Carte Brute presents 50 ground-breaking icons of Switzerland’s rich concrete heritage, including St Anthony’s church in Basel (1927) and Palais des Congrès in Biel/Bienne (1966), alongside select contemporary objects by Herzog & de Meuron or Barozzi Veiga. Folding out to A1, this two-sided poster guide offers a unique and fresh way to rediscover Switzerland’s concrete assets.
- Images & introduction in English, German and French by Karin Bürki / Head of Heartbrut. Design: Lugma / Foldout guide & poster, A1 (slightly over A5 folded) / Pearlescent 135 gsm Paper / Offset-Print
- Printed in Switzerland
Raw concrete is so omnipresent in Switzerland, it’s part of our cultural DNA, like music and art. And yet, the architecture suffers from a bad rep. Brutalist buildings from the sixties and seventies are by and large still regarded as ‘monsters’. CARTE BRUTE aims to set the record straight and invites everyone to go out and discover the beauty of these buildings for themselves.
Deriving from the French term for raw concrete, béton brut was popularised by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier in the late 1940s. In response, the movement Brutalism emerged via the UK. It championed raw, unfinished materials, bold geometries and massive forms. In the 1960’s Switzerland began to radically modernise and rebuild itself. Concrete, which was affordable and functional, made it possible. At the same time, the material opened up completely new ways of architectural expression. The bold concrete buildings bear witness to a nation in motion in an optimistic era that looked confidently into the future. Béton brut remains highly resonant today. In Switzerland it lives on in the “all-over-rough-design” of many contemporary buildings.
For the design of CARTE BRUTE, HEARTBRUT have teamed up with Rebecca De Bautista and Isabella Furler of LUGMA. The pair plan more print publications in 2021. With many thanks to Roger Meier for project management.
CARTE BRUTE was made possible with the kind support of:
HEARTBRUT’s founder Karin Bürki thought of a way to turn the brutality and many restrictions of 2020 into something good. Putting her credo “keep it brut & beautiful” into practice, the writer and photographer set out on an extended tour de Suisse exploring the country’s concrete heritage. The result is CARTE BRUTE.
So you’ve got CARTE BRUTE but want to find out more about the objects? Our growing digital compendium has all the details, stories and images covered. Explore Now
For any requests and your CARTE BRUTE press kit, please contact us via hello at heartbrut.com
CARTE BRUTE is also available at the following select stockists:
Zürich
- Selected Press
