"Brutalist Berlin, published by Blue Crow Media, is an architectural guidebook devoted to the raw materiality and social ambition of Berlin's postwar concrete structures. Written and photographed by architectural historian Dr. Felix Torkar, the volume documents more than fifty sites across the city - from housing estates and cultural institutions to infrastructural landmarks - and situates them within the political and cultural framework of Germany's Cold War reconstruction."
"Each building in Blue Crow Media's Brutalist Berlin is examined through both a visual and spatial lens. The monumental Mäusebunker, with its cantilevered concrete fins and gridded facade, appears almost defensive in its precision. By contrast, the Pallasseum housing complex, an elevated slab of dwellings straddling remnants of the Berlin Wall, reads as a social experiment in vertical living. Together they embody the tension between endurance and adaptation that defines the city's urban identity."
More than fifty postwar concrete structures across Berlin are documented, ranging from housing estates and cultural institutions to infrastructural landmarks, and situated within Germany's Cold War reconstruction. The buildings combine raw materiality with social ambition, reflecting a design language that is simultaneously pragmatic and expressive. Iconic examples include the Mäusebunker with cantilevered concrete fins and the Pallasseum, an elevated slab of dwellings that functions as a social experiment in vertical living. Photographs treat concrete as a living surface, revealing pitting, stains, and the warmth of light on coarse formwork. Material and formal contrasts highlight the tension between endurance and adaptation that define Berlin's urban identity.
Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine
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