10 ms·

The Barbican

728 points by farslan 1y ago

pkd 1y 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67
- JimDabell 1y 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-singapore-by-oma-ole-scheeren https://www.architectural-review.com/today/the-interlace-in-...
- jgilias 1y 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 1y 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.
  - pkd 1y 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 1y 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.
  - pkd 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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_london_and_the_barbican_estate_starring/ https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/1kb8k4u/lloyds_of_l...
- paulsmith 1y ago
  Yep, and S1E7: https://moviemaps.org/episodes/9c8 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 1y ago
    The Scarif transport network scenes in Rogue One were shot at London's Canary Wharf Underground station, however.
- SideburnsOfDoom 1y 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 1y ago
    Michael Fassbender's character has an apartment there in The Agency as well
    - tialaramex 1y ago
      Living in the Barbican seems so very typical for a spy that it'd be like a give away. James Bond obviously doesn't live there, but I can imagine any number of John le Carré's later characters (the early novels are set before it was built) would make sense.
      - Grosvenor 1y ago
petercooper 1y 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 1y ago
  "kinda like BBC Radio 3 if it were a neighborhood" Thanks for that, put a smile on my face.
- philipwhiuk 1y ago
  > It's also five minutes from the Elizabeth Line And about 200ft. Such is the maze-like nature of the Barbican.
  - zeristor 1y ago
    Actually the Barbican station has a lift that goes to the Elizabeth line at the far end.
    - pledg 1y ago
      It also depends where you are in the Barbican. It spans between the Barbican station and Moorgate. If you are at the latter you can enter Elizabeth line from there too.
      - deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
- freyfogle 1y ago
moomin 1y 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 1y 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.
- munificent 1y 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 1y 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.
    - munificent 1y ago
      Oh, yeah, but oof the price.
- Karrot_Kream 1y 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 1y 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 1y ago
When people point to examples of bad brutalist architecture, I point them to the Barbican as a beautiful counter-example.
- rwmj 1y ago
  And the Brunswick Centre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 1y ago
    Exceptions prove the rule. Prove means test.
    - gwern 1y ago
      Note that he did not use the expression you are criticizing him for misusing. The rule is the rule, and exceptions are the exception. Exceptions do not make the rule, by definition, so if your only defense of Brutalism is to say 'look at this one exception out of the tens of thousands that got built, which doesn't suck!', then you have conceded the point about Brutalism sucking.
  - ddalex 1y ago
    The Brunswick Centre is one of my favourite parts of central London
  - notahacker 1y 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...
- munificent 1y 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.
SirFatty 1y 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 1y ago
Not mentioned in the article, but this was what J. G. Ballard's novel (and later film) High Rise was based on.
- phoh 1y 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trellick_Tower https://architectureau.com/articles/the-brutality-of-vertical-living/ https://architectureau.com/articles/the-brutality-of-vertica...
  - philipwhiuk 1y ago
    Trellick is what people film when they can't get the Barbican to work (bluntly)
- pillefitz 1y 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 1y ago
Ooh, another arcology. There's a little one in Alaska https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begich_Towers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begich_Towers
- didsomeonesay 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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/ 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-barbican 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
- farslan 1y 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 1y ago
  Too bad the staff of that hall are completely incompetent. Put me off going there ever again.
  - turnsout 1y ago
    What’s the story?
- libraryofbabel 1y 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.
  - 1y ago
KaiserPro 1y 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 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.
- eilzo 1y ago
  The Barbican was never built as social housing - the intended occupants were always central London professional workers and they charged market rates.
  - notahacker 1y 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
projektfu 1y ago
No, it's definitely ugly and an abomination. One of London's worst and probably, unfortunately, historically protected.
- eilzo 1y ago
  To each their own :). One of my favourite places in London.
- philipwhiuk 1y ago
  It's far from the worst, but it's going up the list because we keep knocking them down.
scoofy 1y ago
I'm glad people appreciate the building. You all can have it... it's just not for me.
oniony 1y 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-conservatory https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-co...
- farslan 1y 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.
  - oniony 1y ago
    Yeah, was not a criticism, merely a "and you think that's all weird, there's also this" kinda statement.
    - farslan 1y ago
      All good, thanks for mentioning it. I really want to visit it. The tour guide said it's open on certain days/hours.
      - fch42 1y ago
        You can booked timed tickets at https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-conservatory https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-co... but when it's open on weekends, one can also often just walk in. It's a great place to visit. Entrance is free. As far as I'm aware, the Barbican Conservatory (Greenhouse) will close for refurbishment at a point next year though. When you go currently, they'll have details of the plans for public consultation. So see it while you can (or then again in 2030 or so).
wgrover 1y 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_section_of_the_barbican_in_london_by/#lightbox https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/5w9ep7/cross_...
- dabreegster 1y ago
  This is incredible. I remember failing to hunt some down earlier, but does anyone know of really detailed plans or 3D models?
Ericson2314 1y 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.
- bobthepanda 1y 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 1y 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.
    - bobthepanda 1y ago
      They can be done well but it has to be thoughtful. Passageways in Hong Kong are popular, but that’s because the pedestrian density is so high they manage to fill both the skywalk and street level. The passageways provide shelter from tropical sun and rain, sometimes even air conditioning. And it’s a very hilly city anyways, so often you are picking between walking uphill on a plain sidewalk vs. doing it on a skywalk with escalators and elevators.
hnlmorg 1y 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.
- dreghgh 1y 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.
  - hnlmorg 1y 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. ;)
    - dreghgh 1y ago
      Go for it, which major art galleries, auditoriums and cinemas are 15 minutes from the Barbican?
      - philipwhiuk 1y ago
        I mean there's a cinema, art gallery and auditorium in the Barbican Centre itself. In theory Leicester Square is a 15 minute drive. In practice you'd have to be mad to drive yourself but you could Uber it.
