Cooling Towers: A celebration of sculptural beauty, industrial history and architectural legacy

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Twentieth Century Society

Cooling Towers

A celebration of sculptural beauty, industrial history and architectural legacy

Twentieth Century Society

$89.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Batsford
11 September 2025

A stirring large-format celebration of cooling towers, the monumental brutalist structures dotted around Britain that are relics of twentieth-century industrial history - and are about to disappear for good.

Bringing together some of the country's most distinguished architectural photographers and writers, Cooling Towers is an elegiac exploration of these imposing buildings, forming a definitive visual record of Britain's coal-fired power stations at the moment that they disappear into history, as most of them have been slated for demolition very soon. In a distinctive large format to reflect the unique and sculptural presence of cooling towers within the landscape and to best show the beautiful photography which captures them. Essays include:

Hugh Pearman on Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, still standing but not for long.

Otto Saumaurez Smith on the recently demolished, particularly beautiful set of cooling towers that formed part of Ironbridge B Power Station.

Jonathan Clarke on the historical, technological and engineering context of postwar power stations.

With a celebratory foreword by Antony Gormley, the Turner Prize-winning British artist who has long expressed admiration for these immense constructions, and photography from renowned architectural photographers Luke O'Donovan, Michael Collins and James O. Davis of Historic England, this book is a visually exciting and historically significant record of Britain's twentieth-century industrial legacy.

By: Twentieth Century Society
Imprint: Batsford
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 305mm, Width: 400mm,
ISBN: 9781849949460
ISBN 10: 1849949468
Pages: 128
Publication Date: 11 September 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

The Twentieth Century Society is a British charity that campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. They provide support and advice to architects and planning authorities to protect the best twentieth-century architecture and design, whether through listing or sympathetic development and management. In 2023, the society launched a campaign to protect Britain's few remaining cooling towers.