Cambridge Brutalist World – A3 Brutalist Collage Triptych

Opening story

Cambridge is often pictured in soft tones and ancient stone, but there is another city layered inside it. Service towers, stair cores, libraries and walkways, all cast in concrete, sit quietly behind the postcards.

Brutalist World C-0 is my collaged version of that hidden city. I have built it from my own photographs of Cambridge’s Brutalist architecture, cutting and reshaping the buildings into a new skyline that feels both familiar and slightly unreal. College blocks, science stacks and raised decks are assembled into a continuous landscape of concrete.

Each print in this triptych is a separate sector of the same imagined world. You can live with one district on its own, or hang all three together to stretch the full Brutalist World C-0 across your wall.

The collages are printed as A3 black and white risograph prints, which gives them grain, depth and a slight mechanical misalignment that sits well with rough concrete and sharp shadows. They feel part map, part film frame, part alternative reading of Cambridge.

Planet log

World code C-0 is one of the mapped territories in the wider Brutalist Worlds project. It sits alongside B-0 (Birmingham), M-0 (Manchester) and other cities, ready to be combined into a larger atlas. Build a single Cambridge wall, or mix codes to create your own planet of concrete worlds.

Choosing your print

Sector options

• Sector 1 – C-01: 

  You stand on the lower platform, looking up as the district rises around you in layers of decks and ramps, an entire quarter of Cambridge rebuilt as a single cascading façade.  

• Sector 2 – C-02:
  
  A narrow pathway pulls you toward a slot of light, where vaulted roofs, concrete floors and overlapping terraces climb above you like a stepped concrete library.

• Sector 3 – C-03:
  
  You pause at the foot of broad concrete steps looking up to a domed towered mass that rises ahead, flanked by stacked housing and glazed blocks, a whole neighbourhood orbiting this Brutalist observatory.  

• Full Triptych: all three sectors together

One sector works well on its own as a focused Brutalist scene. Hanging all three side by side creates a continuous Cambridge skyline that measures close to a metre across and turns your wall into a concrete city map.

Features

• A3 risograph print in black and white (42x21cm)
• Created from my original photographs of Brutalism in Cambridge
• Printed on 170gsm Munken Pure Rough paper
• Each sector aligns visually with the next to form a triptych
• Designed and printed in the UK

Who this is for

This series is for anyone who has built a life or a memory in Cambridge’s concrete. Architects, students, college staff, alumni, Brutalism lovers and map collectors who enjoy seeing the city from a different angle. Hang a single sector above a desk, or build the full world across a studio wall as a quiet statement that these buildings matter and deserve care.

Offers and EU orders

All prints in my shop are part of a 3 for 2 offer, so you can mix and match sectors and cities to build your own Brutalist wall.

EU customers: please order via my Etsy shop due to customs regulations.