The Barbican

https://arslan.io/2025/05/12/barbican-estate/

by farslan • 1 year ago

728 256 1 year ago

pkd3• 1 year ago

This was great and the photos were good too!

I have a similar sort of fascination with a structure closer to me: Habitat 67 in Montreal. I have at various points considered buying a unit there but practicality prevents me from doing so each time. I don't know how long I'll resist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67

JimDabell• 1 year ago

Habitat 67 reminds me of The Interlace in Singapore. I’m guessing The Interlace took some inspiration from it.

https://www.architectural-review.com/today/the-interlace-in-...

jgilias• 1 year ago

Curious, what are the practical concerns? The place looks fantastic to me!

I really miss more bold architectural and city planning experiments. Like, I get it, if it’s a flop, it’s a pretty expensive one. But still, it feels like the design-space there is just really under-explored.

Maybe there’s some AI-driven simulation way to explore the design-space and arrive at viable solutions before committing too much funds.

One can dream.

OJFord• 1 year ago

Not GP but the linked Wikipedia page says though there's a private shuttle it's difficult to get into town on foot, so I'd guess it's concern that it'd be annoyingly secluded/disconnected at times.

pkd3• 1 year ago

Like OJFord mentions, it is a bit far from amenities despite the straight line distance to them not being great because it's built on an island in the river and you have to cross the bridge to get to the downtown area.

But more importantly for me, my usual life is not in Montreal. I love Montreal but moving there would require quite a few sacrifices in personal relationships that I don't feel like making. And government services in Quebec are also worse than in Ontario (where I am now).

porphyra• 1 year ago

I visited outside it twice but they are very strict with protecting the privacy of the residents, so you aren't allowed in. I could only take some photos from street level outside.

pkd3• 1 year ago

Yes, and I respect that. It has allowed it to retain its original purpose of being a living space first and an architectural curiosity second.

dllu• 1 year ago

Thanks for reminding me of this cool building --- I just updated the Wikipedia article with an infobox and a photo that I took in 2019.

xnx• 1 year ago

Possibly getting some more attention now because of some scenes from Andor 2 that were shot there: https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/1kb8k4u/lloyds_of_l...

paulsmith• 1 year ago

Yep, and S1E7: https://moviemaps.org/episodes/9c8

I was reading this post and thinking, huh, this would be a good set for a Coruscant shot in Andor, and sure enough ...

fmajid• 1 year ago

The Scarif transport network scenes in Rogue One were shot at London's Canary Wharf Underground station, however.

SideburnsOfDoom2• 1 year ago

That and it's also in the spy thriller series Slow Horses

which is good too, it's a mix of Black comedy and spy tension.

ukoki• 1 year ago

Michael Fassbender's character has an apartment there in The Agency as well

sambeau• 1 year ago

The really amazing architecture of Coruscant is from the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Arts_and_Sciences

In particular, the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Arts_and_Sciences#/med...

LeanderK• 1 year ago

I didn't enjoy the city of arts and sciences tbh, it felt disconnected, artificial, maybe almost totalitarian in its will to show off. I also thought that, if you look past the immediate effect, it just didn't feel that good looking. A bit similar to how I often feel about Zaha Hadids work.

In comparison, in the barbican I felt like I could sit there for hours and enjoy the architecture. It has so many interesting details and aesthetically pleasing corners.

petercooper4• 1 year ago

It's one of my favorite places to spend time when in London. It's comfortable, clean, quiet, aesthetically striking, easy to loaf around at, and there's high brow art in numerous forms to enjoy – it's kinda like BBC Radio 3 if it were a neighborhood. It's also five minutes from the Elizabeth Line and the parking is good which is unusual for the City. It's strikingly non-commercial - there are no chains or even convenience stores there, though there is a fantastic music shop. It's one of those rare places you can feel more intelligent and cultured by merely being there.

I'd love to retire there when the kids are gone, although there are a lot of oddities about Barbican living to contend with that are probably more fun to read about than deal with for real.

simonw• 1 year ago

"kinda like BBC Radio 3 if it were a neighborhood"

Thanks for that, put a smile on my face.

philipwhiuk5• 1 year ago

It's also five minutes from the Elizabeth Line

And about 200ft. Such is the maze-like nature of the Barbican.

zeristor• 1 year ago

Actually the Barbican station has a lift that goes to the Elizabeth line at the far end.

freyfogle6• 1 year ago

I lived there for three years, rented a flat. Living in the Barbican was fantastic, livign in my flat was not fantastic. I used to joke it was a time machine to 1965. There was not only no dishwasher, there was literally no space for a dishwasher. Day one that seems funny, a few days later less so. I was spending a fortune in rent to spend 30 minutes every day handwashing my dishes. I did know people who had bought and renovated, they had amazing places. Oddly on my hall of 10 there were 10 flats of which 4 were empty. I don't mean someone just came occasionally I mean 100% empty with no furniture, with rich people just using it as an investment. Overall though was a greart experience, it's a fantasic place.

pbalau• 1 year ago

I was spending a fortune in rent to spend 30 minutes every day handwashing my dishes.

Did you used to cook for the seven dwarves and their extended families, every day?

talldan• 1 year ago

There was not only no dishwasher, there was literally no space for a dishwasher.

This is quite common for older places in the UK. Some places might have been updated to allow for a dishwasher, but there are probably rules against that in the Barbican.

rowanajmarshall• 1 year ago

There was not only no dishwasher, there was literally no space for a dishwasher.

This is just London, out of the 8 years I've spent here, 3 of them were spent with a dishwasher. Tbh I've got a dishwasher now and barely use it.

bryanrasmussen• 1 year ago

buy a cheap used dishwasher and move it into one of the unused flats.

darrenf• 1 year ago

I spent the first 46 years of my life living in properties in London with no dishwasher. Honestly never thought they were particularly common. In fact the one in my current house was recently out of action for 6 weeks and I tried to convince my partner we should take the opportunity to get rid of it and fill the space with something more useful!

codeulike2• 1 year ago

Lived in London for 20 years, rented 7 or 8 different flats in that time, none of them had a dishwasher and most of them didn't have space for one. Didn't know what I was missing. Moving out of London and finally using a dishwasher was a lifechanging experience.

MisterTea2• 1 year ago

There was not only no dishwasher, there was literally no space for a dishwasher.

30 minutes? Either you're cleaning up a sink full of dishes you neglected for a week or cleaning up after cooking a dinner for four or more. If you immediately clean your dishes after use its takes almost no time at all, maybe a minute or two.

