Brutalist Chicago Archive
A comprehensive photographic survey of mid-century concrete architecture across Cook County, bound in reinforced square-back grey buckram with heavy 150 gsm matte coated rag.
Each large-format volume contains 64 full-page duotone plates printed with deep carbon black and cold slate grey inks. The scale of the spreads (560 mm across when opened) captures the coarse aggregate texture and formwork lines of Chicago’s institutional concrete monuments.
Because of the paper’s weight (2.4 kg total volume mass), the signatures are sewn over unbleached cotton tapes and anchored to three-ply Davey binders board, preventing sag when stored vertically on library shelves.
Document.
Photographic fidelity calibrated for architectural concrete, shadows, and aggregate grain.
Architectural photography printed on standard trade paper frequently clips high shadows and loses subtle surface grain. Our plates were imaged using stochastic screening at 300 lines per inch with dual black ink passes: one warm carbon black for structural depth and one neutral cool grey for weathered cement tones.
The spine is finished with heavy headbands woven in Chicago from grey cotton cord, reinforcing the top edge against finger-pull retrieval from compact library stacks.
Acquire.
Institutional accession and individual collector requests handled directly from our Chicago atelier.
With only 250 copies produced, each monograph is hand-stamped with its individual archive registry number. Submit your acquisition details below to verify remaining accession availability.