Atlas of Brutalist Architecture: Classic format

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Postwar Britain architects often saw architecture as a powerful means to improve the quality of our lives after the shadow of war. Perched over a hilly terrain right above the Black Sea the saw tooth edges of several disks of various diameters evoke the gears of a giant mechanism. In general, the use of concrete, the material which is the most energy-intensive, is no longer evaluated on aesthetic merits alone. A host of architecture books on Brutalism have shone some light on the progressive period of architectural history. The original photographs and detailed design interrogations in this book look at the way the capital is responding to the ever-pressing need to build with the environment foremost in mind – talking to the London architects, designers and residents who are creating a city that lives, works, plays and produces sustainably.

It is this extensive representation—the nearly 400-page anthology includes the works of 200 architects, many of which are teams and each is treated as an equal author with key biographical data provided—that sparked my enthusiasm about this publication. A wonderful book which explodes the myth of Paris as a theme-park of the nineteenth century, this compelling compendium of Brutalism builds on Blue Crow's excellent architectural maps to give a wholly different and striking view of the city. The book looks at ingenious architectural solutions: impossibly skinny houses wedged into narrow plots, spacious homes built into neglected infill sites and comfortable homes created in tiny spaces. The author’s ambition to give equal space to as many architects as possible, unfortunately, left many of the iconic buildings that we associate with Brutalism out of the picture. A world tour in black and white with capsule histories of many of the most celebrated (and derided) Brutalist buildings.He finds that what really singled it out, “was the extent to which its mission rested not on ideology, not even on concrete, but on its attitude to energy.

Kahn; Denys Lasdun; Le Corbusier; João da Gama Filgueiras Lima; Alberto Linner Díaz; Owen Luder; Paulo Mendes da Rocha; Oscar Niemeyer; William L. London’s unsurpassed range of Brutalist architecture is captured here in the second edition of the popular architecture map. 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. The successes and failures of Parisian brutalism are recounted in this valuable work […] The peregrination explores the Grands Ensembles , the housing estates and ZUPs, satellite places designed as alternative and modern environments, today an integral part of the heritage of Greater Paris. Yet as well as being fetishised for its rough and ready qualities, there’s also a growing desire to preserve the best examples of concrete architecture in the face of widespread indifference and downright hostility.The book includes seven essays by Dr Robin Wilson, details for more than 50 individual buildings, maps and more than 150 black and white photographs by Dr Nigel Green. This landmark volume documents the movement as never before, by profiling the architects behind the style. Many buildings are represented by two photos in a single spread and some are shown in up to five photos over two spreads. Eastern Europe of course wins, with the most interesting and odd examples, and the link between Brutalism and the history of this area was valuable.