How To Love Brutalism

April 2018 I have a new book published. How To Love Brutalism is published by Batsford, and is illustrated by the brilliant Brutal Artist.





Here's what the publisher says:

A passionate and personal book about the writer’s own love for a controversial architectural style.

Whether you love or hate brutalist buildings, this book will explain what it is about them that elicits such strong feeling. You will understand the true power of concrete and of mammoth-sized buildings, but also some of the more subtle aspects of brutalist buildings that you may not have known or considered.

Brutalist architecture, which flourished in the 1950s to mid-1970s, gained its name from the term ‘ Béton-brut’, or raw concrete – the material of choice for the movement. British architectural critic Reyner Banham adapted the term into ‘brutalism’ (originally ‘New Brutalism’) to identify the emerging style. The architectural style – typified by buildings such as Trellick Tower in London and Unité D’Habitation in Marseille – is controversial but has an enthusiastic fan base, including the author who is on a mission to explain his passion.
John Grindrod’s book will be enlightening for those new to the subject, bringing humour, insight and honesty to the subject but will also interest those already immersed in built culture. Illustrated with striking drawings by The Brutal Artist, the book is divided up into a series of mini essays that explains the brutalist world from a human aspect, as well as an architectural, historical and even pop cultural angle.

The book journeys from the UK to discover brutalism and its influence around the world – from Le Corbusier’s designs in Chandigarh, India, to Lina Bo Bardi’s buildings in Brazil.

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You can buy the book from your local bookshop, or order it online:

Waterstones  |  Foyles  |  Hive  |  Amazon

One of the things I'm most excited about with this book is of being part of an architectural series published by Batsford going back to the 1930s. Here's my copy of How To Look At Old Buildings by Edmund Vale from 1946 (the first edition was 1940).


It's my third book, after Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain (2013) and Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt (2017).


Look out for events here.

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