New book celebrates some of London's most iconic Brutalist buildings

London's South Bank is home to some of the most celebrated concrete buildings in the UK and a new book by architecture and design expert, Dominic Bradbury offers a unique insight into their history and construction. This area has been evolving since the 1951 Festival of Britain catapulted it onto the scene, with renowned architects and designers helping to shape this space throughout the mid-century and beyond. 

The book South Bank: Architecture & Design is the first comprehensive overview about the architecture and design of this iconic complex as one of London's epicentres of art and entertainment with in-depth insight into the Royal Festival Hall, the Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Purcell Room, the National Film Theatre/BFI and the National Theatre. There is a dedicated chapter for each iconic building focusing on its context and design. Images taken by interiors and architectural photographer Rachael Smith accompany the text. 

Readers can learn about how architect Norman Engleback's design for the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Purcell Room was inspired by his visit to Pier Luigi Nervi’s Flaminio Stadium in Rome designed for the 1960 Olympic Games and featuring its use of reinforced concrete. A detailed history of the The Hayward Gallery tells how it was constructed by a team of around 250 at the peak of the project who worked with a combination of pre-cast concrete elements and board-marked concrete poured in situ. Of The Hayward Gallery, Bradbury writes: "the use of concrete mushroom columns to support parts of the buildings and the walkways was challenging in itself, yet there were also many other sculptural elements such as spiral staircases that also needed to be constructed using cast concrete."

South Bank: Architecture & Design is published by Batsford and will be available on 10 October 2024 with a RRP £40.