Brutalist Berlin

Brutalist Berlin is the first title in Blue Crow Media's new series of architectural guidebooks exploring Brutalist and concrete architecture. Written and photographed by Dr Felix Torkar, the book documents more than fifty buildings across the city and places Berlin's Brutalist architecture within the political and cultural context of post-war reconstruction and the Cold War.

From the monumental Mäusebunker and Pallasseum housing complex to the minimalist St Agnes Church, Brutalist Berlin examines how ideology, material and optimism defined the city's concrete legacy. Torkar's writing and photography together offer an informed and deeply visual study of a movement that continues to shape contemporary design.

"A love letter to German concrete" and "an essential new guide for architectural tourists" - Wallpaper

"A scholarly reference" and "a concrete chronicle of the city's postwar identity" - Design Boom

"Comprehensive" and "a portrait of the city and the materials -- concrete, glass, light -- that shaped its postwar urban landscape" - Domus

"Definitive" and "in-depth" - SOS Brutalism

Dr Felix Torkar is an architectural historian based in Berlin. His research centres on Brutalist architecture and its resurgence. After earning a degree in photography, he nearly became an architectural photographer before shifting his focus to architectural history of the 20th and 21st centuries. His 2023 dissertation at the Freie Universität Berlin introduced the term 'Neobrutalism' to describe a global contemporary resurgence in raw architecture.