Corporation Square (or The Square) is externally a 'no frills' type of building, but is great in terms of spatial design. It houses many small eateries, independent shops, an indoor market and a music venue called The Ballroom – previously named The Hummingbird and also The Carling Academy.

This is the only book to thoroughly document the world's finest examples of Brutalist architecture.' – Architectural Digest Despite how much the buildings around The Rep have changed, it still remains coherent in the landscape and retains its own charm. It's something we never really think about as it's one of those buildings that are 'a part of the furniture', which is partly owed to the fact that it caters to such a diverse audience and is accessible to everyone."

Ten buildings that showcase the beauty of London's council housing

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Newcomers will discover the global influence of brutalism, that final age of civic architectural ambition; true believers can use it to prepare years of concrete–coated vacations.' – New York Times This upside-down-wedding-cake of a building appeared to defy gravity when viewed from one angle – as if it should fall forward somehow. The windows were strategically placed as strips beneath each layer, seemingly non-existent from the outside.Of course, I have to include the old Birmingham Library, which was demolished in 2016 to make way for an updated Paradise Circus.

Calder’s distinctive approach is a combination of scholarliness with personal association. He is good on detail and such things as the role of cheap energy in making brutalism (badly insulated, and often requiring air conditioning and lifts) possible. The personal element comes when he favours buildings in places where his academic career has taken him, such as Glasgow and Cambridge. It makes for a readable, informative, if sometimes eccentric, account. There is not all that much on Peter Smithson and his wife Alison, who were at the core of brutalism. There is quite a lot on Denys Lasdun, architect of the National Theatre, a favourite of Calder’s (and mine) but who didn’t like the term brutalist and didn’t think himself one. He makes a remarkable, if small, discovery of Hermit’s Castle, a miniature fortified-looking refuge on the remote north-west coast of Scotland, built by the young architect David Scott with his own hands, using beach sand for the concrete. Although there is an abundance of office spaces in central Birmingham, I think this building is just so visually striking. Another example of a spaceship-like building that transcends the traditions that came before it. Elain Harwood is a historian with Historic England, and author of Space Hope and Brutalism, England’s Post-War Listed Buildings and Art Deco Britain. She gives lectures and leads tours for the C20 Society, and has published Chamberlin, Powell and Bon in association with them, HE and the RIBA, and 100 Buildings/Houses/Churches/Landscapes, 100Years in association with Batsford. She lives in London. These buildings are also the results of migrant labour, with overlooked Irish and Indian builders bringing James Roberts' vision to life."It has been replaced by a load of tat,” says Keating, referring to the insipid mixed-use development designed by Glenn Howells, inaccurately named Paradise. “It’s all cladding and glass. It could be anywhere in the world. The city is destroying a period of our heritage that is so particular to Birmingham, for this featureless rubbish.” Birmingham: The Brutiful Years puts the spotlight on the city’s often under-appreciated post-war architecture, with striking images alongside essays on some of Birmingham’s most iconic locations, as well as some of its lesser-known modernist gems. The reason for its preservation is that it stands in the base of the Rotunda, a 25-storey cylindrical tower designed by James Roberts (he of the Ringway) in 1965. It’s one of the few buildings of the era to have been Grade II-listed, thus making it the “icon” of postwar Birmingham since the library vanished. Clad in precast concrete panels faced with white mosaic tiles, alternating with bands of aluminium windows, the tower was envisaged by Roberts as a “huge candle in the middle of Birmingham”, originally intended to have neon rings encircling each floor. In the end Calder’s main interest in the buildings is as fascinating objects of art history, updates of those churches and palaces with which he started. It makes the book an engaging and accessible guide for those drawn towards these ex-monstrosities, and for those who wonder what it’s all about. The book is made up of a collection of 22 articles written for The Birmingham Post by The Brutiful Action Group, founded by Birmingham residents Mary Keating, Jenny Marris and John Bell.

News about our Dezeen Awards China programme, including entry deadlines and announcements. Plus occasional updates. New York Times Best Art Book of 2018 - "Newcomers will discover the global influence of brutalism, that final age of civic architectural ambition; true believers can use it to prepare years of concrete-coated vacations."— The New York TimesAlthough not a definitive catalogue of all the major Brutalist creations in the world, this vast tome certainly gives it a decent shot. Though the omission of Sir Basil Spence’s Beehive in Wellington, NZ, which houses the parliament, seems like a bizarre oversight/omission. Although I got a bit of a treat at the many structures I had never set eyes on before, particularly the likes of The Freeway Park in Seattle, Vaillancourt Fountain, San Francisco, Milwaukee County War Memorial. And that was just within the continental US. Headed up with an introduction that places British brutalism within the context of global events and contemporary world architecture, the huge range of buildings is arranged into Private Houses and Flats, Public Housing, Educational Buildings, Public Buildings, Shops, Markets and Town Centres, Culture and Sport, Places of Worship, Offices and Industry and Transport, and there is a chapter on the atmospheric brutalist sculptures and murals that dot our cities. Brutalist architecture is more popular now than it has ever been. Imposing and dramatic, with monolithic concrete exteriors, it forms an enduring part of our post-war urban landscape. This beautifully photographed book is an authoritative survey of the finest British examples from the very late 1950s to the 1970s, from leading architectural writer Elain Harwood, following on from her acclaimed books on art deco and mid-century architecture.