20.05.25 / Gabriel Durnan
Concrete Matters
A look at our design of Brutal Scotland, the studio event around its launch, and the limited-edition screen prints created to mark it.
Brutal Scotland — Behind the Book
Brutalism is a subject people tend to approach with strong opinions, and few photographers have documented it with as much clarity and consistency as Simon Phipps.
When Duckworth Books asked us to design Brutal Scotland — Simon’s latest survey of post-war architecture — our approach was shaped by the wider moment. With so many of these buildings being re-evaluated and discussed again, our role was to create a book which mirrors the directness of the architecture itself: pared back, structured, and designed to let Simon’s images take the lead.
Designing with restraint
Because we share a studio with Collective Architecture, who are currently working on the renewal of Cables Wynd House and Linksview House (both featured in the book), the project felt unusually close to home. That proximity didn’t change the brief, but it did give the work a certain immediacy. These are not remote relics; they’re lived-in buildings still being reconsidered and reinterpreted, both socially and architecturally.
Simon’s photographs do most of the work. They’re precise, unsentimental and full of quiet detail — qualities that reward a pared-back approach. Our job was to create a structure that stays out of the way: a simple typographic system, measured pacing, and a layout that keeps the focus firmly on the buildings.
Materials and production choices were kept understated. Much of the work was about clarity and deciding how best to present each image, establishing a consistent rhythm, and allowing the photography to set the tone without unnecessary interruption. The intention was a simple book that feels considered but not self-conscious.
Order a copy here.
At a Different Scale
Although the book was always the main output, we wanted to mark its launch with something physical and closely tied to the project. We produced a small run of large-format, two-colour screen prints featuring three images from the book, printed by Master Printer Scott Campbell (with help from Rosalind Lawless & Alistair Gow) at Glasgow Print Studio.
Each print pairs Simon’s photograph with bold, large-scale typography and a halftone treatment, printed in two inks onto heavyweight coloured stock. The white ink has a slight opacity, which softens the type just enough to sit comfortably with the image beneath it. At this scale, the image and type create something more like a graphic poster than a traditional photographic print. Each edition is limited to 30, hand-printed and signed by Simon Phipps. After an unreasonably long hunt for tubes actually big enough to safely ship them, they’re finally available to order via the link at the end of the article.
Studio Launch Event
To launch the book, we hosted an event in the studio, which included a signing, a display of the large-format prints, a talk about Scottish Brutalism and selected works by artist Ally Wallace. Ally’s practice (with its focus on the everyday geometry and idiosyncrasies of the built environment) felt like a natural extension of the themes in the book, offering a more hand-drawn, interpretive counterpoint to Simon’s photography.
On the night, the studio became a conversation between these different ways of looking at architecture. The large screen prints lined the space, the book was available to browse, and Ally’s work added a more intuitive, observational take on similar subjects.
Photographer Gordon Burniston documented the event, while Simon introduced the project and Ewan Imrie from Collective Architecture spoke about his own long-standing relationship with Brutalist buildings — from growing up around them, to travelling on family holidays to see Soviet-era architecture. His perspective added a more personal layer to the evening, connecting the images in the book to lived experience and architectural curiosity.
It was also great to have our former colleague Mhairi Cassidy — now at Barra Distillers — who kindly supplied the gin for the evening. Altogether, it made for a wonderful night that brought together Brutalist enthusiasts, architects, designers, artists and people with personal connections to the buildings — a mix that led to some great conversations throughout the evening, helped along, no doubt, by Mhairi’s cocktails.
Roll Up, Roll Up
A limited number of the screen prints are still available. Each edition is 30, printed by hand on heavyweight coloured stock and signed by Simon Phipps. Priced at £95 each, they are sold unframed and sized at 700 × 1000 mm, meaning they fit directly into a standard Nielsen frame. Prints can be ordered through the link below, and we’ll package and send them out direct from the studio.
Buy a print here.
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