grumpy-de-sre 1y 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 1y ago
Glad you enjoyed your visit, lovely photos too.
- farslan 1y ago
  Thank you!
SideburnsOfDoom 1y ago
FYI, there's also a conservatory (A glass roofed garden room) on level 3 I was fortunate enough to be in there recently.
derriz 1y 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?
- farslan 1y 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 1y 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”).
  - derriz 1y 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 1y 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.
graemep 1y 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.
EbNar 1y ago
That's amusing... I learned about this building during my english proficiency exam, as the "listening" part narrated its story.
Karrot_Kream 1y 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.)
- farslan 1y 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_Kream 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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-unveils-ambitious-renewal-plans-as-public-consultation-launches https://www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/barbican-un...
yardie 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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.
  - yardie 1y 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?
    - aziaziazi 1y ago
      Another card noon here, especially in urban motor driving so please excuse my ignorance. In that desperate situation isn’t it cheaper to call a friend to seat on the car and handle the steering wheel while you attach the car to yours with those rods, then pull it to a metal scrapper shop that buy metal by the weight? Without plate, isn’t that car basically a non car but a pile of metal?
DrakeDeaton 1y 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 1y ago
  The whole city was supposed to be covered by high walks, but few are left and the plan didnt work.
  - freyfogle 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y ago
  For this crowd, maybe "all the photos where shoot with the Leica M11 + 35mm Summilux FLE btw" might be more apt.
  - farslan 1y 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)
earlyriser 1y 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.
codeulike 1y ago
There's also the Barbican Centre that a cinema/theatre/concert hall, they have some great stuff there https://www.barbican.org.uk/ https://www.barbican.org.uk/
vr46 1y 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.
frereubu 1y 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/thomas-more-house-ii https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/Lauderdale-Tower-II https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/Lauderdale-Tower-II https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/willoughby-house https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/willoughby-house https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/ben-jonson-house-iii 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 1y ago
  6k is pretty typical for any premium apartments in London. That's actually pretty cheap for that location.
  - lozenge 1y 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.
    - walthamstow 1y ago
      There's quite a lot of housing just outside the City boundary in Shoreditch and Farringdon, the latter being easily comparable to Barbican as it's the next stop on the tube.
- IshKebab 1y ago
  Oh no. £14k/year. I guess I won't buy that £2.5m central London flat after all.
- devnullbrain 1y 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.
mjamil 1y 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).
- eszed 1y 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 1y 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).
    - eszed 1y ago
      > dreary, in person, on a cloudy day I mean, what isn't? :-) The tunnels are kinda ick, and there are other bits I don't like, also. There's a walkway I've ended up on a time or two that's just bare and windswept, and badly needs... Something to break it up. Still, though: I think I'd be pretty happy living there (even if it mightn't be my top choice). The (both design and amenity) positives outweigh the negatives, which I cannot say about many, many other parts of London. Do you disagree with that?
- ljm 1y 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.
electrosphere 1y ago
I often take my friends to the walkway where they filmed the Imperial capital scenes in Andor. The Barbican is Coruscant.
vkazanov 1y 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).
khalfan-shah098 1y ago
[flagged]
hkt 1y 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 1y 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 https://youtu.be/H5v3kku4y6Q
mrtksn 1y 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 https://dropover.cloud/09cb4c
rriley 1y 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 1y 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. See also Park Hill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill%2C_Sheffield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill%2C_Sheffield
  - eru 1y 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pinnacle@Duxton and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Development_Board https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Development_Board in general. However, I feel like HDB should declare victory and go home.
verytrivial 1y 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 1y 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-garchey-system/ https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk/barbican-now/garchey/the-ga...
renewiltord 1y ago
Fortunately, nothing like this will be built ever again because we wouldn't want to ruin the character of the neighbourhood.
dgroshev 1y 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.
ArthurStacks 1y ago
[flagged]
ChuckMcM 1y 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Inside
dewey 1y 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 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 1y 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 1y ago
Never Too Small has an episode on a renovated flat in the Barbican: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2L0uML715dE 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 1y 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.
eru 1y 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43966676 expresses some of what I felt.
jonwinstanley 1y ago
Some of Star Wars: Andor was filmed there. The concrete walkways look great as futuristic structures. https://www.nadamaktari.com/nadamaktari-memorylog/architectureofandor-part2-reframingthebarbican https://www.nadamaktari.com/nadamaktari-memorylog/architectu...
zombot 1y ago
Beautiful. The author misspelled Londinium.
- farslan 1y ago
  Thank you! I've fixed it.
walrus01 1y 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 1y 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bartholomew-the-Great
mobiuscog 1y ago
Dropped in to see why Plymouth was being featured... ...left unsurprised.
Klaus_ 1y ago
[dead]
kristel100 1y ago
[dead]
bschne 1y 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 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 https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk
- farslan 1y ago
  TIL about this, thanks so much.
A_Duck 1y 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 1y 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 1y ago
Top view in Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Barbican+Centre/@51.5201935,-0.0944449,119m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b56fb64b275:0xc756e26675d21f40!8m2!3d51.5202077!4d-0.0937864!16zL20vMG02cTY?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUwNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D 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 1y ago
The residents are already on to you. https://www.barbicantalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31087 https://www.barbicantalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31087
cbeach 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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.

