bike accident in Dublin. While spending long hours by Seaward's side in the hospital as he recovered, Bayley started "writing down memories and searching for more memories." Those memories eventually evolved into the nostalgic and very personal "Dreamland" album full of references to Bayley's childhood and other points in his life.


title: Glass Animals

text: On 28 June, the band announced that the album had been delayed, to "keep focus on the Black Lives Matter movement and the discussions taking place around racism and police brutality around the world." In the lead-up to "Dreamland", Glass Animals launched an open-source website where fans could access and download song samples, artwork, and other content related to the album. "Dreamland" was released on 7 August 2020 via Polydor Records. In an interview with "Atwood Magazine", Bayley explained: "I guess the goal with this record was to make something that was incredibly honest and incredibly us." The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. "Heat Waves" was included on the "FIFA 21" soundtrack.


title: Glass Animals

text: On 23 January 2021, "Heat Waves" placed first on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2020 in Australia, with "Tangerine" placing at 18th and "Your Love (Déjà Vu)" at 51st. The following month, "Heat Waves" reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart. In April 2021, "Tokyo Drifting" was featured in a television commercial released by Peloton as part of their Champions Collection campaign.


title: Glass Animals

text: A bonus track and single, "I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)", was included on the "FIFA 22" soundtrack. After a record-breaking 59-week climb on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, "Heat Waves" topped the chart for the week ending 12 March 2022.


title: Glass Animals

text: Glass Animals' musical style has been described as indie rock, psychedelic pop, indie pop, electronic rock, and alternative pop.


title: Robin (character)

text: Robin is the alias of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger, and Jerry Robinson, to serve as a junior counterpart and the sidekick to the superhero Batman. As a team, Batman and Robin have commonly been referred to as the "Caped Crusaders" and the "Dynamic Duo". The character's first incarnation, Dick Grayson, debuted in "Detective Comics" #38 (April 1940). Conceived as a way to attract young readership, Robin garnered overwhelmingly positive critical reception, doubling the sales of the Batman titles. Robin's early adventures included "Star Spangled Comics" #65–130 (1947–1952), the character's first solo feature. He made regular appearances in Batman-related comic books and other DC Comics publications from 1940 through the early 1980s, until the character set aside the Robin identity and became the independent superhero Nightwing.


title: Robin (character)

text: The character's second incarnation, Jason Todd, first appeared in "Batman" #357 (1983). He made regular appearances in Batman-related comic books until 1988, when he was murdered by the Joker in the storyline "" (1989). Jason later found himself alive after a reality-changing incident, eventually becoming the Red Hood. The premiere "Robin" limited series was published in 1991, featuring the character's third incarnation, Tim Drake, training to earn the role of Batman's vigilante partner. After two successful sequels, the monthly "Robin" series began in 1993 and ended in early 2009, which also helped his transition from sidekick to a superhero in his own right. In 2004 storylines, established DC Comics character Stephanie Brown became the fourth Robin for a short time before the role reverted to Tim Drake. Damian Wayne succeeds Drake as Robin in the 2009 story arc "."


title: Robin (character)

text: The current and former Robins always feature prominently in Batman's cast of supporting heroes; Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian all regard him as a father. In current continuity as of 2021, Dick Grayson serves as Nightwing, Jason Todd is the Red Hood, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl, and Tim Drake has picked up the mantle of Robin again after a stint as Red Robin. Damian has left behind the title Robin, but remains the title character of the "Robin" comic book. In recent years, Batman has also adopted new sidekicks in the form of Bluebird, whose name references Robin, and The Signal.


title: Robin (character)

text: About a year after Batman's debut, Batman creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger introduced Robin the Boy Wonder in "Detective Comics" #38 (1940). The name "Robin the Boy Wonder" and the medieval look of the original costume were inspired by Robin Hood. Jerry Robinson noted he "came up with Robin because the adventures of Robin Hood were boyhood favorites of mine. I had been given a Robin Hood book illustrated by N. C. Wyeth ... and that's what I quickly sketched out when I suggested the name Robin Hood, which they seemed to like, and then showed them the costume. And if you look at it, it's Wyeth's costume, from my memory, because I didn't have the book to look at." Other accounts of Robin's origin state that the name comes from the bird called the American robin, not from Robin Hood, Frank Miller's "All Star Batman and Robin" being a notable exception. Sometimes both sources are credited, as in Len Wein's "The Untold Legend of the Batman". Although Robin is best known as Batman's sidekick, the Robins have also been members of the superhero groups the Teen Titans (with the original Robin, Dick Grayson, as a founding member and the latter group's leader) and Young Justice.


title: Robin (character)

text: In Batman stories, the character of Robin was intended to be Batman's Watson: Bill Finger, writer for many early Batman adventures, wrote:


title: Robin (character)

text: "Robin was an outgrowth of a conversation I had with Bob. As I said, Batman was a combination of Douglas Fairbanks and Sherlock Holmes. Holmes had his Watson. The thing that bothered me was that Batman didn't have anyone to talk to, and it got a little tiresome always having him thinking. I found that as I went along Batman needed a Watson to talk to. That's how Robin came to be. Bob called me over and said he was going to put a boy in the strip to identify with Batman. I thought it was a great idea."


