Brutal London | Zupagrafika

posted by Alice Harrison October 21, 2016

A tactile exploration into London’s post war Brutalist architecture manifests within Zupagrafika’s Brutal London, a collection of illustrated paper cut-out models representing the various Brutalist buildings scattered around the districts of Camden, Southwark and Tower Hamlet. Originally released in early 2015 as a follow on from the Warsaw inspired Eastern Block, Brutal London has been translated into a book entitled Brutal London: Construct Your Own Concrete Capital, allowing readers the opportunity to construct a series of London’s most intriguing and controversial concrete structures while educating themselves on the city’s architectural history.

Initially opening with an informative history of the philosophy and origins of Brutalism, the book features a foreword by Norman Foster and explores the significance of these buildings, accompanied by texts from author of Concretopia, John Grindrod and photography from Peter Chadwick, author of This Brutal World.

The book features 9 buildings to assemble: Alexandra Road Estate, Alton Estate, Aylesbury Estate, Ledbury Estate, National Theatre, Robin Hood Gardens, Barbican Estate, Balfron Tower and Space House. Readers are able to both detach and construct iconic structures, created from 100% recycled paper and cardboard.

Brutal London: Construct Your Own Concrete Capital is based upon the original Brutal London, first designed and published by Zupagrafika, the Hispano-Polish creative design studio founded by David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka. The studio beautifully evokes their passion for Polish industrial design and celebrates their admiration for architecture, typography and paper through their extensive body of intriguing creations.

Brutal London: Construct Your Own Concrete Capital is published by Prestel and available for preorder from Amazon. Where as Brutal London, the illustrated cut-out collection is available from the Zupamarket here.