Concrete Asia

A fresh look at the concrete buildings that defined Asia’s modernization, brought together here for the first time in a continent-wide survey. Concrete Asia presents more than two hundred buildings and structures constructed across thirteen Asian countries between the 1950s and 1980s. As architects across the region embraced the progressive language of modernism, they adapted it to local climates, materials, and social conditions. The result is architecture that is distinctly modern but also radical, often wildly decorative, idiosyncratic and ultimately a joy to look at. These are exactly the sorts of buildings that jaded architecture enthusiasts obsess over, and which other brutalist architecture surveys have largely ignored. Concrete Asia brings the region’s groundbreaking modernist and brutalist buildings together in print and demonstrates how concrete redefined Asian cityscapes and built a foundation for modernization. The postwar independence and reconstruction movements sparked massive building programmes that introduced concrete skylines across the continent. These are now making way for today’s steel-and-glass buildings, but the threat of demolition has spurred the ground-up growth of online communities seeking to record these pioneering concrete buildings. The buildings have been selected and specially photographed by contributors from across the region. Chosen for both their formal ambition and historical significance, each national selection is introduced by Justin Zhuang, who situates the projects within their cultural and political context.