title: Robin (character)

text: The following fictional characters have assumed the Robin role at various times in the main continuity:


title: Robin (character)

text: In the comics, Dick Grayson was an 8-year-old acrobat and the youngest of a family act called the "Flying Graysons". A gangster named Boss Zucco, loosely based on actor Edward G. Robinson's "Little Caesar" character, had been extorting money from the circus and killed Grayson's parents, John and Mary, by sabotaging their trapeze equipment as a warning against defiance. Batman investigated the crime and, as his alter ego billionaire Bruce Wayne, had Dick put under his custody as a legal ward. Together they investigated Zucco and collected the evidence needed to bring him to justice. From his debut appearance in 1940 through 1969, Robin was known as the Boy Wonder. Batman creates a costume for Dick, consisting of a red tunic, yellow cape, green gloves, green boots, green spandex briefs, and a utility belt. As he grew older, graduated from high school, and enrolled in Hudson University, Robin continued his career as the Teen Wonder, from 1970 into the early 1980s.


title: Robin (character)

text: The character was rediscovered by a new generation of fans during the 1980s because of the success of "The New Teen Titans", in which he left Batman's shadow entirely to assume the identity of Nightwing. He aids Batman throughout the later storyline regarding the several conflicts with Jason Todd until he makes his final return as the "Red Hood". Grayson temporarily took over as Batman (while Wayne was traveling through time), using the aid of Damian Wayne, making his newish appearance as "Robin", to defeat and imprison Todd. With Bruce Wayne's return, Grayson went back to being Nightwing.


title: Robin (character)

text: DC was initially hesitant to turn Grayson into Nightwing and to replace him with a new Robin. To minimize the change, they made the new Robin, Jason Peter Todd, who first appeared in "Batman" #357 (1983), similar to a young Grayson. Like Dick Grayson, Jason Todd was the son of circus acrobats murdered by a criminal (this time the Batman adversary Killer Croc), and then adopted by Bruce Wayne. In this incarnation, he was originally red-haired and unfailingly cheerful, and wore his circus costume to fight crime until Dick Grayson presented him with a Robin suit of his own. At that point, he dyed his hair black.


title: Robin (character)

text: After the miniseries "Crisis on Infinite Earths", much of the DC Comics continuity was redone. Dick Grayson's origin, years with Batman, and growth into Nightwing remained mostly unchanged; but Todd's character was completely revised. He was now a black-haired street orphan who first encountered Batman when he attempted to steal tires from the Batmobile. Batman saw to it that he was placed in a school for troubled youths. Weeks later, after Dick Grayson became Nightwing and Todd proved his crime-fighting worth by helping Batman catch a gang of robbers, Batman offered Todd the position as Robin.


title: Robin (character)

text: Believing that readers never truly bonded with Todd, DC Comics made the controversial decision in 1988 to poll readers using a 1-900 number as to whether or not Todd should be killed. The event received more attention in the mainstream media than any other comic book event before it. Readers voted "yes" by a small margin (5,343 to 5,271) and Todd was subsequently murdered by the Joker in the storyline, "", in which the psychopath beat the youngster severely with a crowbar, and left him to die in a warehouse rigged with a bomb.


title: Robin (character)

text: Jason Todd later returned as the new Red Hood (the original alias of the Joker) when he was brought back to life due to reality being altered. After the continuity changes following the New 52 DC Comics relaunch, Jason becomes a leader of the Outlaws, a superhero team that includes Starfire and Arsenal who had spent years with Grayson in the Titans.


title: Robin (character)

text: DC Comics was left uncertain about readers' decision to have Jason Todd killed, wondering if readers preferred Batman as a lone vigilante, disliked Todd specifically, or just wanted to see if DC would actually kill off the character. In addition, the 1989 "Batman" film did not feature Robin, giving DC a reason to keep him out of the comic book series for marketing purposes. Regardless, Batman editor Denny O'Neil introduced a new Robin. The third Robin, Timothy Drake, first appeared in a flashback in "Batman" #436 (1989) as a preadolescent boy, introduced by writer Marv Wolfman, interior penciler Pat Broderick, and inker John Beatty. Drake's first name was a nod to Tim Burton, director of the 1989 "Batman" film. The character first donned the Robin costume, and became associated with the third version of Robin, in the acclaimed "A Lonely Place of Dying" sequel storyline, which culminated in issue #442, written by Marv Wolfman with cover art by George Pérez, storyline interior pencils by Pérez, Tom Grummett, as well as Jim Aparo, and inks by Mike DeCarlo. In addition to establishing Tim Drake as a principal character in "Batman" and "Detective Comics", Lauren R. O'Connor argues that "A Lonely Place of Dying" served as the dénouement of a transition from Dick Grayson's "absent sexuality," which earlier incited reader interpretations of homosexuality, to definitive heterosexual presence as a maturation narrative. O'Connor offers multiple examples from this 1989 storyline, such as Drake's encounter with Starfire and Grayson's heeding of Drake's concerns over Batman's psychology, to substantiate the notion of a heterosexual "bildungsroman" subplot.


