[mkbgw]

It's referring to the architectural style.

Re: spikes under bridges, AFAIk that's referred to as hostile architecture. I've never seen the term Brutalism applied to that.

[florabuzzword]

That’s refreshing. Unfortunately, I have. At least in the past few decades, brutalism has been conflated with being unkind, authoritarian, or Stalinist. But maybe this wave has passed and I’m out of the loop. I also didn’t think brutalist architecture was appreciated in circles like this, so I clearly am out of the loop to some extent.