728 points by farslan 1y ago

pkd 1y 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67

JimDabell 1y 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-singapore-by-oma-ole-scheeren https://www.architectural-review.com/today/the-interlace-in-...
jgilias 1y 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 1y 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.
- pkd 1y 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 1y 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.
- pkd 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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_london_and_the_barbican_estate_starring/ https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/1kb8k4u/lloyds_of_l...

paulsmith 1y ago
Yep, and S1E7: https://moviemaps.org/episodes/9c8 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 1y ago
  The Scarif transport network scenes in Rogue One were shot at London's Canary Wharf Underground station, however.
SideburnsOfDoom 1y 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 1y ago
  Michael Fassbender's character has an apartment there in The Agency as well
  - tialaramex 1y ago
    Living in the Barbican seems so very typical for a spy that it'd be like a give away. James Bond obviously doesn't live there, but I can imagine any number of John le Carré's later characters (the early novels are set before it was built) would make sense.
    - Grosvenor 1y ago

petercooper 1y 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 1y ago
"kinda like BBC Radio 3 if it were a neighborhood" Thanks for that, put a smile on my face.
philipwhiuk 1y ago
> It's also five minutes from the Elizabeth Line And about 200ft. Such is the maze-like nature of the Barbican.
- zeristor 1y ago
  Actually the Barbican station has a lift that goes to the Elizabeth line at the far end.
  - pledg 1y ago
    It also depends where you are in the Barbican. It spans between the Barbican station and Moorgate. If you are at the latter you can enter Elizabeth line from there too.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
freyfogle 1y ago

moomin 1y 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 1y 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.