Lio2• 1 year ago

    Withnail: Have you got soup? Why don't I get any soup?
    Marwood: Coffee.
    Withnail: Why don't you use a cup like any other human being?
    Marwood: Why don't you wash up occasionally like any other human being?
    Withnail: (Appalled) How dare you! How dare you! How dare you call me inhumane?!

I haven't lived without a dishwasher since I was a student. I am not keen on repeating the experience.

tshanmu• 1 year ago

nice analogy comparing it to BBC Radio 3- if you/someone knows which neighbourhood would be like BBC Radio 4? I find R3 too high brow for me - Radio 4 seems more accessible :)

petercooper4• 1 year ago

First place that jumps to mind is Richmond! Radio 4 is certainly more "chatty" while still being posh and Richmond is both posh and full of that street/café life.

If we're going to fill out the roster, let's say Radio 1 is Camden, 1xtra is Brixton, Radio 2 is Bromley, Radio 5 is Dagenham, and 6music is eh.. I dunno, Shoreditch?

fennecfoxy3• 1 year ago

Idk I find the area dirty & busy/litter everywhere, etc. But then many parts of London are like that compared to NZ (where we generally take care of the place better).

It's not so bad once you head out into the counties either I suppose.

randomcarbloke4• 1 year ago

your largest city is 9 times smaller than London, admittedly it has some dirtiness as all cities do but I'd say it's cleaner than Berlin (having worked there) which is a quarter the size, certainly cleaner than Paris (although Paris is larger of course), and cleaner than New York (also having worked there) which is fairly close in population.

petercooper4• 1 year ago

I live far out of London, so I sympathise, but due to my family's pursuits, I mostly spend time in London in either Soho or the City, and compared to Soho, the City is a an immaculate paradise.. ;-)

randomcarbloke4• 1 year ago

I don't think you're really supposed to go into the communal area without being a resident :) hence the quietness.

djtango2• 1 year ago

There are plenty of public spaces which are also really nice and calm considering you're pretty much in the thick of it. You can sometimes even hear the Guildhall students practising which is a lovely treat

moomin• 1 year ago

Always great to see more people who love the Barbican as much as I do. A gloriously inventive space that feels like it comes from an alternate timeline. There’s also an integrated complex including a theatre housing the RSC, a concert hall that hosts the LSO, a library and I think a cinema.

Fun fact: a good chunk of the video to “As It Was” was shot there.

probabletrain• 1 year ago

all the photos where shoot with the Leica M11 + 35mm Summilux FLE

These photos look great, but I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly why.

The Barbican certainly looks better here than from what I remember of seeing it through the naked eye.

munificent3• 1 year ago

Good camera + good lens + good photographer + good processing.

Photography is a deeper, more subtle art than a lot of people realize. Two people can take a picture in the exact same location and time and get wildly different results.

enneff• 1 year ago

It’s hard to explain just how nice Leica lenses can be in the right hands. There is a reason they have a cult like following.

Karrot_Kream3• 1 year ago

Whether this was done on-camera or in post, there's color grading happening here. The moody, almost film-like quality present in these pictures is also really popular in high production TV shows right now. Also a good eye for fun compositions, like the shot with the wall/barrier present in the left to offer the feeling of being closed or restricted.

Notice how the shadows are somewhat teal-tinged and the contrast is toned down. There may or may not be some grain or vignetting added in post as well. There are Lightroom color profiles that can get this sort of color feel on application. But the compositions and natural lighting are pure photographer skill to chase.

Reason077• 1 year ago

There’s a pretty great cinema and theatre / concert hall complex in the basement too, which I can recommend visiting. Oh, and a tropical garden (Barbican Conservatory)!

tetris11• 1 year ago

When people point to examples of bad brutalist architecture, I point them to the Barbican as a beautiful counter-example.

rwmj• 1 year ago

And the Brunswick Centre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick_Centre) which is not too far away. Having said that the exceptions don't make the rule.

ninalanyon• 1 year ago

Exceptions prove the rule. Prove means test.

ddalex• 1 year ago

The Brunswick Centre is one of my favourite parts of central London

notahacker2• 1 year ago

Centre Point and it's lesser known baby brother One Kemble Street are pretty attractive buildings too though the former has the characteristic brutalist issue of not being great at street level. Depending on where you approach it from, the Barbican can have that issue too...

munificent3• 1 year ago

My appreciation of Brutalist architecture seems to be in direct proportion to the number of plants it incorporates.

A Brutalist building with zero plants looks like a totalitarian prison hellscape designed to destroy your soul before it destroys your body.

A Brutalist building surrounded by trees with every nook containing greenery and vines dangling down looks like some kind of idyllic Star Wars planet populated by fuzzy hobbit-like creatures.

I'm not sure why I find this effect so strong. Perhaps because flat gray concrete is aesthetically ambiguous. When paired with greenery, it looks like stone. In it's absence, it looks like industrial mechanism.

chilmers• 1 year ago

Agreed. I think greenery and water enhances most architectural styles, but Brutalism is the only one that absolutely _requires_ it. I wonder how differently the perception of the style would be if the Brutalist estates in the UK that became a byword for grimness and ugliness had been embowered and properly maintained by their housing groups and local councils.

empath752• 1 year ago

With greenery on it, the concrete takes on the aspect of a cliff or a rock face, so it feels more they homes were carved out of stone, than poured out of a truck.

pjc504• 1 year ago

Unfortunately without careful continuous maintenance the plants destroy the concrete. Whenever I see plants on one of these buildings that's usually a sign it's been abandoned. It has a post-apocalyptic HZD feel. Like the RBS Dundas Street "ziggurat". https://x.com/sallymiranda/status/1400883551751610381

Perhaps because flat gray concrete is aesthetically ambiguous. When paired with greenery, it looks like stone. In it's absence, it looks like industrial mechanism.

Yes, this is the fundamental error of modernism/brutalism - the belief that flatness and the lack of ornamentation is beautiful. It can be .. but only under optimal conditions, like the concept art. "Material design" for buildings. As soon as it gets a bit weathered and dirty it becomes merely drab. Plants provide some organic variation over the surface, breaking up the now-dirty "clean" lines.

SirFatty• 1 year ago

"There’s an underground parking garage for the residents, but half of it is empty and filled with 20-30-year-old cars whose owners are no longer known."

Of all the great information, that's the bit that sticks in my mind for some reason. I'd like to pics of that...

mullingitover• 1 year ago

Not mentioned in the article, but this was what J. G. Ballard's novel (and later film) High Rise was based on.

phoh• 1 year ago

i think that was Trellick Tower, by Ernő Goldfinger (who incidentally the Bond villan was named after)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trellick_Tower

https://architectureau.com/articles/the-brutality-of-vertica...

philipwhiuk5• 1 year ago

Trellick is what people film when they can't get the Barbican to work (bluntly)

pillefitz• 1 year ago

I was recently reading another book of Ballard while on the flight to London and, shortly after arriving, visited the Barbican. What a magical experience it was!

