Brutal Books: Celebrating Brutalist Architecture

WORDS Graham Wood PHOTOS Courtesy of University Of California, San Diego (This Brutal World), Philip Quick (The Brutalists), Supplied 

If you’re building up a library of design tomes, three magisterial publications by Phaidon that trace the evolving examination of Brutalist Architecture are a must.

THIS BRUTAL WORLD by Peter Chadwick

About seven years ago, new books began popping up, re-evaluating one of the most divisive architectural movements of the 20th century: Brutalism. Leading the charge was 2016’s This Brutal World – a global survey that featured a collection of buildings from all around the world, representing just how widespread the movement was. But also, perhaps fuelled by Instagrammers posting dramatic black-and-white images of forgotten masterpieces of the movement, it had the effect of stopping us in our tracks. Was that what Brutalism really was? Beautiful?

Brutalism is usually associated with the hulking grey concrete monoliths of failed social housing projects in the UK, and totalitarian regimes looking for a way to portray themselves as both powerful and progressive. (The fact that a lot of it was overbearing and oppressive didn’t do any harm to their cause.) As these social and political failures have faded from living memory, it has gradually become possible to see them afresh.

ATLAS OF BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE by Peter Chadwick

Chadwick’s startling revelation of the multifaceted global character of the movement, plus its powerful prompt to rethink our attitude, was followed by Phaidon’s massive Atlas of Brutalist Architecture in 2018. It gathered more than 850 buildings around the globe by nearly 800 architects. Other books of the time included titles like Redefining Brutalism and SOS Brutalism: A Global Survey.

The impulse driving this wave of literature was perhaps something like a sense of responsibility to document and preserve their legacy – hence the massive scope of Atlas. Brutalism was still very much reviled, and many of the era’s concrete monoliths were bashed down without a second thought, but there was a growing sense that something was being lost.

THE BRUTALISTS: Brutalism’s Best Architects by Owen Hopkins

Now, a third wave is about to hit the shelves, led by another beautifully produced Phaidon survey. It’s different in that its focus is on the architects, although it has the requisite black-and-white photographs of their buildings. It also looks to be less broadly representative. Hopkins’s definition of Brutalism is looser than most: “a classic ‘late style’, sitting somewhere between Modernism’s high point and its final unravelling in what became Postmodernism”. And he focuses on just how individual, idiosyncratic and expressive many of these buildings were. This book represents Brutalism less as a monolithic movement itself (a favourite word used to describe its buildings) and more as “a polyphony of voices and approaches”.

These successive books show a growing awareness that whatever its eventual failings, Brutalism was originally underpinned by good intentions. Guided by the new possibilities offered by concrete construction, it was an optimistic movement charged with a sense that architecture could be central to creating a better world. Brutalist architects, though often hubristic, were driven by hope. This awareness, along with the new take in The Brutalists, can’t help but resonate with the present moment’s idealism and individualism. It’s food for thought as we consider our own architectural ambitions… and hubris.

All books can be found at phaidon.com.

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