Brutal London: A Photographic Exploration of Post-War London

by Simon Phipps, Simon Phipps (Photographer)

Overview

A photographic exploration of the post-war modernist architecture of London.

This collection of unique and evocative photography of Brutalist architecture by Simon Phipps casts the city in a new light. Arranged by inner London Borough, BRUTAL LONDON takes in famous examples such as the Trellick Tower, the Brunswick Centre and the Alexandra Road Estate, as well as lesser known housing and municipal spaces. It serves as an introduction to buildings the reader may see every day, an invitation to look differently, a challenge to look up afresh, or to seek out celebrated Brutalism across the capital.

The book's portable size and maps for each borough make it useful and practical; while the design, by leading agency A Practice for Everyday Life, echoes the aesthetic of Brutalist architecture with rough textured edges and fonts inspired by the site maps of modernist estates.

Finalist for the British Book Design and Production Awards 2017, Photographic Books, Art / Architecture Monographs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910463635
Publisher:	Global Book Sales
Publication date:	04/03/2018
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Simon Phipps is a photographer and the creator of the New Brutalism collection on Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter, A graduate in sculpture from the Royal College of Art, London her grew up in Milton Keynes. He has forthcoming exhibitions in London and Switzerland.

Read an Excerpt

The image provided by Brutalism, an architecture of sensual extremes, is often an extraordinary and unfamiliar experience for the city explorer. There can be something thrilling about the aggressive and brash vocabulary of board-marked concrete, exposed aggregate, hard-edged brick and heavy-sectioned timber - the expressed palette which displays the truth of its materials and a disdain for the frivolous.'

Table of Contents

Introduction; Individual chapters of photography on 15 London boroughs rich in Post-War architecture; Building information; Further Reading.

Editorial Reviews

'In his new book Brutal London, Mr Phipps expounds upon his clear passion for brutalist architecture, in a collection of his own black-and-white shots of such properties as the Thamesmead development in London (where Mr Stanley Kubrick shot many scenes of his 1971 film A Clockwork Orange) and the Barbican Centre, as well as many under-appreciated properties such as Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar, Tower Hamlets, or the Cotton Gardens estate in Kennington, Lambeth. The book, arranged in boroughs with accompanying maps, functions as something of a walking guide to London's best brutalist buildings, accompanied by thoughtful notes from Mr Phipps that offer convincing, and somewhat romantic interpretations of these buildings' austere geometry and physical narratives.' Mr Porter

'Brutalism is back in vogue... Now we've come to love the iconic, it's time to explore further deeper.' Londonist

From the Publisher