01HNNWZ0MV43FF• 1 year ago

Ooh, another arcology. There's a little one in Alaska https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begich_Towers

didsomeonesay• 1 year ago

Oh that the was fascinating, too. From visiting more than a decade ago, I understand that most of the permanent population of Whittier lives there (except for some hotel employees) and that they have an underground passage connecting it with the school building opposite (so students in winter can get there without putting on a coat).

arnab_optimatik• 1 year ago

The events, cultural activities and especially some of the curated exhibitions at the Barbican have been outstanding. Highly recommend to anyone visiting London.

sagacity• 1 year ago

What a coincidence, I just visited last week. The article's comment about it being hard to navigate is completely accurate but I found it to be fun. You may be getting lost, but there's always an interesting view towards another part of the building enticing you to go there... It's almost like the design of Breath of the Wild or something.

rjmunro• 1 year ago

I'm surprised the article doesn't mention the concert hall. It's one of London's most famous, with almost 2000 seats, and it's the London Symphony Orchestra's main home.

Until last lear, The Lead Developer conference (https://leaddev.com/) was held there, but it's moved to a larger venue for this year (I don't think the size of the main hall was the problem, it was the areas for break out etc.) They had a great talk about the history of the place: https://leaddev.com/leadership/you-are-here-the-story-of-the...

The Barbican Theatre is one of the London homes of the Royal Shakespeare Company, although they are looking to

farslan9• 1 year ago

OP here. I hadn't a chance to visit it. Because of that, I also don't have any photos from there. But good point. I actually just received one of the books I recommend at the end of the blog post, which actually goes into the Barbican Event centre in more detail.

curiousgal• 1 year ago

Too bad the staff of that hall are completely incompetent. Put me off going there ever again.

turnsout• 1 year ago

What’s the story?

libraryofbabel• 1 year ago

The concert hall and theater is indeed the main reason most people who aren’t residents end up in the Barbican. When I lived in London it was almost a classical music rite of passage to get completely lost on the wrong concrete overhead walkway while rushing to get to an LSO concert there.

Unrelated, but recently the complex has been appearing in the general consciousness again as the excellent Apple TV series/spy novels Slow Horses (about a bunch of outcast MI5 agents) is set near there.

ssalazar• 1 year ago

The Agency on Showtime also prominently features the Barbican as the protagonist's residence with a number of great exterior shots.

themadturk• 1 year ago

After watching the first season I (a left-coast Yank) started reading Mick Herron's novels and had no idea what the Barbican was. Kept forgetting to look it up, as I kept getting caught up in the action...

sdenton4• 1 year ago

(Indeed, Belle and Sebastian's "If You're Feeling Sinister - Live at the Barbican" is my favorite B&S album, and is quite a lot better than the original studio recording. So the Barbican has an odd warm place in my heart despite knowing nothing more about it until today.)

(That same Live at the Barbican album is weirdly hard to find because it was a damned Apple Music exclusive. Travesty...)

te_chris• 1 year ago

Worth pointing out that, as a concert hall, it's extremely mediocre acoustically ( same as the Royal Fesitval Hall) - albeit pretty and I love it dearly. There was a plan to build a new, proper concert hall but it got scotched. Probably deservedly but it would've been wonderful to have a concert hall worthy of our musicians and enesembles.

PaulRobinson• 1 year ago

It's a pretty great theatre, and I also love it dearly as is. I don't mind the acoustics generally, but aware that some people moan about it.

I'm not sure there is a really, really great concert hall from an acoustics perspective in London. Back in Manchester I loved the Bridgewater because it was designed to be acoustically good no matter how many people were in the audience. I can't think of anything that modern and carefully thought through, so I tend to look for smaller venues with more "classical" approaches to acoustics (Wigmore, St Martins, and so on). Where do you like?

teajunky• 1 year ago

This week the Software Development and Design conference takes place at the Barbican Center: https://sddconf.com/

KaiserPro4• 1 year ago

RANT ALERT:

The barbican is odd, mainly because its the only brutalist "council housing estate" that actually mostly worked as intended[1]

If you compare the layout/style to say the haygate estate (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13092349 where attack the block was filmed) or the lesser known aylesbury estate, its more enclosed, but no less brutalist.

What is different is that unlike the southwark estates, it always had the original tenancy requirements upheld (either by tenant action, location or happenstance.) [2]

This meant that it didn't have the massive abandonment in the 90s, left to rot throughout the 00s. The quality of the haygate estate was actually pretty high, secure entry, gardens for the low rise, district heating, trees and playgrounds.

What was fucked up was that the heygate was a dumping ground for undesirables. this mean a spiral of drugs, crime and antisocial behaviour. The barbican escaped most of this because people were too fucking posh.

The social life of the barbican was upheld because of the huge amounts of money poured into the cultural centres that are hidden (and I mean hidden, the place is a fucking impossible maze) Most of the tenant social clubs were disbanded on the other estates, and the halls sold off or leased out to businesses.

In many way, the barbican isn't a great estate in terms of building quality. Its the same as any >60s council property. They all had to be big enough, have a separate kitchen and decent storage.

[1] well its not a mixed class housing estate, its all full of posh design types, and a handful of tenants left over from the 80s

[2] to get a council house, you had to be of good standing, and have a job. It wasn't a place to dumo drugadicts or problem families.

TLDR: the barbican is decent housing because it was reasonably well maintained, and wasn't filled with families in distress, or habitual criminals. We need to build more council estates to the same standard, with the same rules as the 60s.

eilzo2• 1 year ago

The Barbican was never built as social housing - the intended occupants were always central London professional workers and they charged market rates.

notahacker2• 1 year ago

Which in a way actually does align with the OP's view on why it never became known as a dangerous sketchy place.

Much more thought gone into the aesthetics of the Barbican than the Heygate Estate though, which is why the Heygate Estate was the one that ended up as every film scout's first choice of "scary, deprived place" even though it reportedly actually wasn't bad by the standards of south London postwar estates. And that's before taking into account the Barbican's arts facilities and all the money spent maintaining its communcal areas

KaiserPro4• 1 year ago

Thats my point, because it wasn't run within the confines of the 1970+ social housing straight jacket (funding not dependent on tenants, no ability to control who was placed in there, centralised funding formula that meant you might gets loads of money one year, and none over the next ten.)

philipwhiuk5• 1 year ago

Heygate is the answer to the question "can we solve a social problem with a building". The answer is no.