munificent 1y 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 1y 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.
  - munificent 1y ago
    Oh, yeah, but oof the price.
Karrot_Kream 1y 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 1y 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 1y ago

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

rwmj 1y ago
And the Brunswick Centre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 1y ago
  Exceptions prove the rule. Prove means test.
  - gwern 1y ago
    Note that he did not use the expression you are criticizing him for misusing. The rule is the rule, and exceptions are the exception. Exceptions do not make the rule, by definition, so if your only defense of Brutalism is to say 'look at this one exception out of the tens of thousands that got built, which doesn't suck!', then you have conceded the point about Brutalism sucking.
- ddalex 1y ago
  The Brunswick Centre is one of my favourite parts of central London
- notahacker 1y 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...
munificent 1y 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.

SirFatty 1y 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 1y ago

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

phoh 1y 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trellick_Tower https://architectureau.com/articles/the-brutality-of-vertical-living/ https://architectureau.com/articles/the-brutality-of-vertica...
- philipwhiuk 1y ago
  Trellick is what people film when they can't get the Barbican to work (bluntly)
pillefitz 1y 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 1y ago

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

didsomeonesay 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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/ 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-barbican 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

farslan 1y 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 1y ago
Too bad the staff of that hall are completely incompetent. Put me off going there ever again.
- turnsout 1y ago
  What’s the story?
libraryofbabel 1y 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.
- 1y ago

KaiserPro 1y 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 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.

eilzo 1y ago
The Barbican was never built as social housing - the intended occupants were always central London professional workers and they charged market rates.
- notahacker 1y 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

projektfu 1y ago

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

eilzo 1y ago
To each their own :). One of my favourite places in London.
philipwhiuk 1y ago
It's far from the worst, but it's going up the list because we keep knocking them down.

scoofy 1y ago

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

oniony 1y 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-conservatory https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-co...

farslan 1y 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.
- oniony 1y ago
  Yeah, was not a criticism, merely a "and you think that's all weird, there's also this" kinda statement.
  - farslan 1y ago
    All good, thanks for mentioning it. I really want to visit it. The tour guide said it's open on certain days/hours.
    - fch42 1y ago
      You can booked timed tickets at https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-conservatory https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-co... but when it's open on weekends, one can also often just walk in. It's a great place to visit. Entrance is free. As far as I'm aware, the Barbican Conservatory (Greenhouse) will close for refurbishment at a point next year though. When you go currently, they'll have details of the plans for public consultation. So see it while you can (or then again in 2030 or so).

wgrover 1y 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_section_of_the_barbican_in_london_by/#lightbox https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/5w9ep7/cross_...

dabreegster 1y ago
This is incredible. I remember failing to hunt some down earlier, but does anyone know of really detailed plans or 3D models?

Ericson2314 1y 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.

bobthepanda 1y 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 1y 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.
  - bobthepanda 1y ago
    They can be done well but it has to be thoughtful. Passageways in Hong Kong are popular, but that’s because the pedestrian density is so high they manage to fill both the skywalk and street level. The passageways provide shelter from tropical sun and rain, sometimes even air conditioning. And it’s a very hilly city anyways, so often you are picking between walking uphill on a plain sidewalk vs. doing it on a skywalk with escalators and elevators.

hnlmorg 1y 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.

dreghgh 1y 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.
- hnlmorg 1y 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. ;)
  - dreghgh 1y ago
    Go for it, which major art galleries, auditoriums and cinemas are 15 minutes from the Barbican?
    - philipwhiuk 1y ago
      I mean there's a cinema, art gallery and auditorium in the Barbican Centre itself. In theory Leicester Square is a 15 minute drive. In practice you'd have to be mad to drive yourself but you could Uber it.

grumpy-de-sre 1y 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 1y ago

Glad you enjoyed your visit, lovely photos too.

farslan 1y ago
Thank you!

SideburnsOfDoom 1y ago

FYI, there's also a conservatory (A glass roofed garden room) on level 3 I was fortunate enough to be in there recently.

derriz 1y 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?

farslan 1y 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 1y 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”).
- derriz 1y 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 1y 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.

graemep 1y 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.

