SOS Brutalismus

SOS Brutalism documents the eponymous international campaign to protect and preserve brutalist architecture, initiated by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum DAM (German Museum of Architecture) in Frankfurt and the Wüstenrot Foundation. Since the 1950s, eminent architects around the world have realized buildings expressing an uncompromising attitude. Predominantly, yet not exclusively, they used exposed concrete, or “béton brut” (hence the term brutalism), for the construction. Today, many of these always controversially discussed buildings are in danger of demolition or, at least, of reconstruction that often may change their appearance beyond recognition. Using the hashtag #SOSBrutalism, a movement to prevent the loss of this significant global heritage of 20th-century architecture has been active for a number of years, mainly in the internet, and has carried out a vast research project.

This resulted in a global survey of brutalist architecture of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, presented in this uniquely comprehensive volume. Some 100 contributors document around 120 key buildings from this period, including many previously unpublished discoveries that are in acute danger of loss through neglect or intended demolition. Moreover, the book features overviews of brutalism in twelve regions around the world. Case studies of hotspots such as the Macedonian capital Skopje or New Haven, Connecticut, and essays on the history and theory of brutalism round out this lavishly illustrated book. The supplementing booklet collects papers of an international symposium on brutalism in architecture held in Berlin in 2012.