KaiserPro4• 1 year ago

Yup. "vandalism, overcrowding and poor maintenance", as a mechanic would say: "there's your problem mate."

projektfu• 1 year ago

No, it's definitely ugly and an abomination. One of London's worst and probably, unfortunately, historically protected.

eilzo2• 1 year ago

To each their own :). One of my favourite places in London.

philipwhiuk5• 1 year ago

It's far from the worst, but it's going up the list because we keep knocking them down.

scoofy• 1 year ago

I'm glad people appreciate the building. You all can have it... it's just not for me.

oniony2• 1 year ago

So strange to talk about the Barbican Centre as a curiousity and to not mention the greenhouse! I used to work around the area and would take 'short cuts' from the Barbican tube station through the Barbican Centre to the City. I got lost many, many times, would end up in dead ends, or the other side of lakes to where I wanted to be. Or stuck behind a metal gate I could not open. The place often taunts you with a view of right where you want to be but from behind a thin metal fence or gate that requires a key or fob.

Anyhow, one day I went a different way and there was this massive, tropical greenhouse. Kinda hard to believe if you've ever seen the place.

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-co...

farslan9• 1 year ago

Op. The greenhouse was closed, hence I hadn't a chance to photograph the place. There are too many details about that place, and I only shared the pieces that I've had chance to thoroughly visit.

oniony2• 1 year ago

Yeah, was not a criticism, merely a "and you think that's all weird, there's also this" kinda statement.

mattkevan• 1 year ago

I love the greenhouse, it’s one of my favourite places in London. Walking around it, exploring the different levels and observing the plants covering the concrete and ductwork makes me feel like I’m in some kind of retro-futuristic space arcology.

Such a contrast to the Sky Garden in the City which has all the charm of an airport departure lounge.

Angostura• 1 year ago

Don’t forget the only reason the greenhouse (conservatory) exists is to camouflage the fly-tower from the theatre stage below!

halfdaft• 1 year ago

It is! - except it's to hide the fly tower from the outside. The fly tower wasn't part of the original design. The first resident theatre company to be - the Royal Shakespeare company insisted upon one so the architects but came up with the genius idea of hiding it with a conservatory. I discovered this when working in the theatre space. I went exploring the fly tower (as you do) and opened a door at the top. I assumed I'd see some dark service corridor, but instead emerged into the warm, humid, nighttime air of a huge conservatory - it was easily the most magical architectural experience I've ever had.

stavros3• 1 year ago

Can you just walk in? Or do you need tickets? I see there are free tickets but they're sold out.

darajava• 1 year ago

Yeah you need tickets for the greenhouse. They're usually sold out for a few days ahead. You don't need a ticket for the rest of it though!

phatfish• 1 year ago

In the days where work events were worth attending, we had one at that conservatory. It is indeed worth a visit.

jaqalopes• 1 year ago

Sounds like the perfect setting for a souls-like game.

comprev• 1 year ago

Like walking around Venice - I spent more time retracing my steps than moving forward :)

wgrover• 1 year ago

Here's a cross-section through the theatre portion of the Barbican showing the complexity of the engineering:

https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/5w9ep7/cross_...

dabreegster• 1 year ago

This is incredible. I remember failing to hunt some down earlier, but does anyone know of really detailed plans or 3D models?

Ericson2314• 1 year ago

One thing that I think is underappreciated as a distinguishing factor of brutalism is how three-dimensional it is.

Whether its the Barbican, or "Grad Center" at Brown University, there are all sorts of elevated walkways that you can see from other levels, defying "every floor is like every other floor" expectations.

I think I have vague memories of when being a small child, being filled with wonder at various municipal buildings that did this. Though my memory hazy and I cannot remember the specific buildings.

bobthepanda2• 1 year ago

These became less popular over time due to cost and safety reasons.

Interbuilding passageways complicate future renovation and redevelopment, and spreading eyes on the street thinly makes all walking areas harder to secure.

the_mitsuhiko• 1 year ago

Interbuilding passageways complicate future renovation and redevelopment

They are also incredibly inconvenient. London had many walkways because they wanted to give cars priority, and they largely became unused and became a source for litter.

hnlmorg6• 1 year ago

I used to work on a top floor of the building next to it so had a first class view of the estate. Been there a few times and a friend used to live there too.

He would rave about the place but I’m not a fan of it personally.

Aesthetically it’s out of place and (in my personal opinion) a bit of an eye sore.

The maze like design seems fun at first but it’s less amusing if you’re the one who’s actually lost in there and have somewhere to be.

The apartments are small and impossible to get the temperature right (too hot in summer, too cold in winter).

But because its iconic people still pay an obscene amount to live there.

The on-site amenities are pretty good, but its central London, you’re not far from literally anything you could imagine or desire. So I’m not sure that’s as much a selling point now than it was when the estate was built.

It’s one of those places you’d have to really love in spite of its warts because it’s so impractical by modern standards.

dreghgh5• 1 year ago

The on-site amenities are pretty good, but its central London, you’re not far from literally anything you could imagine or desire.

This is totally inaccurate. It's the business district. If not for the Barbican, the nearest serious art gallery, repertory cinema, music auditorium, are all around half an hour away.

hnlmorg6• 1 year ago

I know the area well. It’s actually more like 15 minutes. Quicker if you take the tube.

But even half an hour isn’t a long walk. ;)

NoboruWataya• 1 year ago

Half an hour is pretty much nothing in London. But if you factor public transport or cycling into the mix then there are loads of places you can get to in less than half an hour. For example about 10 minutes cycle to the south you have the Southbank Centre, BFI, Tate Modern etc.

grumpy-de-sre• 1 year ago

One of the very few places in London that I ever felt truly at peace.

I think the heavy maze like structure was incredibly effective at blocking out the sound of the city and the water features / conservatory made it an amazing place to chill out for a relaxing lunch.

Not quite cyberpunk, not quite solarpunk but somewhere in between and utterly unique.

drcongo• 1 year ago

Glad you enjoyed your visit, lovely photos too.

farslan9• 1 year ago

Thank you!

