Bunkers, Brutalism and Bloodymindedness: Concrete Poetry with Jonathan Meades (Documentary, English)
Status: Ended
Premiered: 2014-02-16
Ended: 2014-02-23
Network: BBC Four
Country: GB
Airs on: Sunday
Air time: 21:00
Runtime: 60 minutes
Two-part documentary in which Jonathan Meades makes the case for 20th-century concrete Brutalist architecture in an homage to a style that he sees a brave, bold and bloodyminded. Tracing its precursors to the once-hated Victorian edifices described as Modern Gothic and before that to the unapologetic baroque visions created by John Vanbrugh, as well as the martial architecture of World War II, Meades celebrates the emergence of the Brutalist spirit in his usual provocative and incisive style. Never pulling his punches, Meades praises a moment in architecture he considers sublime and decries its detractors.