All hail the power of concrete architecture
‘Concrete Architecture’ surveys more than a century’s worth of the world’s most influential buildings using the material, from brutalist memorials to sculptural apartment blocks
If ever a book was designed for a coffee table, it’s this hefty volume on concrete. Pitched at the diehard brutalist who desperately wants to convert others to their cause, Concrete Architecture makes its case through a feast of black and white imagery of the very best concrete architecture from around the globe, spanning the material’s earliest usage right up to the present day.
Concrete Architecture: thrilling and divisive
Concrete can be seen as problematic, not least because its use often results in the most divisive of all architectural aesthetics, brutalism, but also because the material itself – though long-lasting and hard-wearing if mixed with sufficient care and attention – is extremely carbon intensive. Not only that, but unwanted concrete is tough and pricey to prise off the face of the earth once it’s no longer required.
That’s not a problem with any of the 300-plus projects featured within this architecture book. Although many have had ups and downs in their popularity, the pendulum of public taste has largely swung behind the preservation of even the most pugnacious of concrete structures. That said, some of the featured projects take the definition of architecture to its limits and perhaps reveal why the material could be so reviled.
We’re thinking in particular of the MP4 L’Angle Tower on the island of Alderney, a Second World War-era German fortification, designed by the Organisation Todt as part of the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands. Offensive, oppressive and malignant, it also retains a dark sculptural power, something that architects in the decades that followed sought to parlay into buildings that served progressive society, not fought against it.
Hence concrete became beloved of ecclesiastical architects, as well as the designers of concert halls and apartment buildings, monuments, bridges, libraries, schools, hospitals and offices.
Some of the best-known architects of the modern era shaped their reputations in concrete; it remains the preeminent component of infrastructure projects around the world.
Nevertheless, its detractors point to its environmental impact and divisive aesthetic, perhaps having never managed to shake off the brutalist association with the bunker. Concrete Architecture is perhaps the best chance you'll get to try and change their mind.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
'Concrete Architecture,' Phaidon Editors, with Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin, Phaidon, £59.95
Phaidon.com, also available from Amazon
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
Openhagen’s elegant projector splices modern design with high-definition tech
Danish maker Openhagen’s LightBoks brings wood and warmth to the multimedia projector market, proposing a device that looks just as good when it’s not in use
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Stay in Paradis, a heavenly new ‘curated apartment’ on the Belgian coast
The vibrant Belgian harbour town of Ostende is now home to an art and design-filled holiday apartment by local agency Club Paradis
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
A Bali house balances the island’s rhythms, traditions and culture
In this Bali house, a highly collaborative, culture-led approach forms the foundations for a pitch-perfect holiday retreat, designed for a Scandinavian family
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Dive into these new architecture books: Spring 2024's reading
The Wallpaper* guide to the new architecture books for Spring 2024 - from meaty monographs to themed explorations and lots of immersive visuals
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘Brutalist Plants’ is a new monograph capturing the best of eco-brutalism
'Brutalist Plants,' the new book by Olivia Broome, captures concrete architecture engulfed with nature
By Tianna Williams Published
-
California houses: the allure of their progressive, expressive architecture
Michael Webb’s new book, ‘California Houses: Creativity in Context’, assembles 36 contemporary homes that showcase the state’s reputation as a haven for progressive residential design
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
‘Atlas of Never Built Architecture’ delves into unrealised architectural ambition
Unrealised grand plans are chronicled in ‘Atlas of Never Built Architecture’, Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin’s monumental new Phaidon monograph, which collates 300 architectural projects lost to the mists of time
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Three Object Apartment embraces raw concrete honesty in the heart of Athens
Three Object Apartment by DeMachinas is a raw concrete home in Athens, which confidently celebrates its modernist bones
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Marcio Kogan’s Studio MK27 celebrated in this new monograph from Rizzoli
‘The Architecture of Studio MK27. Lights, camera, action’ is a richly illustrated journey through the evolution of this famed Brazilian architecture studio
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Louis Kahn's modernist mastermind celebrated through new collaborations
The legacy of modernist architect Louis Kahn lives on to inspire a new generation, thanks to collaborations with family and fans
By Marina Cashdan Published
-
‘Interior sculptor’ Christophe Gevers’ oeuvre is celebrated in new book
‘Christophe Gevers’ is a sleek monograph dedicated to the Belgian's life work as an interior architect, designer, sculptor and inventor, with unseen photography by Jean-Pierre Gabriel
By Tianna Williams Published