THE LAST DAYS OF BRUTALISM | BIRMINGHAM JUNE 2016

Watched this again the other day....

...so took Telly's advice & went to look at Birmingham. 

Unfortunately the architectural futurism Savalas enthuses about is now being torn down, to be replaced by identikit UK CITY 2.0 glass blandness across the city centre. Currently the area around the Central Library - notably described by Prince Charles as looking like "a place where books are incinerated, not kept" - is closed off whilst the demolition teams get to work. The other notable buildings of the 60s & 70s are mostly inaccessible and left to the elements. 

So looking at Birmingham, 2016...

First up was to go to 86 Lionel Street for the Post Office Counters building, which doesn't seem to be mentioned much online but is defo worth checking out:

Then next up, Paradise Circus car park...

FEATURING A NEAR CRIMINAL VARIABLE FONT SIZING BY BCC

& on to Fletchers Walk, with a pause for jazz first...

#Birmingham #jazz

A video posted by Tom Clarke (@visuals0und) on Jun 25, 2016 at 3:15am PDT

..which led to the soon to be very former site of Birmingham's Central Library..

More video:

In #Birmingham to witness the last days of #Brutalism

A video posted by Tom Clarke (@visuals0und) on Jun 25, 2016 at 3:14am PDT

..& with a heavy heart walked down to the British Rail Birmingham New Street Signal Box building...

[ or as viewed from train side...] 

...then just wandered round & spotted various other buildings of note - if I get time later on I'll tag their locations...

& of course, as we're in the West Midlands it was good to see heavy metal was still very much in effect...

I'll leave this one with Jonathan Meades...

Also...

& to keep up to date with people that actually know about architecture in Birmingham, make sure you hook up with their Modernist Society for tours, badges & general good knowledge...