This Brutal World by by Peter Chadwick

Graphic designer Peter Chadwick’s new book is a love song to the beauty of concrete. Kashmira Gander looks at the social issues underlying the rehabilitated aesthetics

Monument Ilinden (Makedonium), Krushevo, Macedonia, 1974 by Jordan and Iskra Grabuloski.
Monument Ilinden (Makedonium), Krushevo, Macedonia, 1974 by Jordan and Iskra Grabuloski. © Jan Kempenaers

Suddenly desperate to run your hands against cold, rough concrete and skip through streets in the sky? You’re not alone. Indeed, once-hated Brutalist social-housing buildings in the UK have become some of the most sought-after addresses in Britain. In a peculiar twist, the style is no longer controversial, while the socially-progressive ideals of its architects risk being forgotten.