Seventeen years ago, I arrived at a new job on a college campus that had buildings the likes of which I had never seen. When I pointed this out to my manager, she simply replied “Brutalist.”
I thought this was a personal opinion.
At that time, my interest in architecture was high, but my actual knowledge was low. I grew up watching Mike Brady draw blueprints and create model buildings and I think that was what kindled my interest in blueprints and model buildings that continues to this day. When I write, I always create floorplans for the locations my characters move about in. I love to go to real estate sites and look at floorplans for different kinds of homes. Any architecture exhibition–I’m there. But at the time of the “Brutalist” comment, I had a vague understanding of types of pillars and not much else. It was a couple of years before I realized that Brutalist was a type of architecture. And it has become a type of architecture that I deeply admire.
Fast forward to 2025. A visit to the Barbican Centre made me realize that Brutalist architecture can not only be appreciated, but celebrated. I bought a small concrete N and discussed the centre’s #MondaysAreBrutal hashtag with an employee. I came back home and made the hashtag my own, closely photographing the buildings that I see everyday. What a delight to discover the Concrete NYC map. I bought a copy and made 2026 My Year of Brutalism. The goal is to visit and photograph all of the Brutalist buildings that appear on the map. Bonus: visiting parts of NYC that I don’t often have a reason to visit.
Learn more about Brutalism: