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The Barbican

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Re: The Barbican

#91

Post by NoboruWataya »

dreghgh wrote: post #65
hnlmorg wrote: post #32

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…

> 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.

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

Re: The Barbican

#92

Post by darajava »

stavros wrote: post #89
oniony wrote: post #22

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…

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

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

Re: The Barbican

#93

Post by nbevans »

frereubu wrote: post #85

The apartments are lovely, but the service charges are eye-watering, ranging from around £6,000 per year for a two-bedroom, to £14,400 for the more expensive ones: https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/thomas-more-house-ii https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/Lauderdale-Tower-II https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/willoughby-house https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/ben-jonson-house-iii And all are sold on that…

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

Re: The Barbican

#94

Post by KaiserPro »

empath75 wrote: post #71
notahacker wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

Yeah, there's an _artistry_ to the barbican that isn't captured by just listing off the features of the complex and apartments. Whoever designed it had excellent _taste_.

I mean kinda.

But a _lot_ of council estates were well designed, but suffered from failed assumptions. The underground parking in the barbican for example was the same design that cause so many issues for estates elsewhere. They were hidden and that meant crime, unless there was tight access control.

https://modernistpilgrimage.com/2015/10/18/trellick-tower-lo... The trellick tower is fucking ugly on the outside, just like the barbican, but even the trellick has some smashing design features. Like most estates at the time, the three bed flats had an upstairs. Not only that, they were bright! Had a balcony.

The difference between the trellick and the barbican is the barbican had middle class people growing plants on the balcony. Until the hipsters moved in, the trellick just had shit.

https://municipaldreams.wordpress.com/ has some brilliant insight into council housing, the history, the plans and lots and lots of pictures.

I think the biggest thing to take away is that for a long while council housing _had_ to be better than private. It was partly slum clearance, partly vote winning, partly "you fought for this in the war" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_Morris_Committee has the general plan.

Separate kitchens, storage, decent square footage, working heating as a _minimum_ something which even 500k flats struggle to do now.

Re: The Barbican

#95

Post by dllu »

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

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.

Re: The Barbican

#96

Post by stavros »

darajava wrote: post #92
stavros wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

Thank you!

Re: The Barbican

#97

Post by petepete »

globular-toast wrote: post #75

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.

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

Re: The Barbican

#98

Post by mjamil »

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).

Re: The Barbican

#99

Post by KaiserPro »

philipwhiuk wrote: post #84
KaiserPro wrote: post #18

RANT ALERT: The barbican is odd, mainly because its the only brutalist "council housing estate" that actually mostly worked as intended[1] If you compare the layout/style to say the haygate estate ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13092349 where attack the block was filmed) or the lesser known aylesbury estate, its more enclosed, but no less brutalist. What is different is that unlike the southwark estat…

Heygate is the answer to the question "can we solve a social problem with a building". The answer is no. See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YqP21MQKvA

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

Re: The Barbican

#100

Post by sdenton4 »

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…

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

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

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