Berlin has never been known for perfection. It’s a city that’s rough around the edges, its architecture diverse. Amid all the renovated façades, gentrified glass fronts, and moments of clinker revival, it still stands. That is, the raw architecture of Brutalism. These are the buildings that capture Berlin best. Concrete-cast utopias, built somewhere between hope and hardness. With Brutalist Berlin, architectural historian Felix Torkar presents a study of this distinctive chapter in the city’s architectural history. Across 144 pages, he portrays more than 50 buildings that embody the spirit of the postwar era. Whether it’s the Mäusebunker, the Kugellabore, or the Bierpinsel, each structure stands as a testament to a city in flux, to division, reconstruction, and the competition of systems. Torkar writes about concrete as an attitude, as an expression of political, social, and aesthetic moments. His photographs reveal the material’s complexity: sometimes monumental, sometimes poetic, always precise. Well-known icons like the Corbusierhaus appear alongside everyday faces such as the Urbankrankenhaus, buildings you suddenly see with new eyes. The cover photo could have been chosen with a bit more sensitivity. Yet in the end, it underlines the point: Brutalist Berlin is an essential companion for anyone who wants to read history in grey façades. The book will be presented tomorrow evening (14.11.2025) at Café westberlin in Kreuzberg.
Text: Inga Krumme / Photos: Elisabeth Rogov
Brutalist Berlin by Felix Torkar, published by Blue Crow Media in English.
Westberlin, Alexandrinenstr. 118, 10969 Berlin–Kreuzberg; map
Book Launch with Felix Torkar 14.11.2025 18–20h
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