#architectural guide

London quite literally was the epicenter of Brutalism: it was here that “New Brutalism” was coined by critic Reyner Banham in a 1955 article for the „Architectural Review“ and the Independent Group, whose work greatly influenced Brutalist architects, had its significant exhibitions. In the two decades following Banham’s article, a number of architects both in the public and private sectors realized their visions within the incredibly heterogeneous fabric of the British capital: housing developments, public and cultural institutions, university buildings but also occasional single-family homes sprung up in the city’s different boroughs. Today the remainders stand as hints to an era of optimism, social-democratic spirit and great architectural expression.

In his recently published guide „Brutalist London“ architectural historian Owen Hopkins (who also fairly recently published the tome „The Brutalists“) highlights well and lesser-known examples of Brutalist architecture in London, 58 in total: they include icons like Balfron and Trellick Tower, Denys Lasdun’s National Theatre and College of Education or Barbican Estate. But as Hopkins notices in his introduction in London Brutalist buildings often appear out of nowhere behind the next corner, interwoven with the urban fabric. One such example is Brian Housden’s own home, a stunning amalgamation of Brutalism infused with borrowings from Aldo van Eyck and Gerrit Rietveld. Prior to designing the house Housden and his wife had studied their work on a trip to the Netherlands and conceived the house as a series of interlocking planes and volumes. Another, and equally stunning, example of a hidden Brutalist gem is Salters’ Hall, the home of the old merchant guild associated with salt trade: designed by Basil Spence the building is composed of interlocking horizontal and vertical forms, heavily glazed and block-like concrete zones. 

From Soviet monumentalism to mosques, take a peek inside the first architectural guide to Chechnya and the North Caucasus

Saint George the Dragon Slayer Monument built in 1995 in Tamisk (Ossetia). Saint George is locally knows as Uastyrdzhi. The project of sculptor Nikolai Khodov, it was produced as a gift to the people of Ossetia. Today it is the largest equestrian monument in the world. Historically, this was where travellers once stopped and asked for help from higher powers; so the sanctuary of Uastyrdzhi Nykhasa was created.

That the contribution of women to modern architecture has long been neglected and even purposefully downplayed, luckily, is a commonplace that in recent years has been tackled by women in the profession as well as architectural historians. One of the former is Sofie van Brunschot, a young Dutch architect, who already during her studies in architecture wondered why there are so few female role models. In order to increase the visibility of women architects of the past but also in the present, Van Brunschot launched the website „Gebouwen door Vrouwen“, an interactive map and database focused exclusively on buildings by women. Alongside the website, Van Brunschot together with Laurence Ostyn, Catja Edens, Erica Smeets-Klokgieters and photographer Loes van Duijvendijk edited the handy architectural guide „Gebouwen door Vrouwen / Buildings by Women: Rotterdam“ which has recently been published by nai010 publishers. The guide includes 50 projects by women all over Rotterdam and thus makes visible their contribution to the overall architecture of the city. The projects covered in the guide include the well-known Markthal, designed Renske van der Stoep at MVRDV, the De Rotterdam high-rise by Ellen van Loon, Rem Koolhaas and Reinier de Graaf of OMA as well as the urban plan of De Kop van Zuid by Riek Bakker. But of course there is a lot more to discover: for example the expressive Gouverneblok by Catherine Visser of DaF-architecten, completed in 2022, or the Vroesenpaviljoen at Vroesenpark in the Blijdorp neighborhood designed by Arzu Ayikgezmez of Vitibuck, a modest yet ingenious wooden structure completed in 2015. From decades earlier date Luzia and Enrico Hartsuyker-Curjel’s Woondok (1986), a residential complex offering flexible floor plans for families, and Will Jansen’s RVS-flat, Rotterdam’s first apartment building for single working women completed in 1958. In between the projects the guide’s authors also highlight exemplary biographies of women architects, among them Nathalie de Vries of MVRDV, Lotte Stam-Beese and Francine Houben of Mecanoo, each of them a pioneer of the profession in their own right.

