Description
These buildings were constructed in the dynamic, socially motivated period of post-war architecture, and have since been repurposed, pulled down or left to decay. But others still serve their community. Their impact is beautifully and boldly visible in Brutal Scotland by Simon Phipps.
From the Post Office of Inverness to the Gala Fairydean Rovers Football Club stand in Galashiels, these stadiums, homes, leisure centres, fire stations, churches and libraries were built for a nation in flux in which their architects envisioned a new era of opportunity.
Although their popularity may have declined, recent decades have seen a new recognition of the talent and epochal spirit that created lecture halls and banks with equal emphasis on form, utility and function.
‘Impelled by ambitions of nation-building, Scotland’s outstanding cache of Brutalist buildings gave shape to how people lived, worked, studied, shopped, worshipped and spent their leisure time.’
Catherine Slessor, from the Introduction
‘The future once lived here; now it’s damp, derelict and endangered. These buildings were never just about concrete and form – they were about ideas, about society, about a future that people believed they could shape. Scotland’s post-war architecture still tells that story, but you have to be willing to look past the neglect.’
Simon Phipps, from the Afterword
Binding: Hardback | Dimensions: 240 x 180 mm | Extent: 256 pages | Number of photographs: 200+
Regions/cities in Brutal Scotland by Simon Phipps:
- HIGHLANDS & NORTH: Aberdeen, Dundee, Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Inverness, Kirkcaldy, St Andrews
- CENTRAL BELT: Cardross, Coatbridge, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Edinburgh, Erskine, Glasgow, Greenock, Hamilton, Linlithgow, Livingston, Motherwell, Musselburgh, Paisley, Prestonpans, Stirling
- LOWLANDS & BORDERS: Ayr, Borders & Lothian, Irvine, Kilmarnock
