Photo Essay: international Brutalist icons with independent publishers Blue Crow Media
Blue Crow Media is an independent publisher that offers arch-loving travellers handy shortcuts to some of the world’s best buildings through a series of maps that take a design-led approach to cartography. See the best uses of concrete in cities such as Tokyo, Los Angeles and Berlin; get to know the architecture, art and graphic design of civic subways from New York to Moscow; and see how Art Deco played out on both sides of the Atlantic with the far-reaching range, which is put together by academics, writers and photographers, including past photo essayist Simon Phipps. Here, we ask founder Derek Lamberton to share international Brutalist icons from the now-available 2020 Brutalist calendar.
Derek: “This is the second year we’ve published our Brutalist Calendar. I combine photographs from our latest and forthcoming architecture maps along with images of places that won’t necessarily work for one of our guides. We print a limited run on heavy recycled stock with an independent printer in East Sussex called Generation Press. The calendar is surprisingly popular – last year’s sold out, and we’ve already sold through half of our print run this year. It’s available from our website or in stores at the Barbican, National Theatre, and elsewhere. The following selection is taken from our Brutalist Calendar 2020.”
Habitat 67, Montréal, Canada, 1960-70
“This image of Habitat 67 by photographer Raphaël Thibodeau is from our Concrete Montreal Map, released recently. There’s a thoughtful article by Blake Gopnik published by the New York Times about living there as a child. He describes this “stack of children’s blocks” as “the best climbing frame of all.”
La Casa Sperimentale, Fregene, Italy, 1968-71
“I first saw French+Tye’s photographs of La Casa Sperimentale on this site earlier this year. It wasn’t easy selecting one for the calendar, as they are all so remarkable. I’m surprised so few people have properly photographed it. As is the case with a great number of buildings on our guides and calendars, it doesn’t look as if La Casa will survive intact for much longer.”
Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Washington DC, USA, 1977
“We’ve been fortunate to work with photographer Jason Woods on almost all of our North American maps. Breuer’s HHS building (as it’s more commonly known) opened the same week I was born, so I snuck this one in. The rewards in publishing aren’t glorious, so occasionally one has to come up with imaginative ways to enjoy it. That said, this is one of my favourite of Jason’s photographs, and clearly embodies his approach.”
Saints Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia, 1970-74
“Skopje is an amazing city to visit, and its compact size makes it perfect for a map. Our modernist Skopje Map features Mušič’s university campus along with more than 40 other buildings built after the devastating 1963 earthquake. Vase Amanito and the map’s editors are tireless in their attempts to raise awareness of the neglect and demise of many of these buildings. But despite this and the MoMA’s Yugoslavia exhibition last year, the future of many of these masterpieces looks grim.”
Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, UK, 1963-68
“Simon took the photographs for our first title, Brutalist London Map, published in 2015, and I’ve tried to work with him as often as possible since. He has played an enormous part in the revival of Brutalist architecture, and a fair amount of my Instagram feed appears to be attempts to replicate his style. This is a more recent photograph of the Hayward which is one of my favourite places in London. There’s a sense that the variety and originality of the architecture is well reflected in the Hayward’s exhibition choices.”
Monument to the Revolution of the People of Moslavina Podgarić, Croatia, 1967
“Jan’s Spomenik series originally brought my attention to these unique structures. Many are unbelievable sights to behold in person. This photograph in particular really captures the beauty and loneliness of their almost forgotten state. It’s a reminder of how quickly monuments to such horrific times can be lost to history.”
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Blue Crow Media’s 2020 Brutalist Calendar is out now
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