Brutalist London Map

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Perfect for a walking tour or framing, this map is printed on Cyclus Offset 140 gsm, measures 420mm x 600mm (slightly larger than A2) open and folds down to 210mm x 150mm (slightly larger than A5). The map is protected by a wide band. Although presented as ideal for walking tours, Brutalist London is dispersed enough to make the treks between buildings daunting for even the avid urban explorer’ As such, things like lift shafts, ventilation ducts, staircases – even boiler rooms, were integrated into the fabric of the building in ways that celebrated them as distinct features rather than hidden away. The Brutalist London map may propagate a landmark approach to the city, but it has a clear pedagogical potential

Daily updates on the latest design and architecture vacancies advertised on Dezeen Jobs. Plus occasional news. Dezeen Jobs Weekly Churchill Gardens; Anson House (constructed 1952-1957/phase III) (left) and Moyle House (constructed 1957-1962/phase IV) (right) Hayward Gallery For fans all all things concrete comes this map of London’s most famous Brutalist buildings. Created by Blue Crow Media (see also their craft beer and cycling maps, it is the first in a new series of map-based guides to London architecture, focusing on the modern 1950s/60s “raw” concrete-heavy designs by Le Corbusier and others of the post-war architectural phase.Brutalism challenged traditional notions of what a building should look like by showing its construction and not disguising materials," said the organisation. "Most were built from concrete which was functional and affordable – important factors as Britain was rebuilt after 1945." Barbican Centre– photograph by Simon Phipps The Southbank Centre has been controversial since it opened, much loved and much maligned. Likened to a ‘nuclear power station’ by Prince Charles, it is a vast concrete structure with tiered volumes that step down towards the Thames. The neighbouring National Theatre, with its monumental inner volumes, houses three theatre stages, as well as interior communal spaces that Lasdun described as his ‘fourth theatre.’ It is surrounded by several generous public terraces. Designed by Richard Seifert and completed in 1966 it was described by the Royal Fine Art Commision as having an ‘elegance worthy of a Wren steeple’. Note how the gentle v-shaped window mullions soften and add interest to this slender, Massive period tour de force. News from Dezeen Events Guide, a listings guide covering the leading design-related events taking place around the world. Plus occasional updates. Dezeen Awards China Calder’s distinctive approach is a combination of scholarliness with personal association. He is good on detail and such things as the role of cheap energy in making brutalism (badly insulated, and often requiring air conditioning and lifts) possible. The personal element comes when he favours buildings in places where his academic career has taken him, such as Glasgow and Cambridge. It makes for a readable, informative, if sometimes eccentric, account. There is not all that much on Peter Smithson and his wife Alison, who were at the core of brutalism. There is quite a lot on Denys Lasdun, architect of the National Theatre, a favourite of Calder’s (and mine) but who didn’t like the term brutalist and didn’t think himself one. He makes a remarkable, if small, discovery of Hermit’s Castle, a miniature fortified-looking refuge on the remote north-west coast of Scotland, built by the young architect David Scott with his own hands, using beach sand for the concrete.

In the United States from 1962 to 1976 Brutalism was a popular style, employed not only for academic buildings but also for libraries, government buildings, churches, and corporate headquarters: particularly those of scientific and technology companies. Several well-known international architects were commissioned to design buildings in East Coast cities, as evidenced by Le Corbusier's role, alongside Oscar Niemeyer, Wallace Harrison, and Max Abramovitz, in designing the Headquarters of the United Nations (1948-1952) in New York City.Lasdun laid down the aesthetic foundations for the South Bank when he completed the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall almost a decade ahead of his National Theatre. It is concrete at its most diverse –a patchwork of textures and geometric forms that rise up from the river Thames. The Hayward Gallery contains five exhibition spaces and three outdoor sculpture courts. Terraces and ramps link the galleries, the uppermost of which is lit by natural light that is allowed to enter through controlled roof windows.

Occupied by the BT Group (formerly British Telecom), the cast aluminium totem pole-like sculpture in the courtyard (below left) is called the “Seven Ages of Man” and is the work of Richard Kindersley. It was commissioned by Post Office Telecommunications and unveiled in 1980. If you want to find out more about some of the buildings featured above, some good starting points include the following;Denys Lasdun’s National Theatre is a splitter. In 2001 it managed to earn places in a Radio Times poll of both the most hated and most loved buildings in Britain. Over the years, the movement has provoked strong reactions and arguments. Recently, a bid to grant listing status to the Brutalist Robin Hood Gardens estate in east London failed and the local MP called for it to be "brought down ASAP". National Theatre – photograph by Simon Phipps The brutalist Barbican Estate is located in the City of London Square Mile and we’d recommend you arrive via Barbican Tube station.

And so, equipped with both, we embarked on our exploration to discover what this new guide might teach us. For this is a map with a mission statement, as Henrietta Billings of the Twentieth Century Society states on the reverse, ‘designed to affirm the value of these buildings and to inspire further consideration of Brutalist architecture today’. And herein lies something of a paradox between its didactic – even political – aims and its aestheticisation of London’s concrete behemoths, one that the walking tour perhaps allows us to bridge. The term ‘ Brutalism’ was first coined by the British architects Alison and Peter Smithson, and was then popularised by the architectural historian Reyner Banham in 1954. It is deriveed from ‘Béton brut’ (meaning raw concrete) and was first associated in architecture with Le Corbusier, who designed the Cite Radieuse in Marseilles in the late-1940s. After the destruction of so many buildings during WW2, there was a great need for new social housing which made the techniques used in brutalist architecture very popular in the 60s and 70s. Based on the philosophy of form following function and celebrating the materials used in construction. It is identified by extensive use of exposed, unfinished concrete and often features bold geometric forms with an abstract sculptural quality.Brutalism's most famous stylistic motif was the use of raw concrete (French "béton brut") for exterior surfaces, leaving evidence of the construction process, such as the holes and seamlines left by the setting of liquid concrete, visible on the outsides of buildings. For Brutalist architects this approach showed a truth to the textural qualities of materials, and to the labor of construction, that epitomized their socially engaged, ethics-driven approach to their work. Take the stairs upstairs from the station to the gantry that goes directly onto the estate, mooch around and then finish at the Barbican Centre station, which has brutalist style symmetrical ponds and a great place to get a drink or catch a show. It was developed from designs by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon. Intended to help boost the number of people able to actually live within the City of London and regenerate Cripplegate – an area devastated in World War II, it opened to significant acclaim in 1982. So many times was Brixton Recreation Centre nearly a failed project, it’s sort of a miracle that the building even exists today. The nearest stations are Barbican London Underground station (easy to remember!) and Liverpool Street national rail station.