In this second installment of his revamped ?Beyond London? column for ArchDaily, Simon Henley of London-based practice Henley Halebrown discusses a potential influence that might help UK architects combat the economic hegemony currently afflicting the country ? turning for moral guidance to the Brutalists of the 1960s.

<a href='http://www.archdaily.com/790453/ad-classics-barbican-estate-london-chamberlin-powell-bon'>The Barbican</a> in London. Image © Joas Souza

In this second installment of his revamped ?Beyond London? column for ArchDaily, Simon Henley of London-based practice Henley Halebrown discusses a potential influence that might help UK architects combat the economic hegemony currently afflicting the country ? turning for moral guidance to the Brutalists of the 1960s.Before Christmas, I finished writing my book entitled Redefining Brutalism. As the title suggests I am seeking to redefine the subject, to detoxify the term and to find relevance in the work, not just a cause for nostalgia. Concrete Brutalism is, to most people, a style that you either love or hate. But Brutalism is far more than just a style; it is way of thinking and making. The historian and critic Reyner Banham argued in his 1955 essay and 1966 book both entitled The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic that the New Brutalism began as an ethical movement only to be hijacked by style. Today, it is a mirror to be held up to the architecture of Neoliberalism, to an ...