title: Robin (character)

text: The ensuing Tim Drake storylines, authored by the late Alan Grant and penciled by the late Norm Breyfogle, coupled with the 1989 release of Burton's "Batman", spurred sales of both "Batman" and "Detective Comics". For the latter title, Grant attested in 2007 that "when the "Batman" movie came out, the sales went up, if I recall correctly, from around 75,000 to about 675,000." 1989-90 was indeed the "Year of the Bat:" Capital and Diamond City Distributors reported that the ""-inspired "" dominated four out of the five spots for preorders ("not" total sales and second printings). The only exception was the third preorder spot, snagged by "Batman" #442, the conclusion to Tim Drake's "A Lonely Place of Dying" storyline. The "Year of the Bat" continued into the first half of 1990. Preorders for "Batman" and "Detective Comics" issues featuring a revived Joker and Penguin began to compete with, and even edged out, the last three parts of Grant Morrison's and Klaus Janson's "" storyline in "Legends". Todd McFarlane's "Spider-Man" arrived in the second half of 1990, inaugurating six months of Spidermania (or Mcfarlamania, depending on the reader). DC closed out 1990 with vendors under-ordering issues, prompting the publisher to push "Batman" #457 and the first part of the "Robin" mini-series into second and then third printings. The next year, 1991, witnessed the ascension of Chris Claremont's, Jim Lee's, and Scott Williams's "X-Men" against Magneto, as well as Fabian Nicieza's and Rob Liefeld's "X-Force", into the top of the preorder rankings. The only exception to this X-mania was, again, Tim Drake and the sequel to the "Robin" miniseries, the first variant issue of which garnered the third spot, firmly wedged between variant issues of "X-Force" and "X-Men". The mini-series pitted solo Robin against the Joker, in response to fan demands for a matchup since "A Death in the Family." The 1990s comic booming bust had begun. In a supplemental interview with Daniel Best, Alan Grant added that "every issue from about that time [after the 'Year of the Bat'] that featured Robin sales went up because Robin did have his own fans." Although both Grant and Breyfogle initially believed that their "Anarky" character could potentially become the third version of Robin, they were quick to support the editorial decision to focus on Drake. The social anarchist duo adopted the character as their own in the early 1990s, during Grant's shift to libertarian socialism but before his late 1990s emphasis on Neo Tech. Breyfogle agreed that "it was a big thing to bring in the new Robin, yes. I know my fans often point specifically to that double page splash where his costume first appears as a big event for them as fans and I usually have to point out to them that Neal Adams was the one who designed the costume. The ‘R’ symbol and the staff were all that was really mine." In the "Rite of Passage" storyline for "Detective Comics", Grant and Breyfogle intertwined 1) Drake matching wits with Anarky; 2) a criminal and anthropological investigation into an apocryphal Haitian "vodou" cult (revealed by Batman, asserting anthropological and investigative authority, as a front for extortion and crony capitalism); 3) the murder of Drake's mother by vilified cult leaders; 4) the beginning of Drake's recurrent nightmares and trauma; as well as 5) the perspective of a child of one of the cult's Haitian followers, unknowingly and inadvertently orphaned by Batman at the end of the four-issue arc.


title: Robin (character)

text: Tim Drake eventually transitioned from late preadolescence to adolescence, becoming the third Robin over the course of the storylines "Rite of Passage" and "Identity Crisis," with all issues scripted by Alan Grant and penciled by Norm Breyfogle. Story arcs that included Drake only in subplots or featured his training in criminal investigation, such as "Crimesmith" and "The Penguin Affair," were either written or co-written by Grant and Wolfman, with pencils by Breyfogle, Aparo, and M. D. Bright. Immediately afterwards, the character starred in the five-issue miniseries "Robin," written by Chuck Dixon, with interior pencils by Tom Lyle and cover art by Brian Bolland. The new Batman and Robin team went on their first official mission together in the story "Debut," again written by Grant and penciled by Breyfogle. Lauren R. O'Connor contends that, in early Tim Drake appearances, writers such as Grant and Chuck Dixon "had a lexicon of teenage behavior from which to draw, unlike when Dick Grayson was introduced and the concept of the teenager was still nascent. They wisely mobilized the expected adolescent behaviors of parental conflict, hormonal urges, and identity formation to give Tim emotional depth and complexity, making him a relatable character with boundaries between his two selves." In the "Robin" ongoing series, when Drake had fully transitioned into an adolescent character, Chuck Dixon depicted him as engaging in adolescent intimacy, yet still stopped short at overt heterosexual consummation. This narrative benchmark maintained Robin's "estrangement from sex" that began in the Grayson years. Erica McCrystal likewise observes that Alan Grant, prior to Dixon's series, connected Drake to Batman's philosophy of heroic or anti-heroic "vigilantism" as "therapeutic for children of trauma. But this kind of therapy has a delicate integration process." The overcoming of trauma entailed distinct identity intersections and emotional restraint, as well as a "complete understanding" of symbol and self. Bruce Wayne, a former child of trauma, guided "other trauma victims down a path of righteousness." Tim Drake, for example, endured trauma and "emotional duress" as a result of the death of his mother (father in a coma and on a ventilator). Drake contemplated the idea of fear, and overcoming it, in both the "Rite of Passage" and "Identity Crisis" storylines. Grant and Breyfogle subjected Drake to recurrent nightmares, from hauntings by a ghoulish Batman to the disquieting lullaby (or informal nursery rhyme), "My Mummy's dead...My Mummy's Dead...I can't get it through my head," echoing across a cemetery for deceased parents. Drake ultimately defeated his own preadolescent fears "somewhat distant from Bruce Wayne" and "not as an orphan." By the end of "Identity Crisis," an adolescent Drake had "proven himself as capable of being a vigilante" by deducing the role of fear in instigating a series of violent crimes.


title: Robin (character)

text: In the comics, Tim Drake was a late preadolescent boy who had followed the adventures of Batman and Robin ever since witnessing the murder of the Flying Graysons. This served to connect Drake to Grayson, establishing a link that DC hoped would help readers accept this new Robin. Drake surmised their secret identities with his amateur but instinctive detective skills and followed their careers closely. Tim stated on numerous occasions that he wishes to become "The World's Greatest Detective", a title currently belonging to the Dark Knight. Batman himself stated that one day Drake will surpass him as a detective. Despite his combat skills not being the match of Grayson's (although there are some similarities, in that they are far superior to Todd's when he was Robin), his detective skills more than make up for this. In addition, Batman supplied him with a new armored costume for his transition to the adolescent Robin.


