Museum of Brutalist Architecture

18/02/2026

📣 Matthew Dransfield, author and photographers’ works are captured across several media platforms including books and his Instagram BRUTAL BASIL. Matthew is a celebrated expert on brutalist architecture with a special interest in the works of Sir Basil Spence and Peter Womersley.

📣 This exhibition focuses on the work of Peter Womersley (1923-1993) who occupies a distinctive and yet quietly radical position within post-war British architecture. Born in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, and trained at the Architectural Association in London, Dransfield observes that ‘Womersley absorbed the principles of European modernism before choosing to practise largely in the Scottish Borders. Working far from the metropolitan centres of architectural culture, Womersley developed an architecture rooted in place, material honesty and everyday use. His body of work is recognised as one of the most compelling regional expressions of British brutalism.’

Visit the digital exhibition [CLICK BIO 👆🏼] to read more about the work of Peter Womersley as captured by Matthew Dransfield with photography of several seminal brutalist buildings including: Bernat Klein Studio, Dingleton Boiler House, Gala Fairydean, Scottish borders HQ and Western Hospital.

📷 PHOTOGRAPHY AND DIGTAL EXHIBITION CONTENT AUTHORED BY MATTHEW DRANSFIELD

❤ Matthew is a leading voice on brutalist and modernist architecture with a keen interest in Scottish design, is the author of ‘Modernist Churches of Scotland’ and has appeared in several articles and interviews for the Guardian and the BBC.

Instagram:

📣 With thanks to

10/01/2026

📸 Explore Adam Smith’s photographic journal of Eastern European Art and Sculpture.

🙌🏻 Adam’s work explores socialist structures and art across eastern Europe and is showcased on his Instagram page Eastern Bloc Aesthetic

💥 See the selected EXHIBITION images at the museumofbrutalistarchitecture.org or CLICK in BIO ☝️

Credits: Adam Smith and

22/12/2025

📣 Since completing his architectural studies in Munich and Rome, Clemens Gritl has been designing 3D computer models, reflecting, and exploring urban utopias of the 20th century.

His work focuses on the interaction between space, dimension, scale, monotony and materiality of urban megastructures and their possible impact on human beings.

The photorealistic presentation is closely aligned with 1960s architecture photography which documents a singular, unbroken optimism and the radical zeitgeist of its era. The choice to create the works in black and white, was one made to ensure the plasticity of brutalist architecture was illustrated in its truest form.

📷 The film loops show a before/after comparison of Le Corbusier’s project “Plan Voisin” - a radical urban design for Paris from 1925.

by Clemens Gritl with camerawork by Spencer MacDonald

📣 With thanks to

18/12/2025

📷 ‘The White Flats’ film was made to celebrate the work of architect, Peter Tábori, who died in February 2023. It explores the qualities of Highgate New Town Phase 1 (known as the Whittington Estate), a housing estate built for the Camden Council between 1972 and 1979, from the perspective of its residents.

Designed by Peter Tábori and Ken Adie as part of the Council’s in-house team, the estate provides 275 homes arranged in a series of south-facing, low-rise terraces, which step down Dartmouth Park Hill, and are positioned around four pedestrianised streets and a central green space.

Having lived on the estate for many years and brought up their families there, architects, Jo McCafferty (Levitt Bernstein), Rachel Stevenson (DMA) and film editor, Anna Price, wanted to showcase this 45 year old estate as an exemplar of good housing design.

❤ When they asked other residents if they would like to get involved, there was an overwhelming response, with all sorts of people offering their time and their skills. The resulting film has been created entirely by residents, who have shot it, edited it, composed the music, provided photographs and reminiscences, and starred in it. There was no budget – all resources and skills were given voluntarily by the community. It was an estate-wide collaboration, communicating the lived experience of residents of all ages and is a powerful reminder of the impact of good housing and its ability to encourage community life and neighbourliness.

📣 Authors and Credits: Producers: Jo McCafferty () and Rachel Stevenson () Camera: Anna Price and Marc Silver Music: Tara Creme Director: Anna Price

🫶🏼 Special thanks to: Tim Crocker, Jay Jones, Andrew Rae, Valeria Szegal, Mark Swenarton, Fabian Watkinson, Wood that Works, Levitt Bernstein, David Miller Architects, Martin Charles/RIBA Collections

See the film by clicking the BIO and visiting EXHBITIONS

02/12/2025

❤ The Museum of Brutalist Architecture strongly supports the statutory listing of the former Central YMCA at 112 Great Russell Street. Beyond its architectural value as a Brutalist structure built between 1971 and 1977 to the designs of Michael Mulchinock, the building represents an irreplaceable chapter of London’s cultural and social history.

📣 Right now have applied to the secretary of state Rt Hon Lisa Nandy who is considering protecting this iconic building from demolition. And we at the Museum of Brutalist Architecture are in support of this.

📚 The YMCA’s location—between Bloomsbury’s intellectual quarter and the independent, experimental scenes of Soho and Tottenham Court Road—meant that generations of young people, students, musicians, dancers, and newly arrived Londoners passed through its facilities. While the Historic England document correctly notes that its spaces accommodated everything from gyms and studios to a chapel and conference hall, the building also became a bridge between physical wellbeing, creative exploration, and urban belonging.

💡 As one of London’s few surviving Brutalist social centres, the former Central YMCA embodies a rare synthesis of architectural experimentation and lived cultural heritage. It stands not only as a record of design ambition but as a vessel of the city’s alternative, multicultural and creative life. Its protection is essential, and its listing would safeguard a rare, material trace of London’s alternative cultural heritage.

📷 Photography by with thanks also to many other organisations and voices including our friends at the who are in support of this listing and others who support repurposing rather than demolition.

01/12/2025

BARZ AND BRUTALISM

📷 A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPLORATION BY GEORGE WHALE OF SOME OF THE BRUTALIST ARCHITECTURE OF LONDON THAT HAS HAD AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE EMERGENCE AND AESTHETICS OF UK RAP AND GRIME MUSIC

This seminal work by George Whale as part of his ‘Brutal Grime and Rap’ work, documents several Brutalist estates in London that extremely important to the British underground music sub-culture, ‘grime’. These buildings are the locations where grime music was born, broadcasted, filmed, performed, and some were even the estates where some of the UK’s the most successful rap and grime artists of today grew up.

With the prospect of demolition that has been looming over numerous Brutalist estates in London over the decades, the UK grime scene has become crucial in the resurgence of the popularity of Brutalism in our present-day culture.

His photo-zine documents a few of the most interesting estates that have already made their mark in popular UK grime culture and are now an integral part of British social, and architectural, heritage and intends to persuade audiences that these are buildings which should be considered an essential part of the UK grime scene’s development, and its aesthetics. And includes several Brutalist Estates associated with UK artists.

📣 With thanks to and many more. Visit the story and see the Exhibition from our BIO

20/06/2025

EVENT: by THE LONDON SCULPTURE WORKSHOP

Join a Giles Corby in a 2 day workshop is designed to both introduce participants to the methods and processes involved in casting and moulding in plaster and concrete, whilst also encouraging the exploration of experimental mould construction and the possibilities of negative space (the mould) and positive space (the cast). There will also be small demonstrations of various forms of finishing plaster and concrete and discussions focused on where best to use each material and alternative materials and methods.


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In this 2 day workshop, students will be constructing and casting shapes, and are encouraged to experiment with different finishes.Participants will have the op

16/06/2025

EVENT: It is now over ten years since the Heygate Estate in Southwark was demolished to make way for new developments. A panel of experts will discuss what we have learnt from this controversial demolition in the context of the current housing and climate crises.

Date: 30 June 2025



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