SideburnsOfDoom2• 1 year ago

FYI, there's also a conservatory (A glass roofed garden room) on level 3

I was fortunate enough to be in there recently.

derriz2• 1 year ago

(Not very) interesting that the author of the piece refers to it as "Barbican" while I've never heard it referred to without the definite article - i.e. "The Barbican". Is there any significance to this?

farslan9• 1 year ago

You’re right. I submitted it as The Barbican here, because that felt more natural for me. I just updated the title of my blog post to The Barbican as well

cal85• 1 year ago

The building complex is always called “the Barbican”, but the surrounding map area and its tube station are named just “Barbican”. Also, the arts theatre place within the Barbican seems to be officially named “Barbican Centre” (but people always say “going to see X at the Barbican”).

derriz2• 1 year ago

That makes sense. I still find hard to imagine saying something like "I live in Barbican" if I didn't live in _The_ Barbican. But going to "Barbican" if traveling by tube would be obvious.

manmal• 1 year ago

Having watched Slow Horses recently, I immediately recognized the building. My employer‘s HQ is near Barbican too, such an underrated part of the city.

EbNar• 1 year ago

That's amusing... I learned about this building during my english proficiency exam, as the "listening" part narrated its story.

graemep• 1 year ago

I have lived there many years ago and it was amazing.

Theatre, concert hall, library, cinema and a few other things in the building. well kept gardens. Friendly and peaceful.

Karrot_Kream3• 1 year ago

Leica M11 + 35mm Summilux FLE

I've never shot Leica. Is this color grading something you can pull straight out of the camera, or is this applied in post?

(Also wow that is expensive kit.)

farslan9• 1 year ago

People always ask which camera or lens I use, hence I added it upfront. Leica's are expensive I agree. It was a dream of mine to use it though for almost two decades. I finally was in a position to get it three years ago.

To your question, the RAW's, unprocessed files are not like this from a Leica. You need to color grade (photographers say "post processing"). Color grading is used mostly for Video. In Photography, there are a lot of other things, it's mostly about light, not color. Highlights, Shadows, Contrast, Blacks/Whites etc.. Of course colors are also very important.

If you want good colors straight out of the camera, you could look into FujiFilm.

Karrot_Kream3• 1 year ago

If you want good colors straight out of the camera, you could look into FujiFilm.

This is why I was asking. I've never shot Leica so was curious if Leica worked like Fuji and offered interesting color profiles in body.

Leica's are expensive I agree. It was a dream of mine to use it though for almost two decades. I finally was in a position to get it three years ago.

Yeah sorry I don't mean to throw shade with that comment. Your compositions are great and interesting and your moments seem deliberate. Artistry went into this, these are good photos :)

Etheryte• 1 year ago

That's exactly why I carry Fuji, but at the same time, their camera lineup is all a bit wonky. The features are split between a number of models, but none of them carry a good subset for me. I wish they made an X100VI with a removable lens, so in essence an X-Pro4 or similar, but it doesn't look like that's even on their roadmap. I like the form factor, dig that it has IBIS, but really wish I could slap different glass on it.

trainyperson• 1 year ago

The Barbican is one of my favorite places on Earth and this post in a simple way does such a good job of capturing the beauty and wonder I associate with it. Others have mentioned the greenhouse and the concert hall; I’ll the exhibition space which consistently hosts great exhibits including the only good AI-themed museum exhibit I’ve ever seen (and it was back in 2019).

For those interested / invested, they recently launched a Barbican renewal project: https://www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/barbican-un...

yardie4• 1 year ago

"There’s an underground parking garage for the residents, but half of it is empty and filled with 20-30-year-old cars whose owners are no longer known."

Years ago I bought a flat and it came with an underground parking garage. Once we were settled in I break the garage lock and inside was an old Peugot, cans of old motor oil, and all sorts of junk shoved in between the garage door cracks. It was hell to get rid of the thing. The tires were flat. No title meant no tow trucks wanted to touch it and no scrap yard was willing to accept it. After too many months I was able to get the city to declare the car derelict. And then I had to pay a scrap yard to accept it.

smusamashah• 1 year ago

As a total noob about the cars or buying flats or the location you are from, my first though was that why didn't you get it fixed and drive it away. But you won't have the papers then. Do the scrap yards not accept it for the same reason?

analog31• 1 year ago

Most mechanics won't fix a car on site, and there might not be space to do so. Also, a car that's been sitting for that long can't be started without at least charging the battery, and probably, replacing it. Then one wonders how much they're going to have to invest on something that might never work and that they'll still have to pay to get rid of.

yardie4• 1 year ago

It's very, very expensive to bring something back to operational after decades of neglect. Spend thousands of euros on a car worth at most 1000€

Also, we already have a car. Why would I want someone else's scraps?

pjc504• 1 year ago

Basically yes. However I'm sure the management company (roughly what americans would call a "condo association"?) responsible could change the terms given sufficient notice to allow them to remove and auction abandoned vehicles. I'm surprised they don't given how valuable a London car park is. Maybe they're not actually abandoned?

rtpg• 1 year ago

I _really_ appreciate Tokyo's system of basically forcing you to affirmatively declare your parking spot when you buy a car, on top of the usual "pay extra rent to have a parking space" thing that happens in many spots.

While it doesn't stop cars from being abandoned "randomly", just the entire principle of having a paper trail for these things and creating a bunch of incentives to make sure that parking spots don't turn into trash heaps[0].

Especially now that I live in a place where street parking is a prime resource and yet people _who have garages_ still choose to street park out of convenience...

[0]: not always of course, I know about the trash houses

pmg101• 1 year ago

There's a whole subculture among car people of "barn finds", well represented on YouTube but also long predating that.

I bet someone would have been absolutely delighted to have that old Peugeot!

dpb001• 1 year ago

High demand in Iran (if it was a 405): https://www.theautopian.com/why-tuner-cars-in-iran-have-rear...

mrweasel• 1 year ago

Kinda weird that it would hard to track down the owner of a car. Technically you can get the own from the VIN, which may be the estate for a deceased person. Getting them to actually take action is a different matter obviously

yardie4• 1 year ago

The last known address of the previous owner was the flat I was currently occupying, LOL.

The flat was built and purchased in the 60s, abandoned in the 90s, and sold to us in 2010s. It was near a newly gentrifying, former industrial area. I think we went back and forth with the city for 10 months before they agreed to give me the paperwork that would allow it to be scrapped. I get that no one wants to get it wrong and accidentally throw someone else's property into the bin.

cjrp• 1 year ago

In the UK, you can request a new V5 from DVLA (this doesn't give you ownership, you just become the "registered keeper"). The DVLA contacts the previous owner, if they don't respond you get a new V5.

aspenmayer• 1 year ago

After too many months I was able to get the city to declare the car derelict. And then I had to pay a scrap yard to accept it.

I’m assuming there contents of the garage became your property, and thus legal liability, when you purchased the flat?

Since the property is derelict and you weren’t aware of it previously, and the disposal of the property caused undue effort and cost, would the failure to disclose the contents of the garage by the former owner and/or their agent constitute some kind of breach of duty or some other kind of contract violation?