Literally for decades Adam Štěch aka @okolo_architecture has traveled the world to document modernist architecture and interiors, a constant hunt that unearthed countless gems that otherwise would likely have gone unnoticed. Štěch has visited roughly 50 countries and explored some 10,000 buildings, interiors, bars, museums etc. etc., an impressive itinerary that he frequently shares on Instagram but also as frequent contributor to magazines like Wallpaper and World of Interiors.

Due to his expertise people frequently hit him up with questions regarding what to go and see in city xyz, questions that, at least to some degree, are answered in Štěch‘s latest publication: the „Modernist Travel Guide“, recently published by Sight Unseen, collects some 400 must-see examples of buildings and interiors in 30 cities, among them Antwerp, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Rotterdam, San Francisco, São Paulo and Zurich. Each entry features a photograph, a brief text and the respective entry’s address as well as information on whether it is accessible or if it can only be viewed from the street.

Thanks to Štěch‘s in-depth knowledge of modernist architecture around the world the guide of course contains well-known, not to be missed buildings like Alvar Aalto’s own house in Helsinki, the Sheats-Goldstein Residence in Los Angeles by John Lautner or J.J.P. Oud’s the Café De Unie in Rotterdam but predominantly hidden gems. These include the stunning Edificio Colón in Barcelona, Georg Kolbe Museum in Berlin or the Edificio Bretagne in São Paulo, each of them brilliant examples of their city’s architecture and certainly not on the average tourist’s list of sites to visit.

The City of Almere is a phenomenon: founded in 1975 on reclaimed land it was modeled after the garden city ideals of Ebenezer Howard and originally consisted of 70-80% social housing. Over the course of five decades Almere has grown considerably both in terms of population and districts: today more than 250,000 people live in the six city cores surrounded by water and greens. In line with the city’s testing ground character its architectural image wasn’t left to chance but involved numerous well-known architects from the Netherlands and abroad, among them Rem Koolhaas, Christian de Portzamparc, SANAA and MVRDV.

In view of this impressive roster and the special position Almere holds in Dutch urbanism it is hardly surprising that the latest volume in the ongoing series of architectural guides published by nai010 publishers is dedicated to it: „Almere Architecture City - The 100 best buildings“ by Ans van Berkum and Odette Breijinck collects the city’s most remarkable buildings, paired with insightful texts accompanying each building as well as brief essays about its history, the great amount of Land Art in the city are or the impressive bridges spanning the many waters of Almere. In addition, all buildings are marked on a handy map.

Among Almere’s many interesting quarters and neighborhoods one stands out as particularly important and groundbreaking: talk is of „De Fantasie“, a neighborhood initiated by Almerians dissatisfied with the generic buildings practice of the city’s first building phase. In 1982 they formed the „De Fantasie Committee“ and hosted a competition for temporary houses under the title „Unusual Living“. One of the best known results of the competition was Benthem Crouwel’s green „Hard Glass“, an internationally received house made from prefab board material that put Almere on the map of architourists. At the same time, it was a catalyst of change in the city’s building practice and stands synonymous for Almere’s consecutive transformation into a hotbed for ambitious architecture.

After the initial reconstruction efforts of the 1950s and 1960s, the 1970s offered a great degree of freedom to architects in Germany: plannings kept in the drawers finally had a chance of realization and projects in general gained complexity. In Mainz, the capital of Rhineland-Palatine, architects and urban planners also faced big challenges: the incorporation of six communities significantly expanded the urban area and resulted in the designation of new commercial and residential areas. And also Mainz’s historical center, badly hit during the Second World War, somewhat luckily only by the 1970s received attention from monument conservators and city administration. As a result historic buildings were renovated one by one and didn’t fall victim to the commonly applied area rehabilitation.

