Commonplace #1 - Brighton

By Stefano Samà

Commonplace is a photographic magazine celebrating modernist buildings and places across Britain and Ireland.

Born from a collaboration between the modernist and Uhm! Publishing, it explores the in-between places and small sites that lie beyond the mainstream modernist canon—those commonplaces that deserve a second look.

Issue One turns its lens to Brighton, a city known for its Regency elegance, progressive politics, and pebbled seaside charm. While most visitors gravitate towards the Royal Pavilion, the Victorian pier or The Lanes, Commonplace: Brighton invites readers to  reconsider the city through nine post-war buildings that are angular, bold and unapologetically modern. 

Stefano Samà’s photographs capture a town hall, car park and law courts—monuments to municipal ambition—while other sites, including a community centre, hotel and cinema, add concrete heft to the South Coast’s architectural mix.