Talk

How To Love Brutalism

by John Grindrod

It’s time to fall in love with Brutalism. 

In 1948 Le Corbusier chose not to clad the béton brut, or raw concrete his Unite d’habitation was made from, and a new architectural style was born. 70 years on, brutalism, typified by buildings such as the Trellick Tower and The National Theatre in London, remains controversial and divides opinion.

In How to Love Brutalism, John Grindrod shares his fascination for this strange and beguiling style of architecture and explores what it is that makes brutalism worthy of such passions. With never-ending enthusiasm, he takes the reader through the different elements that make brutalism so special: its history and ideals, design and construction; the culture that surrounds it and its global impact; its brief flowering, sudden death and strange afterlife.

Come along as we travel to find hidden brutalist gems around the world, searching out the ruins and the lost brutes. Look beyond the concrete to get to the nitty-gritty – the people behind the buildings, adventures in town planning, and the unlikely fetishization of concrete.

Whether you love Brutalism or are yet to be converted, John Grindrod brings humour, insight and honesty to the subject. 

John Grindrod is the author of Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt and Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain. He has written for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Financial Times, Big Issue and The Modernist. He runs the popular website dirtymodernscoundrel.com and can be found Tweeting at @Grindrod.

How to Love Brutalism is published by Batsford.

Tickets: £4 full / £3 modernists & concs

When: Wednesday 30th May 2018 at 6.30pm

Venue: OGS Works (Old Granada Studios) ***NB entrance via the Security Lodge on Quay Street.***

This is a ticketed event - please book your place online beforehand. (n.b. physical tickets will not be issued.)