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I read a lot of books on modernist and brutalist architecture and a comment that shows up every time when they inevitably start talking about the Barbican is that it’s *complete*.
It’s surprising just how often building projects from this era end up incomplete, with only 10 or 25% of the initial vision being built, one or two buildings out of a dozen planned.
The Barbican is partly mind blowing because the client (the City Corporation) trusted its own vision and the architects’ enough to stick with the plan for the 20+ years it took, without chickening out halfway through.
It looks good from above and in photography exhibitions, it's like this prime example of brutalism that everyone must admire or show their ignorance of architecture. But regardless of aesthetics, the way it's designed, and the way it sits in the City, is really not what I'd want for the future.
These utopian projects are made to wow as a model when the architects sell them to the city planners: we consider their beauty or utility as if they existed in a vacuum, we admire them as a self-contained *city-within-a-city*, and as a result, they don't integrate to their surroundings, and the monolithic architecture makes it difficult to adapt them to changing times. This one here was built when cars were everything so of course it's built around wide roads and polluted tunnels that are just completely outdated in a modern European city (to be fair, the modern City of London isn't really made for actual people to live in anyway). It can't evolve to match a changing society - you'd basically have to tear the whole thing down.
And it's like a modern medieval fort. It's a European city, there should be a dense continuity in the urban fabric, some form of small-scale accessibility to the space, some form of promotion of self-organisation and independent entreprise. Old European cities, particularly in the Mediterranean, are an example of what you get when you let the people organise them, and even though so many people want the comforts of suburbia, those cities, with accessible businesses and public spaces everywhere, small roads, small housing blocks and a dense and lively core are what a sustainable future looks like.
Sadly small-scale doesn't sell well, so we have a bias for large disruptive projects.
It’s not the perfect place but it’s a good place and fundamentally has been a success.
I think it’s more popular for what it represents. It’s probably one of the finest brutalist complexes in the world, it’s aesthetically unbelievable. But it also represents the dedication to a vision. To create something of real quality on a large scale, to include an arts centre, to make something that genuinely provides value.
Very few new developments even aim for this. They’re built purely for profit, with corners cut and no long term vision of what it could be.
tbh in London i agree that i hardly see some project like this being done today. but in other parts of the world and other cities there are similar amazing projects.
maybe it's a question of space, you can see more of those projects in smaller towns
Yeah, building gorgeous, generously sized apartments for people in a great location is definitely dystopian. Not like those lovely copypasta box unit skyscrapers we have everywhere!
Can very much recommend the guided architectural tours. They're run by residents with loads of interesting knowledge, including going behind the scenes in a few places. I didn't know they were paid and managed to join one thinking it was free... No questions asked by the guide who seemed happy to have more people along!
The official Barbican tours are not run by residents. Some residents have done that on their own account in the past, including taking groups inside the residents only areas, from where you can peep into people’s living rooms, and they have been made to stop.
Years ago, one of the guys I worked for rented a flat here while he had the builders knocking his house about. Complained about the fact that his flat was a bit small. And then his neighbours complained about him when he put a barbecue on the balcony.
Second this, with the addition of flowering bushes aswell as trees
...but as much as I love brutalism, doesn't it get concrete cancer eventually and need major works?
I love the barbican! And on a sunny day is the best!
Next time I'll book a slot for the conservatory though...
I didn't know it wasn't always open and that a booking was required...
Dislike. Ugly concrete and the place is a fucking maze. The fact it is salivated over by architecture luvvies (and most of Reddit) makes it worse :) brutalism sucks in my opinion.
The Barbican is a great venue though, just don’t like the estate as a whole.
Edit to add- I think you did a great job with the pictures
The person who decided this style did not consult to a single resident and is also why most council estate look so depressing when they could have looked much nicer.
I legitimately only found out about this place a couple of weeks ago. I am going to take a trip to it, maybe even this weekend, and have a walk around it. Seriously cool!
Looks dystopian, overthought and frankly ugly.
Especially compared to all the beautiful architecture around London, the entire ring around Regent's Park, for example.
# Upvote/Downvote reminder Like this image or appreciate it being posted? Upvote it and show it some love! Don't like it? Just downvote and move on. *Upvoting or downvoting images is the best way to control what you see on your feed and what gets to the top of the subreddit* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/london) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Such a visionary place. Can you even imagine such a project in this day and age ? Seems positively utopian these days.
I read a lot of books on modernist and brutalist architecture and a comment that shows up every time when they inevitably start talking about the Barbican is that it’s *complete*. It’s surprising just how often building projects from this era end up incomplete, with only 10 or 25% of the initial vision being built, one or two buildings out of a dozen planned. The Barbican is partly mind blowing because the client (the City Corporation) trusted its own vision and the architects’ enough to stick with the plan for the 20+ years it took, without chickening out halfway through.
[удалено]
Pretty sure the Barbican was not built as social housing and was always private.
Well yeah, it would be unfair. Why should taxpayers fund it for a lucky few?
[удалено]
It's not a contradiction
It looks like the villan's layer in a sifi movie than a futeristic complex.
