Atlas of Brutalist Architecture: Classic format

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The group came together when Birmingham's Central Library - considered an icon of British Brutalism - was about to be demolished. They began writing for The Birmingham Post six years ago, highlighting the plight of the Ringway Centre, and have since written over 60 articles discussing the architectural merit and the heritage value of Birmingham’s Brutalist buildings, and raising awareness of those that are under threat of demolition. 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 As well as housing many businesses and some of the city's best graffiti, it offers great shelter when waiting for the bus in the rain!" Although the signal box is Grade-II listed, I can't help but wonder what it will become when its function is obsolete. How else could it serve the community?" 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.

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. When viewed from one of the top floors in the adjacent buildings, however, you can appreciate the magnitude of Tricorn House. It looks like it could take off any moment with flames trailing behind it." Elain Harwood is a historian with Historic England, and author of Space Hope and Brutalism, England’s Post-War Listed Buildings and Art Deco Britain. She gives lectures and leads tours for the C20 Society, and has published Chamberlin, Powell and Bon in association with them, HE and the RIBA, and 100 Buildings/Houses/Churches/Landscapes, 100Years in association with Batsford. She lives in London.

It is damned by its name which comes from the French, béton brut, or raw concrete, but we use the same word (Brut) to describe Champagne and this perhaps sums up the dichotomy at the heart of this style."— Financial Times This mysterious building encapsulates brutalist values with its unfinished concrete exterior and devotion to function. Calder is an art historian, and came to his subject via studies of medieval churches and 18th-century country houses. He describes himself as a nice middle-class boy brought up to like the sort of Edwardian terraces in which he was raised and to deplore the aggressive, stained concrete monstrosities known as brutalist. Now, he claims, he believes brutalism to be “the high point of architecture in the entire history of humanity… one of the greatest ever flowerings of human creativity and ingenuity”. Corporation Square (or The Square) is externally a 'no frills' type of building, but is great in terms of spatial design. It houses many small eateries, independent shops, an indoor market and a music venue called The Ballroom – previously named The Hummingbird and also The Carling Academy. This is the only book to thoroughly document the world's finest examples of Brutalist architecture."— Architectural Digest Online

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. We encounter bulbous sci-fi windows bulging on the corner above the Admiral Casino Slots Experience, as if ready for lift-off, and marvel at the chiselled zigzag balconies that rise above a Snappy Snaps, writhing with wrought-iron balustrades like the work of some Brummie Gaudí. 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 Another Brummie structure that is quite surreal is the infamous Spaghetti Junction, the destination for many school trips growing up.The Brutalist aesthetic is enjoying a renaissance - and this book documents Brutalism as never before. In the most wide-ranging investigation ever undertaken into one of architecture's most powerful movements, more than 850 Brutalist buildings - existing and demolished, classic and contemporary - are organized geographically into nine continental regions. The library was replaced by a load of cladding and glass tat – a piece of our heritage was lost for featureless rubbish Spaghetti Junction, the Ringway Centre, The Rotunda and Corporation Square all feature, alongside Brutalist buildings such Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Ashley and Strathcona Buildings at Birmingham University, and Neville House on Harborne Road. 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 Designed by Birmingham based designer Sharonjit Sutton, the book launches in September to coincide with Birmingham Heritage Week (9th-18th September) and is now being made available for pre-sale.

On paper it looks like it shouldn't work, but somehow it does. Hilariously summed up by comedic legend Ken Dodd, it's 'the eighth wonder of the world… you get on and wonder how to get off'.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! Daily updates on the latest design and architecture vacancies advertised on Dezeen Jobs. Plus occasional news. Dezeen Jobs Weekly 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. 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.