Atlas of Brutalist Architecture: Classic format

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This publication is a fitting tribute to some true masterpieces of modernist design, with a real sense of history and nostalgia. We hope that it helps people to appreciate the value of this period of Birmingham’s architectural history. It's very rare to see something so playful that hasn't been gatekept so I'm glad to hear that the mural has recently been given a listed status, which means it will be there for future generations to enjoy." Looks to the past, present and future of the style, revaluating the timeline and examining a deeper geopolitical context... Striking imagery and compelling text [reveal] a meaning far beyond the provocative aesthetics... Phaidon offers readers new perspectives on their everyday surroundings, encouraging individuals to re-evaluate the built environments."— Aesthetica Calder’s distinctive approach is a combination of scholarliness with personal association. He is good on detail and such things as the role of cheap energy in making brutalism (badly insulated, and often requiring air conditioning and lifts) possible. The personal element comes when he favours buildings in places where his academic career has taken him, such as Glasgow and Cambridge. It makes for a readable, informative, if sometimes eccentric, account. There is not all that much on Peter Smithson and his wife Alison, who were at the core of brutalism. There is quite a lot on Denys Lasdun, architect of the National Theatre, a favourite of Calder’s (and mine) but who didn’t like the term brutalist and didn’t think himself one. He makes a remarkable, if small, discovery of Hermit’s Castle, a miniature fortified-looking refuge on the remote north-west coast of Scotland, built by the young architect David Scott with his own hands, using beach sand for the concrete. Includes twentieth-century masters such as Marcel Breuer, Lina Bo Bardi, Le Corbusier, Carlo Scarpa, Ernö Goldfinger, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn, and Paul Rudolph. Contemporary architects featured include Alvaro Siza, Coop Himmelb(l)au, David Chipperfield, Herzog & de Meuron, Jean Nouvel, SANAA, OMA, Renzo Piano, Tadao Ando, and Zaha Hadid.

What a great way to explore Birmingham's modernist heritage. This kaleidoscopic tour of buildings and public art past and present is a celebration of extraordinary mid-twentieth century creativity and a plea for the city to appreciate its remarkable built landscape. A treasure for anyone who loves mid-century design, brutalist architecture and urban exploration.” Although not a definitive catalogue of all the major Brutalist creations in the world, this vast tome certainly gives it a decent shot. Though the omission of Sir Basil Spence’s Beehive in Wellington, NZ, which houses the parliament, seems like a bizarre oversight/omission. Although I got a bit of a treat at the many structures I had never set eyes on before, particularly the likes of The Freeway Park in Seattle, Vaillancourt Fountain, San Francisco, Milwaukee County War Memorial. And that was just within the continental US. Shines a light on this much–maligned architecture... An ambitious attempt to give brutalism a much wider scope and time frame, featuring almost 900 masterpieces from more than 100 countries.' – Daily Telegraph, Property

Although clearly focusing on Brutalism there are many examples which could also fall under Metabolist, Biomorphic, Deconstructivist, Art Deco, Neo-Constructivist, and many other sub-genres of architecture. I had no idea how many examples of Brutalism that the likes of I.M. Pei, Louis Khan, Minoru Yamasaki and Eero Saarinen were responsible for in their career. Some of Birmingham’s lesser-known post-war churches are also featured, including St. Thomas More Church in Sheldon, St. Matthews Church Perry Beeches, and Our Lady Help of Christians in Tile Cross. Birmingham: The Brutiful Years puts the spotlight on the city’s often under-appreciated post-war architecture, with striking images alongside essays on some of Birmingham’s most iconic locations, as well as some of its lesser-known modernist gems. Each essay was originally written for The Birmingham Post by The Brutiful Action Group, a collective of local residents who came together seven years ago to raise the profile of Birmingham's brutalist buildings as the city's Central Library was about to be demolished.

