Raw Concrete: A Field Guide to British Brutalism

About this book

Beton brut or 'Raw concrete' was a term coined by Le Corbusier and appropriated by two young British architects in the 1950s to describe a new kind of building: austere, unadorned, monolithic, confrontational and constructed almost entirely in concrete. Brutalist architecture blossomed in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century, with planners favouring its functionality and low costs for social housing projects, government buildings and shopping centres. But as the school spread, so its reputation foundered, with Brutalism quickly becoming synonymous with crime, economic deprivation and inner-city decay. In the twenty-first century, Brutalist buildings are just as prominent, and just as pilloried - seen by many as 'spiky survivors of the sixties'. But there is another side to Brutalism, one of artistic vision, political idealism and painstaking attention to detail: a school of architecture to celebrate, not destroy. 'Raw concrete' provides a groundbreaking history of the heavy-concrete architecture of post-war Britain, as well as a personal and illuminating guide to eight pivotal Brutalist buildings. Beginning in a tiny concrete hermitage on the remote north Scottish coast, and ending up backstage at the National Theatre, 'Raw concrete' takes us on a wide-ranging journey through Britain over the past sixty years, stopping to examine how these buildings were made - from commission to construction - why they have been so hated, and why they should be loved.