EbNar 1y ago

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

Karrot_Kream 1y 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.)

farslan 1y 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_Kream 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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-unveils-ambitious-renewal-plans-as-public-consultation-launches https://www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/barbican-un...

yardie 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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.
- yardie 1y 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?
  - aziaziazi 1y ago
    Another card noon here, especially in urban motor driving so please excuse my ignorance. In that desperate situation isn’t it cheaper to call a friend to seat on the car and handle the steering wheel while you attach the car to yours with those rods, then pull it to a metal scrapper shop that buy metal by the weight? Without plate, isn’t that car basically a non car but a pile of metal?

DrakeDeaton 1y 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 1y ago
The whole city was supposed to be covered by high walks, but few are left and the plan didnt work.
- freyfogle 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y ago
For this crowd, maybe "all the photos where shoot with the Leica M11 + 35mm Summilux FLE btw" might be more apt.
- farslan 1y 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)

earlyriser 1y 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.

codeulike 1y ago

There's also the Barbican Centre that a cinema/theatre/concert hall, they have some great stuff there https://www.barbican.org.uk/ https://www.barbican.org.uk/

vr46 1y 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.

frereubu 1y 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/thomas-more-house-ii https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/Lauderdale-Tower-II https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/Lauderdale-Tower-II https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/willoughby-house https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/willoughby-house https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/ben-jonson-house-iii 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 1y ago
6k is pretty typical for any premium apartments in London. That's actually pretty cheap for that location.
- lozenge 1y 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.
  - walthamstow 1y ago
    There's quite a lot of housing just outside the City boundary in Shoreditch and Farringdon, the latter being easily comparable to Barbican as it's the next stop on the tube.
IshKebab 1y ago
Oh no. £14k/year. I guess I won't buy that £2.5m central London flat after all.
devnullbrain 1y 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.

mjamil 1y 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).

eszed 1y 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 1y 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).
  - eszed 1y ago
    > dreary, in person, on a cloudy day I mean, what isn't? :-) The tunnels are kinda ick, and there are other bits I don't like, also. There's a walkway I've ended up on a time or two that's just bare and windswept, and badly needs... Something to break it up. Still, though: I think I'd be pretty happy living there (even if it mightn't be my top choice). The (both design and amenity) positives outweigh the negatives, which I cannot say about many, many other parts of London. Do you disagree with that?
ljm 1y 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.

electrosphere 1y ago

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

vkazanov 1y 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).

khalfan-shah098 1y ago

[flagged]

hkt 1y 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 1y 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 https://youtu.be/H5v3kku4y6Q

mrtksn 1y 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 https://dropover.cloud/09cb4c

rriley 1y 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 1y 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. See also Park Hill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill%2C_Sheffield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill%2C_Sheffield
- eru 1y 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pinnacle@Duxton and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Development_Board https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Development_Board in general. However, I feel like HDB should declare victory and go home.

verytrivial 1y 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 1y 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-garchey-system/ https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk/barbican-now/garchey/the-ga...

renewiltord 1y ago

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

dgroshev 1y 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.

ArthurStacks 1y ago

[flagged]

ChuckMcM 1y 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Inside

dewey 1y 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 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 1y 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 1y ago

Never Too Small has an episode on a renovated flat in the Barbican: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2L0uML715dE 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 1y 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.

eru 1y 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 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43966676 expresses some of what I felt.

jonwinstanley 1y ago

Some of Star Wars: Andor was filmed there. The concrete walkways look great as futuristic structures. https://www.nadamaktari.com/nadamaktari-memorylog/architectureofandor-part2-reframingthebarbican https://www.nadamaktari.com/nadamaktari-memorylog/architectu...

zombot 1y ago

Beautiful. The author misspelled Londinium.

farslan 1y ago
Thank you! I've fixed it.

walrus01 1y 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 1y 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bartholomew-the-Great

mobiuscog 1y ago

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

Klaus_ 1y ago

[dead]

kristel100 1y ago

[dead]

bschne 1y 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 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 https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk

farslan 1y ago
TIL about this, thanks so much.

A_Duck 1y 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 1y 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 1y ago

Top view in Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Barbican+Centre/@51.5201935,-0.0944449,119m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b56fb64b275:0xc756e26675d21f40!8m2!3d51.5202077!4d-0.0937864!16zL20vMG02cTY?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDUwNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D 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 1y ago

The residents are already on to you. https://www.barbicantalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31087 https://www.barbicantalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31087

cbeach 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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 1y 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.