The term ‘brutalism’ was coined by the British architects Alison and Peter Smithson, and popularised by the architectural historian Reyner Banham in 1954. It derives from ‘Béton brut’ (raw concrete) and was first associated in architecture with Le Corbusier, who designed the Cite Radieuse in Marseilles in the late-1940s.

Brutalism has its roots in modernism but arose as a movement against the conventional architectural style. Brutalism placed an emphasis on materials, textures and construction as well as functionality and equality. The brutalist architects challenged traditional philosophies of what a building should look like, focusing on interior spaces as much as exterior.

The buildings presented in this photography series are:

• The Royal National Theatre (1976), on London's South Bank of the Thames, which is a Grade II listed building and one of the most notable examples of Brutalist design in the United Kingdom. Architect: Sir Denys Louis Lasdun.
• The Hayward Gallery (1968), an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. Architects: Hubert Bennett & Jack Whittle.

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