By Chris Guy posted on 24 Jan 2016 in Urban

I was delighted when I heard that The National Trust was organising a series of tours to celebrate post-war brutalist architecture. I love concrete buildings – not always the most popular viewpoint I know – but I believe that buildings such as these deserve to be treasured and preserved. They are a distinctive and important and part of our heritage and it is great to see the National Trust on-side in what is becoming an increasingly divided argument.

Black-and-white photo of a small group chatting beside a modern university building on a paved path with trees lining it.

Brutal Utopias Tour at the UEA

The tours on offer were at The Southbank Centre in London, Park Hill in Sheffield and The University of East Anglia in Norwich. I’d always wanted to visit the UEA and offer of a guided tour combined with a chance to visit friends in Norfolk made this my destination of choice.

The tour was great, informal, friendly and informative. We were given access to some of the interiors including the Council Chamber and the Ziggurats. Unfortunately the interior of the Teaching Wall was off-limits but we had pretty much free-rein of the rest of the site.

Wooden architectural model of stepped, terraced housing blocks and a long central building on a green base, featuring layered platforms and small tower elements.

Denys Lasdun’s original architectural model

Spacious council chamber with red carpet, curved conference tables and leather chairs around the perimeter, modern artwork on pale stone walls and recessed ceiling lighting.

The Council Chamber

The Teaching Wall

Brutalist concrete campus building with long rows of windows, a stepped walkway, trees and a distant tower beneath a clear blue sky.

The Teaching Wall

Quiet, empty urban street lined by brutalist concrete university blocks with a pedestrian skywalk bridging both sides, road markings and bollards visible.

Walkways

Sunlit concrete university block with repeating dark windows beside a raised pedestrian walkway, trees beyond and a pale sky overhead.

The Teaching Wall

Black-and-white close-up of a spiral concrete staircase descending around a central column, textured steps and a curved metal handrail forming repeating geometric patterns.

Beautifully curved Ccncrete steps

The Ziggurats

Two cyclists ride across a vast sunlit lawn beside stepped university campus buildings, a lone tree and woodland visible in the background.

Student accommodation in the Ziggurats

Stepped university campus buildings with glass-fronted balconies set behind a wide green lawn, flanked by trees under a pale blue sky.

The UEA Ziggurats

Brutalist concrete building with an elevated walkway, two people on the terrace, parked cars below and trees stretching into the distance.

Overlooking the Ziggurats

The Library

A concrete modernist university library building with rows of rectangular windows, set among mature trees and green lawns under a blue sky.

None

Concrete university building beside a wall draped in red autumn ivy, with a green lawn and trees in the foreground under a pale sky.

The UEA Library

A concrete modernist university library building with rows of rectangular windows, set among mature trees and green lawns under a blue sky.

None

The Sainsbury Centre

Modern glass-and-steel pavilion beside a wide, manicured lawn, with a glass-lined walkway leading to floor-to-ceiling windows and trees on the horizon.

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

Black-and-white photo of a small group chatting beside a modern university building on a paved path with trees lining it.

Brutal Utopias Tour at the UEA

I ❤️ Concrete Buildings

Brutalist concrete building with massive geometric block forms rising above tinted windows under a pale sky.

UEA Concrete - What's not to love?

Thanks for reading. You can view the full set of images that I shot on the visit on my Flickr stream.

Tagged with:
brutalist

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