For example you can walk from the Hayward Gallery to the Southbank Market directly via a series of interconnecting landings and stairs. 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.

Brutal London: Barbican : Build Your Own Brutalist London Brutal London: Barbican : Build Your Own Brutalist London

One has to be pessimistic at so many levels. The reliance is likely to remain on a market that cannot deliver the subsidised mass solutions to the misery of homelessness and of young people not being able to start families (alongside yet more migrants making the problems worse). Brutal London by Zupagrafika is a playful journey through London´s brutalist architecture that allows the readers to construct some of the most interesting and controversial concrete structures while learning about their place in the city´s architectural history.

The Alexandra Road Estate winds alongside Camden’s railway line, a swooping swish of striking architecture and intricate design that reflects Brutalism’s utopian vision.

of the Best Brutalist Architecture in London A Walking Tour of the Best Brutalist Architecture in London

Thatcher thought that having a property stake (with the value, however, unrealisable without departure) was the solution but it was only the half of it. The new property holders needed to have the resources not only to buy their property but to maintain not only it but their community. In an interview with the Financial Times, Dr Jonathan Foyle, the chief executive of the World Monuments Fund Britain, provided interesting architectural context for Brutalist buildings: “They are very muscular and everything is perhaps bigger than it needs to be, and for that reason I feel that brutalism is a modern take on gothic architecture… Both were designed from the inside out – the purpose of the building and what happens inside is the important part – the outside is merely the envelope that wraps it up.” This piece of prime London brutalism also recently caught the attention of Grammy winner Harry Styles, with the brutalist Barbican taking a starring role in his music video for As It Was. To be fair, we always thought One Direction’s original music was also pretty Brutal. Another prime example of the grand public sector architecture that dominates London’s Brutalist scene, the structure is built around the concept of making theatre accessible to the masses. As such the large Olivier Theatre seats 1,160 people, alongside two smaller theatres that also seat significant numbers. So we haven’t actually seen this mentioned on any other Brutalist architecture London lists as such.The nearest stations are Barbican London Underground station (easy to remember!) and Liverpool Street national rail station. The cylindrical structure was once home to the CAA or Civil Aviation Authority and became Grade II listed in 2015. 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. 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. The Standard had been searching for the right building in London for many years and suddenly the stars aligned; the brutalist façade of the Camden Town Hall Annexe already looked like a Standard and was perfectly located at the center of the compass as far as London is concerned”, says Bruce Robertson, Managing Director of The Standard, London, which took over the building.

Brutalist Architecture in London Time to Discover: Brutalist Architecture in London

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. We are also about to go into another lengthy period of austerity after another even lengthier period of economic mismanagement by elites who represent that upper middle class interest before all others. If the Bank of England is to believed we face three years of zero growth.Of course, not all brutalist architecture is doomed, with some celebrated more than others. The Southbank Centre complex, including the Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Royal Festival Hall, and the adjacent National Theatre are marvels of engineering that have become icons of the city, both architecturally and culturally where they play host to numerous plays, shows and exhibitions every year. 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.