Topics

About this talk

Visionary architecture or concrete nightmare? Make up your own mind as our expert panel leads a lively discussion unravelling brutalism’s rise, fall and future. Is it true what they say…? Is the Southbank Centre ‘Britain’s ugliest building’, as readers of the Daily Mail voted it back in 1967? Or is it a pinnacle of the ‘new brutalism’ movement, a gem encapsulating a radical architectural vision? Join us for a celebration and critique of brutalism – a style that evokes the strongest of emotions and has shaped public and private housing, cultural buildings and beyond. Taking up the concrete mantle and leading a lively discussion on what they love and hate about this moment in architecture, is author, journalist, cultural commentator and President of the Twentieth Century Society, Samira Ahmed; Eva Branscome, Professor of Architecture and Cultural Heritage at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture; John Grindrod, author of How to Love Brutalism; architectural poet Lionheart; influencer and digital creator Noris Obijiaku, known online as MrChuck (@thedesignsuite); and architectural historian and Southbank Centre governor Sandy Rattray. Using the Southbank Centre’s own Grade II-listed buildings as a starting point, our speakers cover the broad sweep of brutalism from its early 1950s beginnings until its abrupt end marked by the completion of the Barbican Centre in 1982. Our panel is asking all the big questions: Is brutalism (or ‘béton brut’ – raw concrete) brutal or beautiful? Can we love it today? Were the people who wanted to tear it down right? How do you look after brutalist buildings? Is all of brutalism grey? Why did brutalist architects dislike the term?

→ More information & booking (opens in new tab)