By Jakob Montrasio There’s something weirdly comforting about brutalist architecture. Maybe it’s the unapologetic honesty of raw concrete, or the way these buildings refuse to be pretty. Berlin, my old frenemy of a city, has a fair share of these stubborn giants – and I went back, camera in hand, to shoot them all.
This guide isn’t just for architecture nerds. It’s for photographers, urban explorers, and anyone who loves wandering through Berlin’s stranger corners. I brought my Fuji GFX 50S II and 45mm IRIX lens along for the ride. Plus, the stunning Zi Gattina modeled with me at a couple of stops – and her presence brought out a whole new dimension in the concrete.
ExRotaprint – Wedding
Gottschedstraße 4, 13357 Berlin
Once a printing press factory, now a weirdly beautiful mix of workspace and social project. The ExRotaprint complex looks like someone played brutalist Jenga with concrete slabs. Built in the late ’50s, it’s a post-war statement – rigid, heavy, honest. Perfect light hits this place in the afternoon. Ideal for capturing depth and shadow play, especially with the texture of that battered facade.
Mäusebunker – Steglitz
Krahmerstraße 6, 12207 Berlin
The myth, the monster, the Mäusebunker. Built for animal testing (ugh) and shaped like an evil concrete battleship, this place is Berlin’s ultimate brutalist icon. It’s currently closed, but the exterior is where the magic is anyway. Jagged edges, triangular windows, and the kind of brutalism that makes you feel like you’ve stepped into a dystopian anime. I shot this one from a low angle, letting the weeds and rough concrete guide the composition.
Czech Embassy – Mitte
Wilhelmstraße 44, 10117 Berlin
This one’s a sleeper hit. Tucked between embassies and ministries, the former Czech Embassy (still in use today) is a true brutalist relic. Designed by Věra and Vladimír Machonin in the ’70s, it looks like a concrete spaceship parked in bureaucrat-ville. There’s something brutal and beautiful in how it hovers over the street, with heavy cantilevers and sharp lines. One of my favorite facades to shoot.
Boros Collection – Mitte
Reinhardtstraße 20, 10117 Berlin
An air raid bunker turned fruit warehouse turned techno club turned private art bunker. Only in Berlin. The Boros Collection is wild – a thick concrete shell hiding some of the best contemporary art in town. I shot both the exterior and, more importantly, brought Zi Gattina here to pose. Her modern energy set against the WW2-era walls made for some of my favorite shots of the trip.
St. Norbert – Schöneberg
Dominicusstraße 19, 10823 Berlin
Tucked between ordinary postwar buildings, the brutalist bell tower of St. Norbert rises like a stark monument to restraint and abstraction. The church itself is modern and modest, but the tower – angular, sharp, deliberately raw – is the true visual magnet. I caught it at dusk, just as the sky turned cobalt, and the silhouette against the evening light was absolutely surreal.
St. Agnes / König Galerie – Kreuzberg
Alexandrinenstraße 118-121, 10969 Berlin
A church turned art gallery, with all the drama of brutalism and none of the religion. Designed by Werner Düttmann, St. Agnes looks like a concrete fortress from the outside. Inside, it opens up with stunning natural light and sharp shadows – a playground for photographers. Zi Gattina joined me here, and her presence in front of that rough surface turned the scene into something cinematic.
Pallasseum Wohnbauten KG – Schöneberg
Pallasstraße 5, 10781 Berlin
Nicknamed the "Socialist Whale," the Pallasseum is a brutalist mega-block of the GDR-era variety – long, wide, and built right over a WWII bunker (which still exists below). The most striking feature? The giant mural of two eyes peering out from beneath the building’s bridge structure. I shot this at night – the symmetry, the glow from the apartment lights, the brutal calm – it all came together.
Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV) – Mitte
Glinkastraße 40, 10117 Berlin
This one isn’t on many architecture maps, but it should be. The DGUV headquarters is a pristine, minimalist brutalist box with subtle reliefs and repeating vertical elements that give the facade rhythm. There’s a quiet confidence in its design – clean concrete, no ornament, just form and repetition. I stumbled onto it after photographing the embassy nearby and ended up spending a good hour there.
Before you head out, here’s a bonus: I’ve curated all of these brutalist spots – and a few more – into a custom Google Maps list. You can find it here. Save it to your own account, map out a concrete-tour, or just marvel at how much raw modernism Berlin hides in plain sight.
Berlin’s concrete giants don’t care what you think – and that’s exactly why they’re worth your time.