DrakeDeaton• 1 year ago

Part of the thinking behind the Barbican's somewhat hidden entrances to the estate and tts maze-like layout was that they would reduce foot traffic, and it totally worked. Not many people use the public estate high-walks as a shortcut to get across the City. This has a wonderful effect wherein you're surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the City, while being just a touch insulated from it.

I lived there for the better part of a year and it completely changed my perspective on living in London. More city-life should be like the Barbican.

justincormack• 1 year ago

The whole city was supposed to be covered by high walks, but few are left and the plan didnt work.

freyfogle6• 1 year ago

If you know where to look there are still a few old wall maps left in the Barbican that show the old high walks

crabmusket• 1 year ago

I visited after having read Jane Jacobs the year before and becoming quite sympathetic to her vision of city life and active neighbourhoods through mixed uses. The Barbican felt like the philosophical opposite.

I read somewhere, I wish I could remember where, that some urban designers in the 60s had the feeling that people should spend their recreation time in their private homes rather than outside.

The Barbican felt like it had achieved that ideal of lifelessness, with bizarrely large and featureless open spaces, scant seating, etc. Of course that contrasted with the spaces around the arts centre which were bustling.

iamacyborg• 1 year ago

You don’t need maze-like entrances to make places quieter, people’s laziness will do the work for you.

I lived for a while on Bedford Avenue between the British Museum and TCR and it was dead quiet, despite the location.

globular-toast• 1 year ago

Odd use of "nit". Generally one nitpicks someone else's work, but I guess you can do you own nitpicking? Don't think this is common, though.

petepete• 1 year ago

For this crowd, maybe "all the photos where shoot with the Leica M11 + 35mm Summilux FLE btw" might be more apt.

farslan9• 1 year ago

Funny because I always thought of `nit` as something like `btw`. It never occured to me it's actually an abbrevation of nitpick :) Learnt something new today. I'll fix it, thank you!

(English is my second language, so stuff like this can happen sometimes)

codeulike2• 1 year ago

There's also the Barbican Centre that a cinema/theatre/concert hall, they have some great stuff there

https://www.barbican.org.uk/

vr46• 1 year ago

I have many memories of barrelling through on skates with friends, and one of my favourite memories is of filming a mate skating through some flaming cones that another friend had made, basically mini molotov cocktails of small bottles filled with paraffin, we set them in a long line outside the church opposite the water and spent an hour skating around and filming ourselves. This was pre-2001, I cannot believe some of the shit we used to do.

Elsewhere in the place, I have loved going to exhibitions, theatre plays, gigs and the cinema. It's a one-stop cultural hub that evokes the glamour of flying in the olden days.

earlyriser• 1 year ago

It looks a lot like Mass Effect Citadel, with the water reservoir in the middle. I'm surprised to not found some link documenting if it was inspired by it.

frereubu• 1 year ago

The apartments are lovely, but the service charges are eye-watering, ranging from around £6,000 per year for a two-bedroom, to £14,400 for the more expensive ones:

https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/thomas-more-house-ii

https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/Lauderdale-Tower-II

https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/willoughby-house

https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/ben-jonson-house-iii

And all are sold on that weird UK feudal relic, leaseholds, so you're just buying for a certain number of years - a couple of the ones above only have ~80 years remaining.

nbevans• 1 year ago

6k is pretty typical for any premium apartments in London. That's actually pretty cheap for that location.

lozenge2• 1 year ago

Half of the population of the City of London (aka the square mile) is in the Barbican. There is hardly any location to compare it to.

IshKebab2• 1 year ago

Oh no. £14k/year. I guess I won't buy that £2.5m central London flat after all.

devnullbrain• 1 year ago

The inaccesibility for mere mortals ruins any claim it has to being a representative of brutalism, IMO. Of course it looks nice, it was made by the City of London at eyewatering cost with absurd levels of craftmanship. The movement wouldn't have such a bad image if other buildings had that kind of budget for upkeep and gardening. But they don't: they're rotten and barren.

eru5• 1 year ago

It doesn't actually look nice in person, and the craftsmanship ain't anything to write home about. (However I can believe the claims of eyewatering cost.)

The shoddy windows are particularly easy to spot, even in the pictures in the article. I'm not even sure these would be legal in Germany.

pledg3• 1 year ago

That’s on the cheap end of zone 1 London for service charges, especially anything with a porter and gardeners. If you were buying now you’d renew the lease for about £20k, which is a tiny fraction of the purchase price you’d be paying. (Source: did it in 2022)

eru5• 1 year ago

If you don't already own a flat in the Barbican, but plan to move there, than the service charges and the leasehold are immaterial to you.

If they lowered the service charges tomorrow, that would just mean that the headline market price of the apartments would go up to compensate.

If they moved from leasehold to freehold tomorrow, you would also see that reflected in the price.

mjamil• 1 year ago

It is utterly weird to me that so many commenters here appreciate the Barbican's aesthetics. To me, it is an ugly eyesore that's a legacy of the brutalist wave of the mid-20th century. I lived close to it (in Islington) for many months, and avoided walking through it to get to the City (where I worked).

eszed2• 1 year ago

Like - at least in my opinion - many brutalist buildings, it's ugly from the outside and gorgeous on the inside. I've explored it many times, and agree with everything in this article and in the positive comments in the thread. And... I kinda agree with you, too. What experience - interior or exterior - architects should prioritize is an interesting conundrum.

xixixao• 1 year ago

I agree the interior is nicer than the exterior.

But it’s still dreary, in person, on a cloudy day. This style looks good in drawings, well lit and edited photos, but I think it’s a false/failed direction in living reality (specifically the facade, the building shape, “tunnels” etc).

ljm• 1 year ago

Maybe because other brutalist estates in London aren’t nearly as well kept or, uh, wealthy, than the Barbican is. And perhaps it’s uncommon to wander through such estates when you don’t live in them.

The old Robin Hood Gardens before they were demolished were quite unwelcoming, looking from the outside. You wouldn’t go anywhere near those kind of estates unless you were a resident, and you’d have a very different impression as someone who saw what it was like internally.

frutiger• 1 year ago

Heh, very strange to see someone mention this online. (I grew up in the non-Brutalist but nearby Aberfeldy Estate, and now live a few thousand miles away).

IshKebab2• 1 year ago

It's definitely one of the least bad brutalist constructions. It's also quite nice if you're walking around inside it on the walkways.

