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The Barbican

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Re: The Barbican

#231

Post by MisterTea »

freyfogle wrote: post #131
petercooper wrote: post #4

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 conven…

I lived there for three years, rented a flat. Living in the Barbican was fantastic, livign in my flat was not fantastic. I used to joke it was a time machine to 1965. There was not only no dishwasher, there was literally no space for a dishwasher. Day one that seems funny, a few days later less so. I was spending a fortune in rent to spend 30 minutes every day handwashing my dishes. I did know people who had bought a…

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

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

Re: The Barbican

#232

Post by dpb001 »

pmg101 wrote: post #190
yardie wrote: post #61

"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 th…

There's a whole subculture among car people of "barn finds", well represented on YouTube but also long predating that. I bet someone would have been absolutely delighted to have that old Peugeot!

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

Re: The Barbican

#233

Post by nicr_22 »

petercooper wrote: post #217
tshanmu wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

First place that jumps to mind is Richmond! Radio 4 is certainly more "chatty" while still being posh and Richmond is both posh and full of that street/café life. If we're going to fill out the roster, let's say Radio 1 is Camden, 1xtra is Brixton, Radio 2 is Bromley, Radio 5 is Dagenham, and 6music is eh.. I dunno, Shoreditch?

Radio 4 has to be Westminster, surely? And Bloomsbury in the evenings.

Richmond teeters over into Classic FM to my taste - ostensibly cultured, but basically posh-pop.

And LBC is a diffuse torroidal agglomeration of zone 3+ greasy spoons known only to White Van Men and black cab drivers.

Re: The Barbican

#234

Post by petercooper »

nicr_22 wrote: post #233
petercooper wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First place that jumps to mind is Richmond! Radio 4 is certainly more "chatty" while still being posh and Richmond is both posh and full of that street/café life. If we're going to fill out the roster, let's say Radio 1 is Camden, 1xtra is Brixton, Radio 2 is Bromley, Radio 5 is Dagenham, and 6music is eh.. I dunno, Shoreditch?

Radio 4 has to be Westminster, surely? And Bloomsbury in the evenings. Richmond teeters over into Classic FM to my taste - ostensibly cultured, but basically posh-pop. And LBC is a diffuse torroidal agglomeration of zone 3+ greasy spoons known only to White Van Men and black cab drivers.

Maybe! I am not really an R4 listener and when I am, it's for the twee comedy stuff rather than the news and politics. If LBC is as you describe, though, I dread to imagine where Talk Radio is :-D

Re: The Barbican

#235

Post by TechDebtDevin »

distances wrote: post #228
rowanajmarshall wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There was not only no dishwasher, there was literally no space for a dishwasher. This is just London, out of the 8 years I've spent here, 3 of them were spent with a dishwasher. Tbh I've got a dishwasher now and barely use it.

> This is just London, out of the 8 years I've spent here, 3 of them were spent with a dishwasher. Tbh I've got a dishwasher now and barely use it. Do you wash by hand then? I'm curious why someone would opt to not use a dishwasher if they have one. In my ranking it's the third most essential appliance, after a washing machine and a fridge. I probably would rather give up warm water than my dishwasher.

Seems wasteful to me... I've never used them. But to each their own.

Re: The Barbican

#236

Post by teajunky »

rjmunro wrote: post #17

I'm surprised the article doesn't mention the concert hall. It's one of London's most famous, with almost 2000 seats, and it's the London Symphony Orchestra's main home. Until last lear, The Lead Developer conference ( https://leaddev.com/ ) was held there, but it's moved to a larger venue for this year (I don't think the size of the main hall was the problem, it was the areas for break out etc.) They had a great tal…

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

Re: The Barbican

#237

Post by yardie »

aziaziazi wrote: post #161
yardie wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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?

If you let a car sit long enough, the rubber tires will develop a dimple. If you let it sit decades the tires will completely collapse. Now you are dragging a multi-ton steel sled with rubber nonskid pads instead of free rolling tires. Also, this is an underground garage. Not a ton of room to move around.

> isn’t it cheaper to call a friend

Its not moving a couple of boxes of furniture. I'd never seriously ask any friend to do this on a lark. Just pay the insured "expert" their fee so you don't have to assume any liabilities.

Re: The Barbican

#238

Post by distances »

TechDebtDevin wrote: post #235
distances wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is just London, out of the 8 years I've spent here, 3 of them were spent with a dishwasher. Tbh I've got a dishwasher now and barely use it. Do you wash by hand then? I'm curious why someone would opt to not use a dishwasher if they have one. In my ranking it's the third most essential appliance, after a washing machine and a fridge. I probably would rather give up warm water than my dishwasher.

Seems wasteful to me... I've never used them. But to each their own.

Dishwashers save greatly both energy and water when compared to hand washing!

Re: The Barbican

#239

Post by pkd »

jgilias wrote: post #73
pkd wrote: post #2

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

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.…

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).

Re: The Barbican

#240

Post by pkd »

porphyra wrote: post #86
pkd wrote: post #2

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

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.

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.
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