Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain

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John Grindrod: Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain (Paperback, 2013, Old Street Publishing Ltd)

Paperback, 440 pages

English language

Published July 7, 2013 by Old Street Publishing Ltd.

ISBN:
978-1-908699-89-3
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5 stars (2 reviews)

Tower blocks. Flyovers. Streets in the sky. Once. This was the future.

How did 'austerity Britain' become a space-age world of concrete, steel and glass? John Grindrod set out from his home town of Croydon on a journey around the country to find out. Along the way he visited new towns, blitzed cities, high-rise flats and shopping centres, and met the people who built and lived the postwar dream.

2 editions

reviewed Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain by John Grindrod

Concretopia A Journey Around The Rebuilding Of Postwar Britain by John Grindrod

4 stars

An enoyable non-fiction read on a subject - the postwar rebuilding of homes in Britain - that does not immediately suggest that it would be so engaging. As I read I was struck by how many of the places of my life - Cwmbran, Hemel Hempstead, Plymouth, Milton Keynes, etc. - featured in the book, but if you are interested in mid-century modern design, brutalism, etc. then there's something here for you even if you don't know these places.

I'd score it 4 out of 5, it misses out on a higher score for the (frankly lazy) mistake of stating Cwmbran's location as being "between Cardiff and Newport", a 30 second look on Google maps would've shown this as nonsense.

avatar for Christopowers

rated it

5 stars

Subjects

  • Brutalism (Architecture)
  • Architecture
  • History
  • Architecture and society
  • New towns
  • World War, 1939-1945
  • Influence