It's awful if you're walking along actual roads though. I would avoid it too.

gadders• 1 year ago

It's not beautiful, but it's nowhere near as ugly as the South Bank Centre. I would flatten that in an instant.

cbeach2• 1 year ago

Brutalism was a reactionary movement against ornate Victorian and Georgian architecture, which was seen as elitist and emblematic of the "property owning class"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture

In the United Kingdom, brutalism was featured in the design of utilitarian, low-cost social housing influenced by socialist principles and soon spread to other regions around the world, while being echoed by similar styles like in Eastern Europe

So beware the vocal minority of English socialists that have a politically-tainted take on this architecture.

The rest of us agree with you. It's offensively ugly!

BoxOfRain2• 1 year ago

To me it's a totalitarian style, it tells people 'I'm unashamedly ugly and I couldn't care any less what you think about that'. It goes out of its way to be imposing and institutional as though it's designed not for humans but for entirely fungible economic resources who in time will be burned up and discarded.

It's ironic the style is so strongly associated with socialism I think because it's much more 'dark Satanic mills' than 'England's green and pleasant land'.

electrosphere• 1 year ago

I often take my friends to the walkway where they filmed the Imperial capital scenes in Andor.

The Barbican is Coruscant.

vkazanov• 1 year ago

Oh... barbican...

Me and my 10 year old kid were playing quake 1 together, a map pack called Brutalism jam. Having discussed the style we went to barbican, saw the greenhouse and walked around the complex for a while.

The kid couldn't stop talking about it for months! Amazing place (also a surreal map pack).

hkt• 1 year ago

It is a tragedy that this kind of visionary architecture isn't the mainstay of housing in the UK. I used to live in Park Hill in Sheffield, and the sheer beauty of those clean lines against a blue sky is hard to understate.

tim333• 1 year ago

I have fond memories of classical concerts there when it was the place to go.

It was also the setting for part of Harry Styles As It Was https://youtu.be/H5v3kku4y6Q

mrtksn• 1 year ago

My office was right next to Barbican, I was going to rent a place there but I cheaped out. Still bitter about it.

The thing about Barbican is that it is an opinionated living complex. People who built it had an idea on how the urban living is supposed to be and sculptured that in concrete. Very few things are changeable there, that's why it also feels like a different time.

I enjoyed walking from my office to the tube and get amazed by this giant place everyday. Never seized to amaze me. I would occasionally go there and work at the public places, it was often empty enough to find corners or passages where I can just observer the life happening in distance.

Here's a couple of photos: https://dropover.cloud/09cb4c

rriley• 1 year ago

The Barbican is such a striking example of an architectural utopia, built not just as housing, but as a statement about how people could live, work, and engage with culture in one integrated space.

Few others worth exploring...

Walden 7 (Spain): A labyrinthine, colorful complex by Ricardo Bofill with inner courtyards and skybridges, aiming for a more social urban life based on B.F. Skinner's Walden Two philosophy.

Arcosanti (USA): Paolo Soleri’s desert experiment in “arcology”, architecture + ecology—exploring sustainable living in a compact footprint.

Unité d'Habitation (France): Le Corbusier’s "vertical garden city" combining apartments, shops, and communal spaces into one concrete megastructure.

Habitat 67 (Canada): Modular housing units stacked like Lego, Moshe Safdie’s vision for dense yet humane urban living.

Auroville (India): Founded in the 1960s as an experimental township aiming for human unity beyond politics and religion.

tweetle_beetle• 1 year ago

I'm not sure how to feel about most of those these days. They are iconic and I'm glad that experimental ideas actually made it to completion, but ultimately they have failed at reimagining life for ordinary people.

In the cases of the buildings, over time their value has increased faster than an average dwelling in the vicinity, making them more exclusive and restricting access to those higher and higher up the socio-economic ladder - effectively turning them into gated community without the residents needing to feel the guilt of living behind physical gates.

The buildings are still there, and they have inhabitants, but the investment potential has long outlived any philosophy. I guess you could argue there are some secondary effects from their influence, but I wonder how the architects would feel today.

eru5• 1 year ago

For a more positive example, you might look at what the 'Housing and Development Board' managed to put up in Singapore. See eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pinnacle@Duxton and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Development_Board in general.

However, I feel like HDB should declare victory and go home.

Arkhaine_kupo• 1 year ago

That hardly seems like a slight to the proyects but the lack of systemic larger changes no?

The barbican was created as a council proyect for middle class people. Nowadays council houses are considered only for destitute families. So of course the priorities, prices, and accesibility of thsoe houses is very limited compared to what you could do with a proyect like the barbican.

I think with inflation on mind the average salary would be like 70k, which is way above UK average, but certainly very accesible to a large number of working professionals in the UK. There simply is not something half as good for that money being built nowadays in the UK. So obvs Barbican increases in price when there is no analagous purchase possible.

mavhc• 1 year ago

I assume they'd be confused that if their test project produced good results, why wasn't it widely replicated?

They're mostly too expensive because they're rare

verytrivial• 1 year ago

The video for the Dua Lipa track "Blow Your Mind (Mwah)" was shot on the estate for anyone interested in listening to that 2017 banger again.

jbl0ndie• 1 year ago

Every detail of the Barbican is a joy. Even the skirting board where the wall meets the flooring is gently curved, making it a easy to clean.

Another fun Barbican fact is their Garchey System for waste disposal.

The wet food waste is collected communally and taken away by custom-built tanker vehicles that connect to the holding tanks. https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk/barbican-now/garchey/the-ga...

renewiltord• 1 year ago

Fortunately, nothing like this will be built ever again because we wouldn't want to ruin the character of the neighbourhood.

dgroshev• 1 year ago

Two less mentioned sides of the Barbican that I love:

- how much design work was put into it. So many of it, from little bits and bobs (an awning, an electric socket, a doorframe), to the overall layout are unique to the area they are in and aren't copy-pasted elsewhere! It creates a coherent, but varying ensamble that is vibrant and alive, and is not just a grid of repeated elements.

- relatedly, how deeply organic the maze of the Barbican is. Contrast the raw concrete of the Barbican with the flowing lines of the Walkie-Talkie: one has an organic and smooth shape, but is really a 3D grid of repeated blocks; the other is made entirely of exposed raw concrete, but you never know what you will see around a corner. In this sense, the Barbican is more organic than most modern architecture. It's a place of wonder and surprise.

I love the Barbican.