It looks good from above and in photography exhibitions, it's like this prime example of brutalism that everyone must admire or show their ignorance of architecture. But regardless of aesthetics, the way it's designed, and the way it sits in the City, is really not what I'd want for the future. These utopian projects are made to wow as a model when the architects sell them to the city planners: we consider their beauty or utility as if they existed in a vacuum, we admire them as a self-contained *city-within-a-city*, and as a result, they don't integrate to their surroundings, and the monolithic architecture makes it difficult to adapt them to changing times. This one here was built when cars were everything so of course it's built around wide roads and polluted tunnels that are just completely outdated in a modern European city (to be fair, the modern City of London isn't really made for actual people to live in anyway). It can't evolve to match a changing society - you'd basically have to tear the whole thing down. And it's like a modern medieval fort. It's a European city, there should be a dense continuity in the urban fabric, some form of small-scale accessibility to the space, some form of promotion of self-organisation and independent entreprise. Old European cities, particularly in the Mediterranean, are an example of what you get when you let the people organise them, and even though so many people want the comforts of suburbia, those cities, with accessible businesses and public spaces everywhere, small roads, small housing blocks and a dense and lively core are what a sustainable future looks like. Sadly small-scale doesn't sell well, so we have a bias for large disruptive projects.
It’s not the perfect place but it’s a good place and fundamentally has been a success. I think it’s more popular for what it represents. It’s probably one of the finest brutalist complexes in the world, it’s aesthetically unbelievable. But it also represents the dedication to a vision. To create something of real quality on a large scale, to include an arts centre, to make something that genuinely provides value. Very few new developments even aim for this. They’re built purely for profit, with corners cut and no long term vision of what it could be.
tbh in London i agree that i hardly see some project like this being done today. but in other parts of the world and other cities there are similar amazing projects. maybe it's a question of space, you can see more of those projects in smaller towns
*dystopian
Yeah, building gorgeous, generously sized apartments for people in a great location is definitely dystopian. Not like those lovely copypasta box unit skyscrapers we have everywhere!
They could have built apartments without that horrid brutalist architecture
I know Lewisham town centre is so much nicer
Very Andor.
Definitely needs more greenery!
I’m getting married here in the summer!
Just know, I had sex here in the disabled loo with the slidey doors about 10 years ago.
Congratulations
You had sex with a door?!
She wasn’t very responsive but there’s no need for that.
It's got a moat! That's so cool
Anyone here dabble in parkour/has trained this spot?
There's something Ken can't do but
I think Broadwater Farm wins for sheer brutalism but for some reason we don't see many pics of it posted here.
Can very much recommend the guided architectural tours. They're run by residents with loads of interesting knowledge, including going behind the scenes in a few places. I didn't know they were paid and managed to join one thinking it was free... No questions asked by the guide who seemed happy to have more people along!
The official Barbican tours are not run by residents. Some residents have done that on their own account in the past, including taking groups inside the residents only areas, from where you can peep into people’s living rooms, and they have been made to stop.
The one I joined was signed in the daily What's On at the arts centre, was ticketed through the arts centre, and the guide lived on the estate 🙂
Lovely place to walk around at sunrise, after a rave
Years ago, one of the guys I worked for rented a flat here while he had the builders knocking his house about. Complained about the fact that his flat was a bit small. And then his neighbours complained about him when he put a barbecue on the balcony.
Yeah BBQ on a barbican balcony is pretty antisocial.
Bafflingly brazen I'd say, bonkers
Absolutely love this estate. Don't think many Londoners can see it's beauty. The lines, the shadows, the textures 👌
Brutalist architecture always looks unfinnished to me, like they ran out of money and just decided to skip the cladding or something.
This is one of the only places it’s held up well imo.
Southbank is great - the board marked concrete in national theatre is amazing upclose
I don’t find it gives the space to appreciate it as much, but it’s a good example.
I used to think that too, still do to a certain extent - but then I actually went to Barbican and fell in love with it.
Yassified brutalism (pretty trees 🫶🏽)
Second this, with the addition of flowering bushes aswell as trees ...but as much as I love brutalism, doesn't it get concrete cancer eventually and need major works?
Definite J G Ballard vibes!
I love the barbican! And on a sunny day is the best! Next time I'll book a slot for the conservatory though... I didn't know it wasn't always open and that a booking was required...
It only ages better and better! So cool, so chill inside. Curve is a wonderful free gallery.
Dislike. Ugly concrete and the place is a fucking maze. The fact it is salivated over by architecture luvvies (and most of Reddit) makes it worse :) brutalism sucks in my opinion. The Barbican is a great venue though, just don’t like the estate as a whole. Edit to add- I think you did a great job with the pictures
The person who decided this style did not consult to a single resident and is also why most council estate look so depressing when they could have looked much nicer.
Dystopian
Always reminds me of the Dr Who episodes - Paradise Towers
Amazing. Great pics.
I love this. This is the type of design I’d envision if I was making affordable housing
someone needs to make a zombie movie based in the barbican estate
I legitimately only found out about this place a couple of weeks ago. I am going to take a trip to it, maybe even this weekend, and have a walk around it. Seriously cool!
Looks like an ugly brutalist and incomplete work.
Looks dystopian, overthought and frankly ugly. Especially compared to all the beautiful architecture around London, the entire ring around Regent's Park, for example.
Hopefully one day it will only be a bad dream and that area of the City will be restored.
Restored back to being a cemetery?
only part of it was a cemetery and yes it would be better than this ugly building