photo books capturing architectural rarities, from brutalism to sacred sites & soviet cottages

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ARCHITECTURAL RARITIES: INSIDE THE LATEST PHOTO BOOKS

Brutalism, sacred art and architecture, vanishing Soviet cottages, and modernist booths are some of the subjects documented in the latest photo books. These publications relieve important aspects of architecture, art and design, so readers can explore the architectural rarities as documented by photographers around the world: plants creeping through brutalist buildings, colorful yet worn-out details pop out in kiosks around Europe, caves and monuments dubbed hallowed across cities emerge, and even fictional cars make their appearance in urban and rural landscapes.

Brutalist Plants by Olivia Broome | image courtesy of Hoxton Mini Press

Images that journey through brutalist architecture

It has long been established that photo books are good sources of historical documentation. That’s true in terms of architecture, to name a few. As the world moves towards modernizing buildings, some of the designs in the previous generations still exist and should be taken care of and remembered. It’s an attempt by the Okinawa-based photographer Paul Tulett and his photo book, Brutalist Japan. Through his lens, he takes the readers on a tour around the remaining post-war architecture in Japan, including the Nago Civic Hall and Center, Okinawa Prefectural and Art Museum, and the Kihoku Astronomical Museum.

Paul Tulett‘s photographs capture the geometric forms, rawness, and ruggedness of the several brutalist buildings, which are still standing in the country, preserving Japan’s architectural heritage. This approach to architecture is also the theme of Olivia Broome’s photo book with Hoxton Mini Press. The difference is that the photographs explore the fusion between brutalist architecture and lush vegetation. In the Brutalist Plants, the once gray architecture comes alive through the stark colors of greenery. Different plants crawl around the buildings as if they were reclaiming the landscape. In reality, they add color and personality to the already robust characteristics of the brutalist architecture.

Brutalist Plants by Olivia Broome | image courtesy of Hoxton Mini Press

Photographs of Sacred sites and disappearing soviet cottages

In Jessica Hundley’s 520-page Sacred Sites photo book, published by Taschen, readers take a journey across the world, into the niche hallowed grounds people can visit: holy mountains, great pyramids, golden shrines, esoteric land tracings. As readers rifle through Hundley’s pages, they encounter the Vakil Mosque in Shiraz, Iran; the sculpted Tree of Life Cave by Ra Paulette in New Mexico in the US; and the recognizable Machu Picchu in Peru.

Other times, images in photo books may no longer be in existence at the present time. In Dacha: The Soviet Country Cottage, the photo book preserves the style of traditional homes rooted in the Soviet Union and dating back to the 17th century. Dacha encompasses a wide range of structures, from grand villas to humble sheds, and they were originally given as rewards by the Tsar to loyal courtiers. The photo book under FUEL Publishing captures the homes and retreats, amidst countryside landscapes or suburban enclaves, keeping them alive in pages as the form of architecture gradually fades into the background.

Brutalist Japan by Paul Tulett | image courtesy of Prestel Publishing

Photo books of the modernist booths and AI cars in landscapes

Independent publisher and design studio Zupagrafika looks into preservation using a photo book. That’s what happened with Kiosk, a monograph consisting of images of the forgotten and last modernist booths found in Central and Eastern Europe. The publication glimpses at over 150 kiosks from cities like Ljubljana, Warsaw, Belgrade, and Berlin, which were mainly produced between the 1970s and the 1990s. Viewers go through the pages of the photo book and study the design and history of the K67 kiosk, designed by Slovenian architect Saša J. Mächtig, and similar systems including the Polish Kami, the Macedonian KC190, and the Soviet ‘Bathyscaphe’. 

Not all photo books center their themes on the past and reminiscing about them at the present time for future safekeeping. Others use monograph as a medium of experimentation and an object of a future-forward outlook. This is an approach by François Mercier, also known as Mr. François, with Secret Cars: 300 Promptographs. It’s a playful photo book that has AI-generated images of ‘secret’ car models appearing in familiar urban and rural landscapes. It’s also one of the many recent publications that rediscover art, architecture, and design in their natural habitats and, in this case, modern and advanced settings. 

Brutalist Japan: A Photographic Tour of Post-War Japanese Architecture by Paul Tulett | image courtesy of Paul Tulett

Sacred Sites. The Library of Esoterica by Jessica Hundley | image courtesy of TASCHEN

Mohammadreza Domiriganji, Ceiling of Vakil Mosque, Shiraz, Iran, 2014 as featured in Sacred Sites. The Library of Esoterica by Jessica Hundley | image courtesy of TASCHEN

Dacha: The Soviet Country Cottage by Fyodor Savintsev and Anna Benn | image courtesy of FUEL Publishing

Kiosk: The Last Modernist Booths Across Central and Eastern Europe by Zupagrafika with photography by David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka | image courtesy of Zupagrafika

Kiosk: The Last Modernist Booths Across Central And Eastern Europe | image courtesy of Zupagrafika

project info:

photo books: Brutalist Japan: A Photographic Tour of Post-War Japanese Architecture; Brutalist Plants; Kiosk: The Last Modernist Booths Across Central and Eastern Europe; Sacred Sites. The Library of Esoterica; Dacha: The Soviet Country Cottage; Secret Cars: 300 Promptographs

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