Brunswick Centre, Brutalist shopping complex in Bloomsbury, England
Brunswick Centre is a mixed-use complex in Bloomsbury that pairs two long residential blocks flanking a central pedestrian walkway lined with shops, restaurants, and a cinema. The facades step upward in terraces so each apartment has its own balcony or terrace and daylight reaches the walkway below.
Architect Patrick Hodgkinson designed the project in the late 1960s after Georgian houses on the site were demolished. Following completion in 1972, the council took over the flats when not enough private buyers came forward, and the centre returned to private ownership only after a 2006 renovation.
The name refers to the Duke of Brunswick and recalls an earlier Georgian street on the same site. Today film fans recognize the concrete terraces from several productions, including a science fiction series that shot futuristic city scenes here.
The central walkway is open to the public and connects two streets, so you can pass through at any time. The site sits level and is easy to reach, though some shops have steps or short ramps.
For three decades the concrete walls stayed grey and raw even though the architect had originally planned a cream finish. Only a major refurbishment brought back the lighter paint and fundamentally changed the appearance of the entire complex.
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