The postwar years, says photographer Rob Clayton, were a unique period for architecture in Britain. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, he was in awe of the new wave of Brutalist buildings – social housing, universities, libraries, car parks – built for public use. To him, they represented hope for a better future, a feeling he has tried to capture in his project Provision. “I wanted to present the architecture as new, fresh and as visually exciting as it may have appeared when built,” he says. “These buildings espouse an energy and drama that are suggestive of the era – a strength and confidence in form, presence, dynamism, progress.” Since 2009, he has photographed some 80 locations built between 1945 and 1979. “The postwar consensus, for all its failings, made huge progress raising the wellbeing of the working class. Now, the virtues of that era are in short supply.”



Provision will be exhibited at the FIX photo festival in London, from 27 November to 1 December