Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
The Atlas of Brutalism
Revelatory images of a maligned architectural movement, whose democratic intent has transformed the public space
Rozzol Melara, Carlo Celli, Trieste, Italy 1982

“BRUTALISM” — the greatest misnomer in cultural vocabulary today — is in fact quite the opposite. An architecture of care, it embraces humanism, solidarity and unbridled imagination and by definition is participatory, aspirational and inherently democratic.

It hasn’t always succeeded aesthetically but as an endeavour it has had universal appeal for decades.

rand Central Water Tower, GAPP Architects & Urban Designers, Midrand, South Afica, 1996 and (right) Reading Pavilion, Jinhua Architecture Park by Herzog & de Meuron, Jinhua, China, 2006
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
tanner
Meet the Cartoonist / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025

Strip cartoons used to be the bread and butter of newspapers and they have been around for centuries. MICHAL BONCZA asks our own Paul Tanner about which bees are in his bonnet

MB
Album reviews / 23 June 2025
23 June 2025

New releases from Hannah Rose Platt, Kemp Harris, and Spear Of Destiny

Cartoons: (L to R) Citizen Chicane and Songi
Culture / 23 December 2024
23 December 2024
(L to R) the book cover; Labour Party election poster 1945;
Books / 3 December 2024
3 December 2024
MICHAL BONCZA recommends a compact volume that charts the art of propagating ideas across the 20th century
Similar stories
The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
RESILIENCE: (Right) Stand Up To Racism protest on October 26
Features / 31 December 2024
31 December 2024
The Morning Star sorts the good eggs from the rotten scoundrels of the year
Aboubakar Traore
Global Routes / 2 December 2024
2 December 2024
Two new releases from Burkina Faso and Niger, one from French-based Afro Latin The Bongo Hop, and rare Mexican bootlegs
COMFORT FOR THE MANY: Our vote (not that we have one) goes t
Opinion / 20 August 2024
20 August 2024
While applauding the emphasis on re-use, ROBERT GROVER examines the elitist bias of the prize towards south-east England