Abstract ..... In Concrete

Abstract things cannot be concrete things. Or can they ?

This week the National Trust announced that it was sponsoring tours of buildings constructed in the so called Brutalist style later this month - in London, Sheffield, and Norwich. I heard a young architect saying she loved this style, and stroking these buildings.

And so - to the sad, unloved, and some would say plain ugly Lancastrian Hall in Swinton (see extra for the full picture). Maybe someone loves you after all.

My view on Brutalism ? The Barbican and Festival Hall in London are brilliant - I could stroke those. The Lancastrian isn't in that league. And now that the library has moved to the new Gateway Centre, it lies largely unused except as a storage facility, it's future very uncertain.