title: Robin (character)

text: Tim Drake's first Robin costume had a red torso, yellow stitching and belt, black boots, and green short sleeves, gloves, pants, and domino mask. He wore a cape that was black on the outside and yellow on the inside. This costume had an armored tunic and gorget, an emergency "R" shuriken on his chest in addition to the traditional batarangs and a collapsible bo staff as his primary weapon, which Tim Drake continues to use as the superhero Red Robin. Neal Adams redesigned the entire costume with the exception of the "R" shuriken logo, first sketched by Norm Breyfogle.


title: Robin (character)

text: Tim Drake is the first Robin to have his own comic book series, where he fought crime on his own. Tim Drake, as Robin, co-founded the superhero team Young Justice in the absence of the Teen Titans of Dick Grayson's generation, but would then later re-form the Teen Titans after Young Justice disbanded following a massive "sidekick crossover" during which Donna Troy was killed. Tim served as leader of this version of the Titans until 2009, at which point he quit due to the events of "Batman R.I.P."


title: Robin (character)

text: Following "Infinite Crisis" and "52", Tim Drake modified his costume to favor a mostly red and black color scheme in tribute to his best friend, Superboy (Kon-El), who died fighting Earth-Prime Superboy. This Robin costume had a red torso, long sleeves, and pants. It also included black gloves and boots, yellow stitching and belt, and a black and yellow cape. Tim Drake continued the motif of a red and black costume when he assumed the role of Red Robin before and during the events of "The New 52".


title: Robin (character)

text: Tim Drake assumes the identity of the Red Robin after Batman's disappearance following the events of "Final Crisis" and "" and Damian Wayne becoming Grayson's Robin. Following 2011's continuity changes resulting from "The New 52" DC Comics relaunch, history was altered such that Tim Drake never took up the Robin mantle after Jason Todd's death, feeling that it would be inappropriate. Instead, he served as Batman's sidekick under the name of the Red Robin. However, in DC's "Rebirth" relaunch, his original origin was restored.


title: Robin (character)

text: Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake's girlfriend and the costumed adventurer previously known as the Spoiler, volunteered for the role of Robin upon Tim's resignation. Batman fired the Girl Wonder for not obeying his orders to the letter on two occasions. Stephanie then stole one of Batman's incomplete plans to control Gotham's crime and executed it. Trying to prove her worthiness, Brown inadvertently set off a gang war on the streets of Gotham. While trying to help end the war, Brown was captured and tortured by the lunatic crime boss Black Mask. She managed to escape, but apparently died shortly afterwards due to the severity of her injuries. Tim Drake keeps a memorial for her in his cave hideout underneath Titans Tower in San Francisco. She appeared alive and stalking Tim, after his return from traveling around the globe with his mentor. It turned out that Dr. Leslie Thompkins had faked Stephanie's death in an effort to protect her. For years she operated on and off as the Spoiler, but was then recruited as Barbara Gordon's replacement as Batgirl. She had her own series, as well as making appearances throughout various Batman and Batman spin-off series. Her time as the Spoiler, Robin, and Batgirl was retconned to have never occurred after the "Flashpoint" event, with her being reintroduced having just become the Spoiler in "Batman Eternal". However, her history as Robin was later restored.


title: Robin (character)

text: Damian Wayne was the child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, thus the grandson of the immortal Ra's al Ghul. Batman was unaware of his son's existence for years until Talia left Damian in his care. Damian was violent and lacking in discipline and morality, and was trained by the League of Assassins. Learning to kill at a young age, Damian's murderous behavior created a troubled relationship with his father, who vowed never to take a life.


title: Robin (character)

text: Originally conceived to become a host for his maternal grandfather's soul as well as a pawn against the Dark Knight, Batman saved his child from this fate, which forced Ra's to inhabit his own son's body, and thus, Damian was affectionate to his father. After Batman's apparent death during "Final Crisis", Talia left her son under Dick Grayson and Alfred Pennyworth's care and Damian was deeply affected by his father's absence. In the first issue of "Battle for the Cowl", Damian was driving the Batmobile and was attacked by Poison Ivy and Killer Croc. Damian was rescued by Nightwing, who then tries to escape, but was shot down by Black Mask's men. Nightwing tried to fight the thugs, but the thugs were shot by Jason Todd. After a fight between Nightwing and Todd, Todd eventually shot Damian in the chest. In the final issue of the series, Alfred made Damian into Robin. Damian's first task as Robin was to rescue Tim. After "Battle for the Cowl", Grayson adopted the mantle of Batman, and instead of having Tim (who he viewed as an equal rather than a protégé) remain as Robin, he gave the role to Damian, who he felt needed the training that his father would have given him.


title: Robin (character)

text: Following the "" and "Flashpoint" events, Bruce Wayne returned to his role as Batman, while Dick resumed as Nightwing. As of "The New 52", Damian continued to work with his father, but temporarily gave up being Robin (as his mother had put a price on his head), and went under the identity of Red Bird. Damian met his end at the hands of the Heretic, an aged clone of Damian working for Leviathan, bravely giving up his life. Despite his status as deceased, Damian starred in his own miniseries, "Damian: Son of Batman", written and drawn by Andy Kubert, set in a future where Damian is on the path to become Batman after his father fell victim to a trap set by the Joker. Batman eventually started a difficult quest to resurrect him, returning Damian to life with Darkseid's Chaos Shard.


title: Robin (character)

text: A Batman story from the 1950s featured the young Bruce Wayne assuming the identity of Robin, complete with the original costume, in order to learn the basics of detective work from a famous detective named Harvey Harris. The purpose of the secret identity was to prevent Harris from learning Wayne's true motivation for approaching him, which could have led to the detective attempting to discourage the boy from pursuing his obsession. Though this story remained canonical through most of the 1980s (it was revisited in the three-issue miniseries "The Untold Legend of the Batman" in 1980), it was revised Post-"Crisis" to edit out any reference to Bruce Wayne having ever called himself "Robin" or worn any costume before he finally donned his Batman costume as an adult. John Byrne later worked this aspect into his non-canonical story "".


title: Robin (character)

text: Post-"Crisis", there was one instance in continuity when Bruce Wayne adopted the Robin persona. In "Batboy & Robin", a tie-in special to the DC Comics storyline "Sins of Youth", Bruce and Tim Drake, the third Robin, had their ages magically switched. In an effort to keep up the illusion of Batman, Bruce had Tim adopt the Batman identity, while he is forced to be Robin.


title: Robin (character)

text: On Earth-Two, home of the Golden Age version of DC's superheroes, Dick Grayson continued to be Robin even as an adult, having no successors, and even after Batman's death. His allies as a boy included the All-Star Squadron, along with Batwoman and Flamebird.


title: Robin (character)

text: By the 1960s, Grayson had become an adult, and was a lawyer and the ambassador to South Africa. He adopted a more Batman-like costume, but still fought crime as Robin. This adult version of Dick Grayson debuted in "Justice League of America" #55, where he also became a member of the Justice Society of America. Although in semi-retirement for a time, he was called back to active duty when he rejoined the Justice Society during the period when he, Power Girl and the Star-Spangled Kid, assisted them as the Super Squad.


title: Robin (character)

text: He appeared to have died during the 1985 miniseries "Crisis on Infinite Earths", in which the DC Multiverse was reduced to one Universe, and this version of Grayson, as well as the Earth-Two Batman, were deemed never to have existed. The Earth-2 concept was revived and reimagined twice subsequently, following the comic books "52" (2006–7) and "Flashpoint" (2011).


title: Robin (character)

text: In the "DC One Million" storyline, members of the Justice League of America encounter a variety of heroes from the future, including an 853rd-century Batman who patrols the prison planet Pluto. This version of Batman is accompanied by a robotic Robin who contains a transcribed copy of his own personality from before his parents were murdered by Plutonian criminals.


title: Robin (character)

text: This Robin (who calls himself "the Toy Wonder") is a member of the Justice Legion T in addition to serving as a deliberate counterbalance to Batman's dark personality.


title: Robin (character)

text: "Elseworlds" versions of DC characters are ones that exist in alternate timelines or realities that take place in entirely self-contained continuities. In "Elseworlds", Robin has been a German immigrant during World War II named Richart Graustark, Bruce Wayne Jr. (the son of Julia Madison and Bruce Wayne), a genetically enhanced ape named Rodney, a samurai named Tengu, a pirate's cabin boy, a girl traveling via space ship to a far-off colonial planet, Bruce Wayne's nephew Thomas Wayne III, MI-6 agent Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's sister during the Reign of Terror in France, and a Native American named Red Bird.


title: Robin (character)

text: In Frank Miller's non-canonical "The Dark Knight Returns", the role of Robin is filled by Carrie Kelley, a 13-year-old girl. She becomes Robin, and is accepted by the Batman after she saves his life. Unlike the previous Robins, Carrie is not an orphan, but she appears to have rather neglectful parents who are never actually depicted (one of them mutters "Didn't we have a kid?" while their daughter is watching the fierce battle between Batman and the Mutants). It is hinted through their dialogue that they were once activists and possibly hippies during the 1960s, but have since become apathetic stoners. She was the first female Robin and the first Robin with living parents. In the sequel, "", 2001, Carrie dons the identity of Catgirl, but still works as Batman's second-in-command.


title: Robin (character)

text: She was also featured in an episode of "The New Batman Adventures" entitled "Legends of the Dark Knight". She then appeared in "" episode entitled "Batman Dies At Dawn!" along with Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, and Damian Wayne. Kelley joined the "New 52" DC universe in "Batman and Robin" #19, in a story titled "Batman and Red Robin".


title: Robin (character)

text: The Crime Syndicate version of Robin is called Talon on Earth-3, associate of Owlman. Talon refers to Owlman as his father; whether he is the biological son of Thomas Wayne II or an alternate version of Jason Todd or Tim Drake is unknown. Talon first appeared in "Teen Titans" #32 (March 2006).


title: Robin (character)

text: In the final issue of "52", a new Multiverse is revealed, originally consisting of 52 identical realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-2". As a result of Mister Mind "eating" aspects of this reality, it takes on visual aspects similar to the Pre-"Crisis" Earth-2, including Robin, among other Justice Society of America characters. Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-2. However, in "Justice Society of America Annual" #1, published in 2008, the Silver Scarab explains that the events of the Crisis are remembered by the people of this Earth-2, and from "their" perspective, Earth-2 seemed to be the only Earth to have survived the Crisis, raising theories as to whether or not Earth-2 was really destroyed, or was perhaps replaced by a new Earth-2. Indeed, in "Justice Society of America" #20, published in December 2008, Starman explains that during the re-expansion of the DC Multiverse, Earth-2 was reborn "along with everyone on it", including Robin.


