#concrete

#concrete

Brutalism once suggested stark, monumental forms, with raw concrete presented in uncompromising honesty. Today, that legacy is evolving into a softer interior design language: Soft Brutalism. Rather than a contradiction, it becomes a thoughtful fusion where concrete is shaped into gentler, more human-centered forms. This shift responds to a culture saturated with disposable design and offers a return to authenticity, weight, and permanence.

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.

"Designing concrete formulas is a complex, multi-objective problem. The designer must choose between various types and proportions of cement, lower-carbon supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), water-to-binder ratios, coarse and fine aggregate types, and admixtures."