Lost Utopias – Brutalist Art Photography: Revealing the Hidden Beauty of Concrete Housing Estates in France

The “Lost Utopias” series focuses on artistic photography of brutalism, mainly through the large concrete housing estates built in the Paris region. These brutalist structures, often viewed negatively today, were once seen as the pinnacle of architectural innovation. Through this series, I aim to reveal the hidden beauty of brutalism, capturing the power and originality of these buildings. Although they might be compared to Soviet brutalism or neo-brutalism, this series centers on brutalist buildings typical of the Parisian region and France, while presenting a unique and artistic vision.

Series Description

“Lost Utopias” is a series of brutalist architectural portraits, focusing on the massive concrete buildings from past decades. This series transforms these often austere structures into visual art pieces, highlighting their architectural details and emphasizing their unique textures. Unlike neo-brutalism, which reinterprets brutalist codes from a modern perspective, or Soviet brutalism, known for its massive and uniform buildings, the structures in “Lost Utopias” are rooted in a Parisian and French context, reflecting a style that combines both monumentality and originality.

The buildings photographed in this series belong to a typical brutalist architecture in Paris and France, whose uniqueness lies in their geometric shapes and their relationship with the urban environment. This series celebrates the raw strength of concrete and its aesthetic power, often overlooked in more standardized modern constructions.

Creative Process

My photographic approach highlights the unique characteristics of brutalist architecture in the Paris region, capturing the raw textures of concrete and the imposing geometric shapes. Each image is an attempt to reveal the hidden beauty of these imposing structures, often underappreciated. Unlike Soviet brutalism, known for its monumental and repetitive structures, or neo-brutalism, more refined and modern, the buildings in this series are a testament to original brutalism, with rich details and a historical dimension specific to France.

The large housing estates captured in the “Lost Utopias” series are characterized by their grandeur, but also by a subtlety in textures and shapes, which artistic photography helps to magnify. Natural light and the angle of the shot play a crucial role in the visual transformation of these buildings, giving them an almost sculptural dimension.

Artistic Goals

Through “Lost Utopias”, my goal is to rehabilitate the image of brutalism in France and Paris, by capturing the hidden beauty and the emotional power of concrete buildings. While this series is distinct from neo-brutalism and Soviet brutalism, it shares a common goal of revealing the monumentality of raw architectural structures. However, these Parisian buildings offer a unique framework, specific to French brutalist architecture.

This series allows viewers and architects to rediscover these structures from an artistic angle and to revalue their impact in the urban landscape. If you want to capture the grandeur and originality of brutalism, this series offers a perfect demonstration of the aesthetic power of this architecture.