ChuckMcM• 1 year ago

Interesting that they took out the hospital/clinic ? Seems like it would be useful. In the US there are 'golf course to the grave' type communities for adults who want to go smoothly from the 50's into the afterlife. And when I was a teen I read Silverberg's book "The World Inside"[1] which postulated the "Urbmon" a complete community in a single structure. That has always fascinated me, the question of "Can you build a carbon neutral self sustaining human community?" I presume you can but how effective would it be? The Barbican looks like an interesting take on mixed use.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Inside

dewey• 1 year ago

I recently saw a flat listing, which gives a nice peek inside of one of the very nicely furnished flats:

https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/defoe-house-II

Edit: Just saw there's another comment with some other listings from that website, they are all quite nice.

jjani• 1 year ago

The stunning architecture is what makes it unique. Truly beautiful and one-of-a-kind, it's a work of art. Most of the functional stuff mentioned (underground parking, cradle to grave amenities, online community, (music) academy inside the complex) is bog standard living in much of Korea, and I imagine modern China as well.

simgt• 1 year ago

Never Too Small has an episode on a renovated flat in the Barbican: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2L0uML715dE

I personally love the brutalist and gigantic architecture of this time. Jam pack the flats, leave space for nature and public areas around it. Fairly standard in developed Asia, rare outside of ghettos in the West. Every time I discuss it with others, it's a hard sell against the "bbq with your neighbors in your back garden" so many aspire to by moving in suburbian houses.

Animats• 1 year ago

I've been there for two convention-type meetings, on completely different subjects but in the same space. I kept feeling I was in the private space of residents while trying to find a meeting room.

Never got up high enough to see the greenhouse.

eru5• 1 year ago

I used to live just off Old Street and worked in the City, so I frequently passed by the Barbican when I walked to work.

It's an interesting place to be sure, but I wouldn't praise it nearly as much as the article does.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43966676 expresses some of what I felt.

jonwinstanley• 1 year ago

Some of Star Wars: Andor was filmed there. The concrete walkways look great as futuristic structures.

https://www.nadamaktari.com/nadamaktari-memorylog/architectu...

zombot• 1 year ago

Beautiful.

The author misspelled Londinium.

farslan9• 1 year ago

Thank you! I've fixed it.

walrus01• 1 year ago

People who enjoy the Barbican should also like SFU campus in Burnaby in metro Vancouver, and the well known concrete waffle on West Georgia St. The concrete waffle office tower was also CGIed into american nazi party headquarters in "The Man in the High Castle".

seanhunter• 1 year ago

I did my music postgrad at the Guildhall school of music and drama, which is in the Barbican. Fun facts:

1) Orlando Bloom did the drama course when we were there. Famous music students there include Bryn Terfel, Jaqueline du pre and tons of others.

2) I say we because my wife did a music postgrad there at the same time but we didn’t meet until we left even though we were once on the same openday concert program together. (My composition was chosen to represent the jazz courses so I was in a group that played that - my wife won a chamber music award so she was playing later in the concert with a guitarist, but us jazzers didn’t get to see that).

3) We didn’t meet because she did early music whereas I did the jazz course and all the lessons on the jazz course were underground. You may think I am joking but literally all our lessons were in the basement except for if we had a visiting musician do a masterclass (then they used to use one of the nice airy and bright above-ground rooms, some of which have a lovely view of the lake).

4) As well as the concert hall which people have mentioned, there is a theatre and at least 2 cinemas as part of the Barbican complex. If you know where to look there are parts of the old roman wall and at least 2 ruined medieval churches. You are also not far at all from one of London’s real hidden gems, the cathedral of St Bartholomew the great, a medieval cathedral down a little side alley near Smithfield market that tons of people in London don’t even know exists. Oh and for Americans, Benjamin Franklin once worked there as a typesetter[1]

My wife now teaches at the Guildhall. It’s a pretty special place especially this time of year when it’s nice. You can go sit out by the lake in the sunshine, watch the ducks etc. It’s really peaceful even though you are yards from old street, moorgate, liverpool street etc some of the busiest parts of london.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bartholomew-the-Great

mobiuscog• 1 year ago

Dropped in to see why Plymouth was being featured...

...left unsurprised.

bschne• 1 year ago

If you wanna get some more footage of the buildings and inhabitants, I can recommend checking out Bêka & Lemoine's "Barbicania" --- https://vimeo.com/ondemand/barbicania

This site also seems to have lots of background info and details on various aspects of the buildings, though I haven't explored in depth --- https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk

farslan9• 1 year ago

TIL about this, thanks so much.

A_Duck• 1 year ago

I live here — what I love most is the sense of excitement for a different and better future which runs through the neighbourhood.

There's a lot less of that feeling out in the world of 2025 but you can still find it if you look.

itissid• 1 year ago

There is a giant indoor climate controlled greenhouse which allows visitors that has a heated patio in the middle to sit. Makes a great place to lounge in the winters.

gus_massa• 1 year ago

Top view in Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Barbican+Centre/@51.520193...

IIUC it's the half circle at the top and the rectangular building at the bottom with a green park between them.

benbristow• 1 year ago

The residents are already on to you.

https://www.barbicantalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31087

cbeach2• 1 year ago

Even though it serves as expensive housing for private purchase, it still manages to exude Soviet central-planned estate vibes.

Walking around this imposing concrete structure, you feel its soullessness and brutalism. They made attempts to introduce greenery (like the temperate greenhouse area), but in the 21st century those areas are tired, poorly maintained and generally devoid of any visitors. The glass is misty or greening. The water features are stagnant. The concrete has aged poorly, with cracking and visible degradation.

London is full of beautiful Victorian and Georgian architecture, so brutalist concrete buildings look cringeworthy by comparison.. but they do seem to tickle the fancy of the socialist intelligentia, who love to proclaim how clever it all is - clever in a way that the common non-socialist folk simply wouldn't understand.

nephrenka• 1 year ago

Fascinating! I spent the past two days at a software conference in the Barbican. (The SDD conf). The place is truly beautiful in a brutalistic way. Had lunch in the greenhouse.

chrisstu• 1 year ago

Nice article. I like the Barbican and have spent a fair bit of time there over the last 25 years. I even worked out how to get from A to B without getting lost. Not been recently though.

The appearance of various Barbican adjacent locations in Slow Horses was a nice touch. And very on-point given the nature of Slough House.

Do they still have the rubber foot pedals to make the water come out of the taps in the public loos? Of course, being the Barbican the loos smell appalling and the taps frequently don't work, but it's all part of the charm.

gt0• 1 year ago

I used to work near The Barbican, and have seen it many times, it's beautiful, I would have loved to live there, but couldn't possibly afford it.

michalu• 1 year ago

Lived there for a while. Inside those buildings. It's one ugly place that hurts an eye and the skyline of beautiful city of London. Those photos do it a great favor. But it has its charm if you're into that sort of thing.

There used to be an iconic club Fabric it was called. Nearby Farringdon is my favourite place in London. Most underrated area.

The Barbican

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