Killingworth Towers in North Tyneside, a 750-flat housing estate plagued by problems, stood for just two decades before it was demolished in 1987. It was one of the shortest-lived post-war housing estates in the UK only outdone by James Stirlings Southgate Estate in Runcorn New Town, which lasted 12 years. The estate was designed by architect Roy Gazzard, and the towers faades featured an unusual textured panelised concrete. Alarge-format photograph hanging on the wall of Newcastles Farrell Centre catches your eye as you focus on what minimal detail there was within the estates architecture. As you step back, the true anonymity of these near identical blocks across the estate hits you. Theres a total lack of urban life in the image and it becomes clear why it didnt stand for long (aside from being a giant cold bridge) no one could find their way around it.Killingworth Towers in 1980 (courtesy of Amber Collective)On the floor next to this striking photograph is a quirky cast-iron manhole cover from the same estate. It has a map of the blocks embellished on top, each ironically named after a Northumberland castle, made before the towers were toppled to perhaps help residents navigate the area. Reclaimed during the estates demolition, it was sitting in someones garden until now.AdvertisementThese are both on display at Brasilia of the North, an evolving exhibition exploring the ideas, personalities and broader social, cultural and political climate that underpinned the desire to transform Newcastle into a shining, north European equivalent to the futuristic new Brazilian capital city then emerging. Today, it feels like a ridiculous comparison tomake.The exhibition is part of the Farrell Centres Concrete Dreams, an eight-month programme which features an immersive installation and a wide range of events at architectures new dedicated northern outpost. The series showcases how Tyneside was transformed in the latter half of the 20th century, as well as providing an open discussion on how one might reimagine the city of today.Exhibition room exploring Ryder and Yates 1969 Tyne Deck proposal (credit: Colin Davison)Concrete seemed an obvious topic, says the exhibitions curator, Owen Hopkins, who is also the centres director. As someone who doesnt visit Newcastle often, I associate the city less with concrete and more as a powerhouse of industrial heritage, the many bridges of the Tyne, and the home of Ralph Erskines notorious Byker Wall, a long, unbroken block of nearly 700 maisonettes built in Functionalist Romantic styling and based on participatory design a break from the Brutalist high-rise of the time.As such, the exhibition highlights some known architectural moments of the 1970s but mainly covers unknown yet fascinating aspects that play a part in the citys more recent built history.The exhibition starts in an ante-room featuring the original model of Trinity Square shopping centre and car park, designed in the 1960s for the heart of Gateshead by Owen Luder Partnership. Never that successful commercially, the car park is perhaps most famous for taking a lead role in the cult 1971 Michael Caine film GetCarter.AdvertisementNewcastle City Centre Planning Model, first built in 1963 and updated until 2010 (credit: Colin Davison)Going full circle, Hopkins reminds me that the new Trinity Square shopping centre built on the car parks former site, complete with a massive Tesco, was shortlisted for the Carbuncle Cup in 2014. The car parks original architect, Owen Luder, also happened to be a Carbuncle Cup judge that year, remarking: Whatever you thought of the car park, this project is much worse.Luders model is juxtaposed with a piece of concrete rubble salvaged during the car parks demolition and on loan from the Tyne Archives.Beyond this is a reproduction of Ryder and Yates large-scale model for the 1969 speculative proposal Tyne Deck, a megastructure over the Tyne. The proposal was for huge platforms, including a six-lane motorway, to be constructed across the river where the Gateshead Millennium Bridge now stands. It had emerged from a need to rethink the relationship between the post-industrial city and the Tyne.The analysis on which it was based was very sound, says Hopkins. It was a nuts project, he adds, but one that is crucial for understanding the rest of the exhibition and city context. It highlights the long-term, expansive thinking of many of Newcastles Modernist projects, rather than looking at the city in isolation.Display with items from the archive of FaulknerBrowns relating to its work on the Metro in the early 1980s (credit: Colin Davison)The rest of the exhibition is split into three rooms, with an additional space for a VR experience. The first room explores FaulknerBrowns Mies-inspired work on the Tyne & Wear Metro system in the early 1980s (perhaps the era's most transformative project for Newcastle); the second covers key housing estates across the city including Killingworth; and the third focuses on planning. The latter accommodates a large Newcastle City Council planning model, first created in 1963 and updated until 2010 as the city evolved. Made of timber with polystyrene additions, it is evident that many hands have created it, with some proposed additions never actually built.As a contested period in the citys history, it felt an impossible task to tell a single or linear narrative, explains Hopkins. The curatorial approach is deliberately a mish-mash of artefacts, photographs, models and books. Yet each has a particular individual story and one that adds to the overall story of Newcastles postwar history.The exhibition design also reflects this. Plinths are covered in a stretchy fabric skin printed with imagery, colour photography is chosen over black and white (as would be the case in most exhibitions on Brutalism), and all artefacts are laid out with no timeline tying them together rather a constellation of objects as Hopkins puts it, adding: Its arranged with loose connections but open to impressions and stories. And, suitably, object titles are spray-painted in a high-impact font, inspired by the graffiti with which Brutalism is associated by many.Artist impression of Kenton Bar Estate, 1966 (courtesy of Newcastle City Library Local Studies Collections)There are a few tropes of the era, however. Linear City, a theoretical studyby Napper Architects published in Northern Architect in July 1965, focused on distinct aspects of the urban and rural environments linked by a monorail. The visuals combine collage with original drawings, reminiscent of Archigram and, while they are highly whimsical, they do pre-empt several future developments such as the Metro system, the pedestrianisation of shopping and leisure areas, arterial routes and bypasses and the Kielder reservoir project.At a time when cities like Newcastle had an uncertain economic future, the concept stimulated ideas and raised aspirations for the future of the region particularly in terms of looking towards Europe.T Dan Smith (left) in Cruddas Park, west end of Newcastle, 1960s (courtesy of Amber Collective)The exhibition also covers controversies, as one would expect considering many Brutalist projects prompted protests at the time. One that is covered in depth is the fall from grace of Labour politician T Dan Smith also known as Mr Newcastle and The Voice of the North. A dominant figure in North East politics in the 60s and leader of Newcastle City Council for just five years, Smiths vision brought about many changes in the city. He was later imprisoned for corruption and, for a long time, everything he was associated with was tainted. The exhibit including footage and articles invites the visitor to decide for themselves: hero or villain?Virtual-reality set up for Alisons Room by artist and researcher Paula Strunden (credit: Colin Davison)Finally, artist and researcher Paula Strunden has created an immersive virtual reality experience of the study/office of one of the best-known figures in post-war British architecture, Alison Smithson, who studied at Newcastle University in the 1940s.The 1:1 scale installation combines the spatial experience of some of her and husband Peters influential designs instrumental in the development of Brutalism in the 50s with objects, furniture and even a talking cat. As you move through what is dubbed Alisons Room, you are invited to enter the imaginative space and explore key projects in the reimagining of British architecture. While I am usually sceptical about VR, this is unexpectedly incredible. Once you have the headset on, you are handed the cat to pet, and are transported into Alisons world. Its imaginative, escapist, educational and artistic.As a massive fan of Brutalism, I couldnt not enjoy this small exhibition. It invites you to relate to your own experience, whether you live in the city, or are just visiting, and it carefully balances architecture, history, politics, design and everything in-between.Brasilia of the North and the eight-month programme of events, Concrete Dreams, run until 1 June 2025 at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. Alisons Room: An Extended Reality Archiverequires booking and runs until 20December 20242024-11-19Fran Williamscomment and share