title: Robin (character)

text: Following "Flashpoint" (2011) and "The New 52" reboot, this Earth is replaced by another reimagining of Earth 2, one where Batman's daughter Helena Wayne served as Robin until an incident five years prior to the relaunch sent her to DC's primary continuity, Earth-0, where she works as the Huntress. The 2014 series "Earth 2: World's End" establishes that Dick Grayson never served as Robin on this Earth, and was instead a reporter who married Barbara Gordon and had a son. During Darkseid's invasion of Earth 2, Barbara is killed, and Dick is trained in how to fight by Ted Grant and goes on a mission to find his missing son.


title: Robin (character)

text: The first "Robin" miniseries was printed in 1992 following Tim Drake's debut as Robin. The series centered around Tim's continued training and set up villains linked to the character. It was followed up by another series "Robin II: The Joker's Wild!", which pitted Tim against his predecessor's murderer the Joker. With Batman out of town, it was up to Tim and Alfred to end the Joker's latest crime spree. A final miniseries, "Robin III: Cry of the Huntress" wrapped up the trilogy, teaming Tim with the Huntress. In 1993, the success of the three miniseries led to the ongoing "Robin" series, which ran 183 issues until 2009. The title was replaced by a "Batman and Robin" series following the "Battle for the Cowl" miniseries, as well as an ongoing "Red Robin" monthly which continues the story of Tim Drake.


title: Robin (character)

text: The ongoing "Robin" series has taken part in a number of crossovers with other comics, especially "Batman" and related series. These include:


title: Robin (character)

text: In addition, two Robin-related series launched in June 2015: "We Are Robin", featuring writer Lee Bermejo and artists Rob Haynes and Khary Randolph, and detailing multiple teenagers in Gotham who take up the mantle of Robin; and "Robin, Son of Batman", written and drawn by Patrick Gleason, showing the individual adventures of Damian Wayne.


title: Robin (character)

text: Robin (Dick Grayson) was portrayed by Douglas Croft and Johnny Duncan, respectively, in the 1943 and 1949 fifteen chapter "Batman" serials. Burt Ward played him in the 1966–1968 "Batman" television series and the related 1966 film. In the live-action movies "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin", he was played by Chris O'Donnell. Michael Cera voiced the character in "The Lego Batman Movie".


title: Robin (character)

text: The Dick Grayson version of Robin also appears in "", voiced by Loren Lester. Grayson is replaced by Tim Drake, played by Mathew Valencia, in the subsequent series "The New Batman Adventures".


title: Robin (character)

text: An older version of Robin (Dick Grayson) is portrayed by Brenton Thwaites in the live action series "Titans."


title: Robin (character)

text: The animated series "Teen Titans" features Robin (voiced by Scott Menville) as the leader of a team of young heroes; it is hinted in several episodes that this Robin is Dick Grayson. In the season two episode "Fractured", a version of Bat-Mite is introduced who claims to be Robin's "DNA buddy" (genetic twin). Bat-Mite gives his name as Nosyarg Kcid ("Dick Grayson" spelled backwards). In another episode, Raven reads Robin's mind and sees a man and a woman falling from a trapeze (an event known only to have happened to Grayson and not to any other Robin). In another episode, Starfire travels to the future and discovers that Robin has taken the identity of Nightwing. Menville reprises his role as Robin in "Teen Titans Go!". The second-season episode "The Best Robin" introduces Carrie Kelly and Tim Drake as their Robins. They are also voiced by Menville.


title: Robin (character)

text: Robin is also seen in the 1987 Zeller's commercial, which features the infamous catchphrase, "Well said, Robin!".


title: Robin (character)

text: Dick Grayson is Robin in "Young Justice", voiced by Jesse McCartney. In the second season, Grayson has become Nightwing, while Tim Drake, voiced by Cameron Bowen, is the new Robin, succeeding Jason Todd, who is already dead by the start of the season.


title: Robin (character)

text: Robin is portrayed by Nick Lang in "Holy Musical B@man!". His portrayal is based mainly on Burt Ward's Dick Grayson.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the bare building materials and structural elements over decorative design. The style commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette; other materials, such as steel, timber, and glass, are also featured.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Descending from the modernist movement, Brutalism is said to be a reaction against the nostalgia of architecture in the 1940s. Derived from the Swedish phrase "nybrutalism," the term "New Brutalism" was first used by British architects Alison and Peter Smithson for their pioneering approach to design. The style was further popularised in a 1955 essay by architectural critic Reyner Banham, who also associated the movement with the French phrases "béton brut" ("raw concrete") and "art brut" ("raw art"). The style, as developed by architects such as the Smithsons, Hungarian-born Ernő Goldfinger, and the British firm Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, was partly foreshadowed by the modernist work of other architects such as French-Swiss Le Corbusier, Estonian-American Louis Kahn, German-American Mies van der Rohe, and Finnish Alvar Aalto.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: In the United Kingdom, Brutalism was featured in the design of utilitarian, low-cost social housing influenced by socialist principles and soon spread to other regions around the world. Brutalist designs became most commonly used in the design of institutional buildings, such as universities, libraries, courts, and city halls. The popularity of the movement began to decline in the late 1970s, with some associating the style with urban decay and totalitarianism.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Brutalism has been polarising historically; specific buildings, as well as the movement as a whole, have drawn a range of criticism (often being described as "cold" or "soulless") but have also elicited support from architects and local communities (with many Brutalist buildings having become cultural icons, sometimes obtaining listed status). In recent decades, the movement has become a subject of renewed interest. In 2006, several Bostonian architects called for a rebranding of the style to "Heroic architecture" to distance it from the negative connotations of the term "brutalism".