This melange forms the backdrop for Die Betonisten’s second Mainz architectural guide, recently published by Morisel: „Mainz 1970-2000: Das Neue Selbstverständnis in der Architektur“ takes on those decades and buildings that currently have a hard time being accepted as worthy of protection. But the authors really show that each of the decades covered has its very own high points that tell of the different reference points and ambitions inscribed in the buildings: large-scale housing projects like the ones at Elsa-Brandström-Straße or Römerquelle are examples of a new scale and complexity in housing that is characteristic of the late 1960s and the 1970s.

From the same period dates the Erbacher Hof, an even more complex building by architect Lothar Willius in the proximity of the cathedral: used as conference center and guest house of the Mainz diocese it had to accommodate a wide number of requirements in a historic surrounding. Its organically shaped, layered volumes engendered criticism but the complex perspectives it opens to the historical center and its successful connection of present and past deserves applause.

In retrospect the 2000s seem like a succession of crises: greeted with optimism and high expectations the new millennium already in 2001 was deeply shaken by the 9/11 terrorist attacks and seen out by the global financial crisis. Accordingly the „Time“ magazine named it „The Decade from Hell“.

As Germany’s financial center Frankfurt am Main naturally is a seismograph for the repercussions of global shocks and especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis had to cope with a diminishing communal prosperity. At the same time the overall population grew by 30,000 during the decade, a circumstance that necessitated additional living spaces for an overall rejuvenating population. As a result the building sum for housing by the end of the decade was twice as high as that for office buildings and in addition created backlog demand for infrastructural projects like schools and daycare centers. Interestingly, Frankfurt in 2004/05 introduced instruments to secure architectural quality, namely a building consultancy and a centralized application acceptance.

That these instruments proved themselves documents the latest edition of Wilhelm Opatz’s architectural guide „Architekturführer Frankfurt 2000-2009“, recently published by Junius Verlag: the editor chose ten exemplary buildings (plus a selection of „bonus“ buildings) ranging from Esther Hagenlocher’s „House L“ (2000) over Nicholas Grimshaw’s exceptional „Messehalle 3“ (2001) and David Chipperfield’s „The Frankfurt House“ (2002) to Roland Hagmüller’s „The Seven Swans“ (2008). That the documentation of the buildings even for a local can become an insurmountable hurdle proves Christoph Mäckler’s „Portikus“ exhibition hall: instead of photographs by Opatz’s trusted collaborator Georg Dörr the reader is presented with the architect’s sketchbook documenting the genesis of Mäckler’s design and his analysis of historic forms.

Over the course of more than 50 years Friedrich Achleitner (1930-2019) systematically evaluated 20th century architecture in all of Austria’s federal states except for one: Niederösterreich. Being the largest of the nine states it posed a real challenge that Achleitner was only able to tackle fragmentarily. This circumstance motivated Dietmar Steiner (1951-2020), founding director of the Architekturzentrum Wien and custodian of Achleitner’s archive, in 2018 to initiate a guide to 20th century architecture in Niederösterreich. Based on Achleitner’s preliminary work Steiner et al. pursued the goal of making a guide in the spirit of Achleitner but with a contemporary twist. The result is “Architektur in Niederösterreich im 20. Jahrhundert nach Friedrich Achleitner”, published recently by Birkhäuser and edited by Doris Grandits, Theresa Knosp and Caroline Jäger-Kleine: the guide on more than 600 pages collects about 2,300 buildings and thus offers a comprehensive overview of 20th century architecture in Niederösterreich. Topographically and typologically organized it also marks the buildings researched by Achleitner and those added by the editors. Accordingly Achleitner’s buildings are presented in his own black-and-white photographs while all others are in full color. Otherwise the entries follow the example of the previous editions: as Doris Grandits and Theresa Knosp explain in their essay, Achleitner by means of longer or shorter texts marks more or less important buildings, provides context and establishes relationships between neighboring buildings and typologies. With a precise and poignant language Achleitner the man of letters brings home the aspiration of the guide to be more than a guide. The sheer amount of buildings covered is one indicator but language and effort also demonstrate the outstanding and in its thoroughness unrivaled character of Achleitner’s work.