Celebrate the angular joys of 'Brutal Scotland', a new book from Simon Phipps

Author Simon Phipps is a man obsessed. An artist, sculptor and photographer, he is also at the vanguard of brutalist architecture’s evolution from cultural bête noire to the kind of passionate obsession that smart young people put on their dating profiles. His exploration has, so far, spanned the course of no less than seven books: Finding Brutalism, Brutal London, Concrete Poetry, Brutal North, Brutal Outer London, Brutal Wales Cymru Friwtalaidd, and now Brutal Scotland.

Flick through the pages of 'Brutal Scotland'

Throughout all these tomes, Phipps has turned his often unsparing lens on the architectural heavyweights of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, finding raw beauty in their monumentality, as well as social optimism, progressive politics and the vanishing art of the abstract and obtuse in public life.

In his latest book, published by Duckworth Press, Phipps has turned his attention to Scotland’s rich and often maligned trove of Brutalist structures, or should we say, the ones that have survived demolition. In all, there are over 160 buildings in the new book, from well-known structures in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen to the more obscure and overlooked, from megastructures to modest community centres.

Some of these buildings are visibly neglected, others have been repurposed and a happy few are protected and cherished. Not all will survive, although buildings like Gillespie, Kidd & Coia’s St Peter’s Seminary near Cardross (1959–66) look set to remain as slowly decaying ruins. Overall, Phipps’s work performs a vital service, giving an overlooked architectural style a much-needed boost – some of them have never looked so good.

Brutal Scotland, Simon Phipps, £30, DuckworthBooks.co.uk