title: Brutalist architecture

text: The term Nybrutalism (New Brutalism) was coined by the Swedish architect Hans Asplund to describe Villa Göth, a modern brick home in Uppsala, designed in January 1950 by his contemporaries Bengt Edman and Lennart Holm. Showcasing the 'as found' design approach that would later be at the core of Brutalism, the house displays visible I-beams over windows, exposed brick inside and out, and poured concrete in several rooms where the tongue-and-groove pattern of the boards used to build the forms can be seen. The term was picked up in the summer of 1950 by a group of visiting English architects, including Michael Ventris, Oliver Cox, and Graeme Shankland, where it apparently "spread like wildfire, and [was] subsequently adopted by a certain faction of young British architects".


title: Brutalist architecture

text: The first published usage of the phrase "New Brutalism" occurred in 1953, when Alison Smithson used it to describe a plan for their unbuilt Soho house which appeared in the November issue of "Architectural Design". She further stated "It is our intention in this building to have the structure exposed entirely, without interior finishes wherever practicable." The Smithsons' Hunstanton School completed in 1954 in Norfolk, and the Sugden House completed in 1955 in Watford, represent the earliest examples of New Brutalism in the United Kingdom. Hunstanton school, likely inspired by Mies van der Rohe's 1946 Alumni Memorial Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, United States, is notable as the first completed building in the world to carry the title of "New Brutalist" by its architects. At the time, it was described as "the most truly modern building in England".


title: Brutalist architecture

text: The term gained increasingly wider recognition when British architectural historian Reyner Banham used it to identify both an ethic and aesthetic style, in his 1955 essay "The New Brutalism". In the essay, Banham described Hunstanton and the Soho house as the "reference by which The New Brutalism in architecture may be defined." Reyner Banham also associated the term New Brutalism with Art Brut and "béton brut", meaning raw concrete in French, for the first time. The best-known "béton brut" architecture is the proto-Brutalist work of the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, in particular his 1952 "Unité d'habitation" in Marseille, France; the 1953 Secretariat Building (Palace of Assembly) in Chandigarh, India; and the 1955 church of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Banham further expanded his thoughts in the 1966 book, "The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic?", to characterise a somewhat recently established cluster of architectural approaches, particularly in Europe. In the book, Banham says that Le Corbusier's concrete work was a source of inspiration and helped popularise the movement, suggesting "if there is one single verbal formula that has made the concept of Brutalism admissible in most of the world's Western languages, it is that Le Corbusier himself described that concrete work as 'béton-brut'". He further states that "the words 'The New Brutalism' were already circulating, and had acquired some depth of meaning through things said and done, over and above the widely recognised connection with "béton brut". The phrase still 'belonged' to the Smithsons, however, and it was their activities above all others that were giving distinctive qualities to the concept of Brutalism."


title: Brutalist architecture

text: New Brutalism is not only an architectural style; it is also a philosophical approach to architectural design, a striving to create simple, honest, and functional buildings that accommodate their purpose, inhabitants, and location. Stylistically, Brutalism is a strict, modernistic design language that has been said to be a reaction to the architecture of the 1940s, much of which was characterised by a retrospective nostalgia.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Peter Smithson believed that the core of Brutalism was a reverence for materials, expressed honestly, stating "Brutalism is not concerned with the material as such but rather the quality of material", and "the seeing of materials for what they were: the woodness of the wood; the sandiness of sand." Architect John Voelcker explained that the "New Brutalism" in architecture "cannot be understood through stylistic analysis, although some day a comprehensible style might emerge", supporting the Smithsons' description of the movement as "an ethic, not an aesthetic". Reyner Banham felt the phrase "the New Brutalism" existed as both an attitude toward design as well as a descriptive label for the architecture itself and that it "eludes precise description, while remaining a living force". He attempted to codify the movement in systematic language, insisting that a Brutalist structure must satisfy the following terms, "1, Formal legibility of plan; 2, clear exhibition of structure, and 3, valuation of materials for their inherent qualities 'as found'." Also important was the aesthetic "image", or "coherence of the building as a visual entity".


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Brutalist buildings are usually constructed with reoccurring modular elements representing specific functional zones, distinctly articulated and grouped together into a unified whole. There is often an emphasis on graphic expressions in the external elevations and in the whole-site architectural plan in regard to the main functions and people-flows of the buildings. Buildings may use materials such as concrete, brick, glass, steel, timber, rough-hewn stone, and gabions among others. However, due to its low cost, raw concrete is often used and left to reveal the basic nature of its construction with rough surfaces featuring wood 'shuttering' produced when the forms were cast in-situ. Examples are frequently massive in character (even when not large) and challenge traditional notions of what a building should look like with focus given to interior spaces as much as exterior.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: A common theme in Brutalist designs is the exposure of the building's inner-workings—ranging from their structure and services to their human use—in the exterior of the building. In the Boston City Hall, designed in 1962, the strikingly different and projected portions of the building indicate the special nature of the rooms behind those walls, such as the mayor's office or the city council chambers. From another perspective, the design of the Hunstanton School included placing the facility's water tank, normally a hidden service feature, in a prominent, visible tower. Rather than being hidden in the walls, Hunstanton's water and electric utilities were delivered via readily visible pipes and conduits.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Brutalism as an architectural philosophy was often associated with a socialist utopian ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially by Alison and Peter Smithson, near the height of the style. Indeed, their work sought to emphasize functionality and to connect architecture with what they viewed as the realities of modern life. Among their early contributions were "streets in the sky" in which traffic and pedestrian circulation were rigorously separated, another theme popular in the 1960s. This style had a strong position in the architecture of European communist countries from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, USSR, Yugoslavia). In Czechoslovakia, Brutalism was presented as an attempt to create a "national" but also "modern socialist" architectural style. Such prefabricated socialist era buildings are called panelaky.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Architects whose work reflects certain aspects of the Brutalist style include Louis Kahn. Architectural historian William Jordy says that although Kahn was "[o]pposed to what he regarded as the muscular posturing of most Brutalism", some of his work "was surely informed by some of the same ideas that came to momentary focus in the Brutalist position."


