Brutal North
'Captures the most aspirational and enlightened architecture of the north's postwar years' Guardian
During the post-war years the North of England saw the building of some of the most successful modernist architecture in the world. For the first time, a single photographic book captures those buildings, in all their power and progressive ambition.
Over the years, acclaimed photographer Simon Phipps has travelled and sought out the publicly commissioned architecture of the post-war North. Buildings include: Newcastle's Byker Wall Estate (voted the best neighbourhood in the UK), the extraordinary Park Hill Estate in Sheffield, Preston's sweeping bus station, Liverpool's Royal Insurance Building and much more. These structures have seen off threats to their survival and are rightly celebrated for the imprint they leave upon the skyline and the cultural life of their cities.
This inspiring invitation to explore northern modernism includes maps and detailed information about all the architecture photographed.
Simon Phipps, born in Leeds, is an artist based in London. He is a graduate in sculpture from the Royal College of Art and a renowned photographer of post-war modernist architecture. He is the author of the books: Brutal London, Finding Brutalism, Concrete Poetry: Post-War Modernist Public Art, Brutal North, Brutal Outer London and Brutal Wales/Cymru Friwtalaidd. Finding Brutalism was a winner of the 2018 DAM Architectural Book Award and Brutal London was a finalist for the British Book and Production Awards 2017. @new_brutalism