Please note, you will need to book at least two weeks in advance if you would like a free exhibition introduction as part of your visit. During the summer months, there is a rather nice roof garden here too – the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden and Cafe / Bar (just look for the brightly coloured luminous yellow concrete steps going up – very easy to spot!). How to get to Royal Festival Hall As it goes, the architect behind the project, Brian Housden had gone to visit influential Dutch designer Gerrit Rietveld. It seems Housden was somewhat in awe of the Dutch master as when Rietveld asked him to see designs for his Hampstead house, Housden became shy and ashamed of his work. Built in Croydon in the 1960s when the area was fast developing as a commuter belt for London city workers, the No 1 Croydon building still stands proud and has recently undergone a multi-million pound refurbishment programme.

Brutal London: A Photographic Exploration of Post-War London

I suspect there were two failings - economic and intellectual. The first is quite simply the problem of paying for maintenance when maintenance also includes the park and garden infrastructure. The Barbican has the funds and so is close to pristine. Working class estates died with austerity. Though it might not be as well-known as Lasdun’s Brutalist masterpiece, The National Theatre, his design for the Royal College of Physicians is one you should see nonetheless.

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It was the former Camden Town Hall Annexe (and the home of the architecture department behind developments like the Alexandra Road Estate), now it’s a swish hotel. Perhaps best known to visitors from outside of London for the Barbican Centre and nearby Museum of London, the Barbican Estate itself comprises over 2,000 flats and homes and is Grade II listed. When it comes to Brutalist architecture, London is home to some of the finest examples on the planet. This is a guide to Brutalist architecture in London as well as an overview of the architectural style and its origins. Elia Mews near Angel station. Picture: Simon Phipps / Extracted from Brutal London by Simon Phipps. (Image: Archant)

BRUTAL LONDON BRUTAL LONDON

City University. Picture: Simon Phipps / Extracted from Brutal London by Simon Phipps. (Image: Archant) The intellectual failing was equally important. Architects are the most prone of all artists to pure reason because they deal with materials. They are invariably attracted, like engineers, to the ideal of humanity rather than the actuality of our chaotic species. Pure reason is a-human. Opening with an informative history of the origins and philosophy of Brutalism, the book features 9 buildings to assemble: Alexandra Road Estate, Alton Estate, Aylesbury Estate, Ledbury Estate, National Theatre, Robin Hood Gardens, Barbican Estate, Balfron Tower and Space House.Alisa Bobina was born in the ancient city of Yaroslavl , which she describes as a beautiful tiny calm oasis. It is 280 kilometres from Mosco w. She is now in her fifth year studying Architectural Design at MArchi, the Moscow Institute of Architecture Very close to neighbouring London Brutalist building The Hayward Gallery, The Royal Festival Hall was built in the early 1950s as part of the Festival of Britain.

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Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in. The Hayward Gallery building itself is best viewed from the adjoining Waterloo Bridge. How to get to Hayward Gallery In general (with a few exceptions) this was public sector architecture, fruitfully competing with the equally important Scandinavian 'social democrat' model. It died with the death of corporatist Britain, the rise of private sector Britain and the sell-off of social housing under Thatcherism. 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. Our final example of Brutalist London Architecture… 10. ‘No 1’ Brutalist Building Croydon AKA the 50p Tower Brutalism

Where To See Brutalism In London

Rooted in Modernism and evident in the work of Le Corbusier in the late 1940s, the term brutalism was first used in an architectural context by Swedish architect Hans Asplund in 1950 who discussed nybrutalism. In 1954 architectural critic Reyner Banham used the term more widely in his writings to refer to the work of English architects Alison and Peter Smithson. The couple who went on to create the iconic Hunstanton School in Norfolk and later, the Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar, East London. Their style rebelled against the more formal architecture of the 1930s and 40s. Rowley Way is clearly a success story, that is not the case for all B rutalist estates. Some have ‘ succeeded ’ and others have not, a factor is their design. At one level Brutalist buildings look really cool and monumental, with well thought out infrastructure, such as distance to local schools and amenities. However, i t’s hard to describe them visually as friendly, I’d leave that description to Finnish and Swedish contemporary housing , there’s a lot to be learnt from their designers and how their social housing estates are managed . One obvious exception is the Barbican Estate, its layout is very impressive. Russian Social Housing Hampstead isn’t all rolling heaths and quaint, cottage feels. It’s also home to a brutalist building with quite an origin story… There’s the City University building in Northampton Square, Finsbury, which was designed by Sheppard Robson and built between 1960 and 1976; Elia Mews in Islington, designed by the Greater London Council and built in the late 60s; and Quaker Court in Banner Street, Bunhill, also designed by the GLC and built at a similar time.