title: Brutalist architecture

text: In Australia, examples of the Brutalist style are Robin Gibson's Queensland Art Gallery, Ken Woolley's Fisher Library at the University of Sydney (his State Office Block is another), the High Court of Australia by Colin Madigan in Canberra, the MUSE building (also referred to as C7A MUSE) which was the original Library at Macquarie University before the new library replaced it, and WTC Wharf (World Trade Centre in Melbourne). John Andrews's government and institutional structures in Australia also exhibit the style.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: Canada possesses numerous examples of Brutalist architecture. In the years leading to the 100th anniversary of the Confederation in 1967, the Federal Government financed the construction of many public buildings. Major Brutalist examples, not all built as part of the Canadian Centennial, include the Grand Théâtre de Québec, the Édifice Marie-Guyart (formerly Complex-G), Hôtel Le Concorde, and much of the Laval University campus in Quebec City; Habitat 67, Place Bonaventure, the Maison de Radio-Canada, and several metro stations on the Montreal Metro's Green Line; the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown; the National Arts Centre in Ottawa; the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston; the Ontario Science Centre, Robarts Library, Rochdale College in Toronto; and the church of the Westminster Abbey in British Columbia.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: In the United Kingdom, architects associated with the Brutalist style include Ernő Goldfinger, wife-and-husband pairing Alison and Peter Smithson, some of the work of Sir Basil Spence, the London County Council/Greater London Council Architects Department, Owen Luder, John Bancroft, and, arguably perhaps, Sir Denys Lasdun, Sir Leslie Martin, Sir James Stirling and James Gowan with their early works. Some well-known examples of Brutalist-influenced architecture in the British capital include the Barbican Centre (Chamberlin, Powell and Bon) and the National Theatre (Denys Lasdun).


title: Brutalist architecture

text: In the United States, Paul Rudolph and Ralph Rapson were both noted Brutalists. Evans Woollen III, a pacesetter among architects in the Midwest, is credited for introducing the Brutalist and Modernist architecture styles to Indianapolis, Indiana. Walter Netsch is known for his Brutalist academic buildings. Marcel Breuer was known for his "soft" approach to the style, often using curves rather than corners. In Atlanta, Georgia, the architectural style was introduced to Buckhead's affluent Peachtree Road with the Ted Levy-designed Plaza Towers and Park Place on Peachtree condominiums. Many of the stations of the Washington Metro, particularly older stations, were constructed in the Brutalist style.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: In Serbia, Božidar Janković was a representative of the so-called "Belgrade School of residence", identifiable by its functionalist relations on the basis of the flat and elaborated in detail the architecture. Known example, Western City Gate also known as the Genex Tower is a 36-storey skyscraper in Belgrade, Serbia, which was designed in 1977 by . It is formed by two towers connected with a two-storey bridge and revolving restaurant at the top. It is tall (with restaurant ) and is the second-tallest high-rise in Belgrade after Ušće Tower. The building was designed in the brutalist style with some elements of structuralism and constructivism. It is considered a prime representative of the brutalist architecture in Serbia and one of the best of its style built in the 1960s and the 1970s in the world. The treatment of the form and details is slightly associating the building with postmodernism and is today one of the rare surviving representatives of this style's early period in Serbia. The artistic expression of the gate marked an entire era in Serbian architecture.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: In the late 1950s and early 1960s, many North American universities constructed campus buildings in the Brutalist style due to their low cost and ease of construction, beginning with Paul Rudolph's 1958 Yale Art and Architecture Building. Rudolph's design for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is an example of an entire campus designed in the Brutalist style. Walter Netsch designed the entire University of Illinois-Chicago Circle Campus (now the East Campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago) under a single, unified Brutalist design. John M. Johansen and Evans Woollen III's Brutalist-style Clowes Memorial Hall, a performing arts facility that opened in 1963 on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, was praised for its bold and dramatic design.


title: Brutalist architecture

text: In 1964, Brigham Young University inaugurated the Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center, which features a largely Brutalist style of architecture. The University of Chicago's Joseph Regenstein Library, one of the largest libraries in the world, is designed in the Brutalist style, as is the Northwestern University Library; both are the work of architect Walter Netsch. The University of Minnesota's West Bank campus features several Brutalist buildings, including the performing arts venue, Rarig Center, one of Ralph Rapson's most important works and the best example of Brutalism in the Twin Cities. Brown University's two largest libraries and Graduate Center are significant brutalist works. The John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library and the Sciences Library (Brown University) were designed by Danforth Toan, whose firm also designed the Robarts Library at the University of Toronto.