Belgrade | The Delight of Brutalism

A building style in which buildings are large and heavy-looking, and often made from concrete

Brutalism Cambridge Dictionary

I did not shoot much in Belgrade as my time there was constrained, but the little wandering I did was an exhilarating tease. The people and the cuisine, the cafe culture, the rich history and pride of the Balkans, there are many reasons why I will return.

One of the great aspects of Belgrade is that the city is gaining momentum only now towards gentrification and development so the brutalist architecture is still very much intact.

It will not last.

The most unimaginative creation in the world is someone buying up land to make condos. Fucking condos.

Just a taste of the clean, stark concrete geometry of Belgrade.

Hope to be back soon.

 

Brutalist buildings are characterised by their massive, monolithic and ‘blocky’ appearance with a rigid geometric style and large-scale use of poured concrete. The movement began to decline in prevalence in the 1970s, having been much criticised as unwelcoming and inhuman.

From Designing Buildings Wiki

 

 

The tower blocks are numbered in Novi Belgrade and it is a maze of concrete leviathans, each block is different. Just a wonder.

 

 

So much of the fascinating aspects of the brutalism in Belgrade is that there are flourishes and accents that just make no sense, just pure decorative nonsense. This bus stop in an underpass has these designed elements that serve no purpose I guess but to make wanderers like to take pause.