The Barbican, London. Text by landscapelover
Barbican is an old word meaning fortification. It is a perfect name for this monumental,
modernist development in the heart of London. Covering fifteen hectares, and having
taken twenty years to construct, the Barbican consists of more than two thousand
high-rise and low-rise apartments with associated cultural and recreational facilities.
modernist development in the heart of London. Covering fifteen hectares, and having
taken twenty years to construct, the Barbican consists of more than two thousand
high-rise and low-rise apartments with associated cultural and recreational facilities.
It was designed as a series of vast geometric blocks, all finished in the same hammered
concrete, creating a distinctive texture and striking sense of coherence throughout the site.
At forty-three storeys, its three high-rise towers were for a time the tallest residential
blocks in Europe. But the Barbican is not simply concrete: its buildings are geometrically
arranged around open squares and gardens of lawns, trees, flowers, canals, massed fountains and pools.
Hidden away are roof terraces, allotments, even a wild garden. Accessible only on foot,
architecture and landscape are linked together by raised walks, steps and pedestrian
bridges. Cars and parking have been relegated to the concealed street level, with the
Underground [London metro] in tunnels further below.
architecture and landscape are linked together by raised walks, steps and pedestrian
bridges. Cars and parking have been relegated to the concealed street level, with the
Underground [London metro] in tunnels further below.
The Barbican was designed in the late 1950s to revive the largely deserted Cripplegate
area of the capital that had been bombed to dereliction during the Second World War.
area of the capital that had been bombed to dereliction during the Second World War.
Despite pressure to provide commercial facilities, the City of London Corporation—
the public body responsible for this square mile of the city—decided on a largely
residential development, wanting to attract a stable population of young professionals working in the nearby financial and cultural institutions.
It was thus never intended as social housing, but to some the Barbican feels like a
which sought to create utopian communities for the working classes by balancing
carefully placed housing with allotments and forests, and combining agriculture
and industry, nature and the man-made, all designed on a human scale.
More obvious as an influence on the Barbican is Le Corbusier’s mid-century vision
of high-rise developments that replaced urban slums with large, light-filled
apartments situated in wide green plazas, integrated with public transport,
shops, communal gardens and cultural resources.
of high-rise developments that replaced urban slums with large, light-filled
apartments situated in wide green plazas, integrated with public transport,
shops, communal gardens and cultural resources.
The purpose and design of the Barbican was dramatic and brave. Yet its reputation was sullied by the general unfashionableness of modernist design and, more practically, by the impossibility for visitors of finding the major Arts Centre in its midst.