The reason for its preservation is that it stands in the base of the Rotunda, a 25-storey cylindrical tower designed by James Roberts (he of the Ringway) in 1965. It’s one of the few buildings of the era to have been Grade II-listed, thus making it the “icon” of postwar Birmingham since the library vanished. Clad in precast concrete panels faced with white mosaic tiles, alternating with bands of aluminium windows, the tower was envisaged by Roberts as a “huge candle in the middle of Birmingham”, originally intended to have neon rings encircling each floor. Weekly updates on the latest design and architecture vacancies advertised on Dezeen Jobs. Plus occasional news. Dezeen Awards This upside-down-wedding-cake of a building appeared to defy gravity when viewed from one angle – as if it should fall forward somehow. The windows were strategically placed as strips beneath each layer, seemingly non-existent from the outside. Newcomers will discover the global influence of brutalism, that final age of civic architectural ambition; true believers can use it to prepare years of concrete–coated vacations.' – New York Times

The Ringway Centre, sweeping 230 metres along Birmingham’s inner ring road in one continuous curve, is a striking monument to the heroic age of the UK’s “motorway city”. It stands like a protective wall, its four floors of offices framed by horizontal bands of abstract concrete reliefs and slender vertical fins, punctuated by a staccato rhythm of Corbusian bullhorn lamps. The taut ribbon of offices projects out over the street, sheltering a long parade of shops, and leaps over a road supported on dramatic angled columns – compared by their architect, James Roberts, to “the massive feet of a Martian monster”. If you’re part of the increasingly large ranks of brutalism fans, or interested in late 20th-century architecture and society in general, Brutalist Britain is the book for you. New York Times Best Art Book of 2018 - "Newcomers will discover the global influence of brutalism, that final age of civic architectural ambition; true believers can use it to prepare years of concrete-coated vacations."— The New York Times Presented in an oversized format with a specially bound case with three-dimensional finishes, 1000 beautiful duotone photographs throughout bring the graphic strength, emotional power, and compelling architectural presence of Brutalism to life. Shines a light on this much-maligned architecture... An ambitious attempt to give brutalism a much wider scope and time frame, featuring almost 900 masterpieces from more than 100 countries."— Daily Telegraph, Property

Looks to the past, present and future of the style, revaluating the timeline and examining a deeper geopolitical context... Striking imagery and compelling text [reveal] a meaning far beyond the provocative aesthetics... Phaidon offers readers new perspectives on their everyday surroundings, encouraging individuals to re–evaluate the built environments.' – Aesthetica Birmingham's natural state is one of self-destruction. This informative and beautifully illustrated book is written and made by people who have tried to salvage one of the city's many incarnations - the rough and egalitarian motor-city of multi-level concrete megastructures and calm green spaces - and tells that city's story with humour and warmth, and a cast that ranges from Clint Eastwood to John Madin.' From a pedestrian's perspective, the graffiti-adorned space under Spaghetti Junction is almost tranquil, with bursts of greenery combatting the fumes from the cars overhead. It also offers shelter to the homeless community in the area who are often ushered out of other spaces. The underbelly of Spaghetti Junction is definitely an overlooked area."But come here today and you won’t see much of it. The entire building is engulfed in a bright purple shroud, installed for the recent Commonwealth Games, concealing the modernist facade behind a lurid billboard of gyrating letter Bs. It is an apt reflection of the council’s attitude to its postwar heritage: as the world’s eyes were focused on Birmingham, it chose to hide one of its most important buildings. Beneath the jazzy wrapper, the structure lies empty and condemned. Although it is locally listed, plans were unveiled in July to raze the entire complex and build three huge glass towers in its place.

This mysterious building encapsulates brutalist values with its unfinished concrete exterior and devotion to function. I hope the book presents a case for Birmingham's architecture and our brutalist history, and that it is a step forward in convincing the powers that be to think about how people benefit from the buildings and structures we already have, and how we can make these work," Sutton continued. Much-loved masterpieces in the UK and USA sit alongside lesser-known examples in Europe, Asia, Australia, and beyond - 102 countries in all, proving that Brutalism was, and continues to be, a truly international architectural phenomenon.This is the only book to thoroughly document the world's finest examples of Brutalist architecture. More than 850 buildings - existing and demolished, classic and contemporary - are organized geographically into nine continental regions. This is the only book to thoroughly document the world's finest examples of Brutalist architecture.' – Architectural Digest The Rotunda is part commercial space and part residential space situated in the Bullring Shopping Centre. Like many post-war buildings around Birmingham it has a retro-futuristic feel about it. Even now, it almost feels like an alien spaceship has made its permanent home in the centre of town! Over the journey you really begin to see the many regional variations in different parts of the world, such as the highly distinctive Spomeniks (Soviet memorials) scattered throughout so much of the former Eastern Bloc and Soviet Asia too, which really personify the idea of masculine architecture.