BRUTALIST LONDON

In March of 2026, my good friend Gus Pirelli invited me on a little architectural walk through London, with an ulterior motive: to try out a new type of 35mm film, HARMAN Phoenix.

We started around Russell Square and wandered through Holborn, taking in some of the area’s more unusual architectural landmarks. Eventually we arrived at Space House, also known as One Kemble Street, just off Kingsway.

Built in the 1960s for developer Harry Hyams, the man behind the equally divisive Centre Point, Space House was designed by George Marsh, a partner of architect Richard Seifert. Its facade is made up of distinctive precast, cruciform-shaped concrete units arranged in a repeating grid. The system allowed the building to be constructed unusually quickly, without the need for conventional scaffolding.

It is the kind of building that can divide opinion. Brutalist and post-war architecture is often dismissed as ugly, harsh or oppressive, yet in the right light these buildings can become incredibly beautiful. Strong shadows, repetitive forms and raw concrete create a kind of natural geometry that feels made for photography.

On another walk, I loaded my Minolta X-700 with a roll of HARMAN Phoenix, the colour negative film released by Harman Technology in 2024. The film is deliberately unpredictable, shifting familiar colours into intense, surreal tones.

London suddenly looked like somewhere else.

Grey concrete blocks sat beneath pink and orange skies. Familiar buildings took on strange, almost futuristic colours, while hard architectural edges became softer and more dreamlike. What I particularly enjoy about shooting film is that you never quite know exactly what you are going to get until the roll has been developed.

With Phoenix, that uncertainty becomes part of the process.

The film transforms ordinary London into something slightly uncanny. Raw concrete, glass, steel and stone take on new personalities, while familiar streets begin to feel like scenes from a forgotten science-fiction film.

From post-war concrete icons to everyday corners of the capital, turning the colours upside down reveals another side of a city I thought I knew.

Sometimes all it takes is a different film, a bright day and a walk through London.