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.<p>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.
"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."<p>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.
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.<p>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.<p><a href="https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-conservatory" rel="nofollow">https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/event/visit-the-co...</a>
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.<p>Until last lear, The Lead Developer conference (<a href="https://leaddev.com/" rel="nofollow">https://leaddev.com/</a>) 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: <a href="https://leaddev.com/leadership/you-are-here-the-story-of-the-barbican" rel="nofollow">https://leaddev.com/leadership/you-are-here-the-story-of-the...</a><p>The Barbican Theatre is one of the London homes of the Royal Shakespeare Company, although they are looking to
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.<p>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.
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.<p>Few others worth exploring...<p>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.<p>Arcosanti (USA): Paolo Soleri’s desert experiment in “arcology”, architecture + ecology—exploring sustainable living in a compact footprint.<p>Unité d'Habitation (France): Le Corbusier’s "vertical garden city" combining apartments, shops, and communal spaces into one concrete megastructure.<p>Habitat 67 (Canada): Modular housing units stacked like Lego, Moshe Safdie’s vision for dense yet humane urban living.<p>Auroville (India): Founded in the 1960s as an experimental township aiming for human unity beyond politics and religion.
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:<p><a href="https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/thomas-more-house-ii" rel="nofollow">https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/thomas-more-house-ii</a><p><a href="https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/Lauderdale-Tower-II" rel="nofollow">https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/Lauderdale-Tower-II</a><p><a href="https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/willoughby-house" rel="nofollow">https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/willoughby-house</a><p><a href="https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/ben-jonson-house-iii" rel="nofollow">https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/ben-jonson-house-iii</a><p>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.
My office was right next to Barbican, I was going to rent a place there but I cheaped out. Still bitter about it.<p>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.<p>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.<p>Here's a couple of photos: <a href="https://dropover.cloud/09cb4c" rel="nofollow">https://dropover.cloud/09cb4c</a>
One thing that I think is underappreciated as a distinguishing factor of brutalism is how <i>three-dimensional</i> it is.<p>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.<p>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.
Possibly getting some more attention now because of some scenes from Andor 2 that were shot there: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/1kb8k4u/lloyds_of_london_and_the_barbican_estate_starring/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/london/comments/1kb8k4u/lloyds_of_l...</a>
This was great and the photos were good too!<p>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.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67</a>
Here's a cross-section through the theatre portion of the Barbican showing the complexity of the engineering:<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/5w9ep7/cross_section_of_the_barbican_in_london_by/#lightbox" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/5w9ep7/cross_...</a>
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).
One of the very few places in London that I ever felt truly at peace.<p>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.<p>Not quite cyberpunk, not quite solarpunk but somewhere in between and utterly unique.
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.<p>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.
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.<p>He would rave about the place but I’m not a fan of it personally.<p>Aesthetically it’s out of place and (in my personal opinion) a bit of an eye sore.<p>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.<p>The apartments are small and impossible to get the temperature right (too hot in summer, too cold in winter).<p>But because its iconic people still pay an obscene amount to live there.<p>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.<p>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.
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.
Oh... barbican...<p>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.<p>The kid couldn't stop talking about it for months! Amazing place (also a surreal map pack).
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.<p>Fun fact: a good chunk of the video to “As It Was” was shot there.
I did my music postgrad at the Guildhall school of music and drama, which is in the Barbican. Fun facts:<p>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.<p>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).<p>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).<p>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]<p>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.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bartholomew-the-Great" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bartholomew-the-Great</a>
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 <i>can</i> but how effective would it be? The Barbican looks like an interesting take on mixed use.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Inside" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Inside</a>
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)!
"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."<p>Of all the great information, that's the bit that sticks in my mind for some reason. I'd like to pics of that...
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).<p>For those interested / invested, they recently launched a Barbican renewal project: <a href="https://www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/barbican-unveils-ambitious-renewal-plans-as-public-consultation-launches" rel="nofollow">https://www.barbican.org.uk/our-story/press-room/barbican-un...</a>
Top view in Google Maps: <a href="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" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/place/Barbican+Centre/@51.520193...</a><p>IIUC it's the half circle at the top and the rectangular building at the bottom with a green park between them.
RANT ALERT:<p>The barbican is odd, mainly because its the only brutalist "council housing estate" that actually mostly worked as intended[1]<p>If you compare the layout/style to say the haygate estate (<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13092349" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13092349</a> where attack the block was filmed) or the lesser known aylesbury estate, its more enclosed, but no less brutalist.<p>What <i>is</i> different is that unlike the southwark estates, it always had the <i>original</i> tenancy requirements upheld (either by tenant action, location or happenstance.) [2]<p>This meant that it didn't have the massive abandonment in the 90s, left to rot throughout the 00s. The <i>quality</i> of the haygate estate was actually pretty high, secure entry, gardens for the low rise, district heating, trees and playgrounds.<p>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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>[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<p>[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.<p>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.
If you wanna get some more footage of the buildings and inhabitants, I can recommend checking out Bêka & Lemoine's "Barbicania" --- <a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/barbicania" rel="nofollow">https://vimeo.com/ondemand/barbicania</a><p>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 --- <a href="https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk" rel="nofollow">https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk</a>
> all the photos where shoot with the Leica M11 + 35mm Summilux FLE<p>These photos look great, but I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly why.<p>The Barbican certainly looks better here than from what I remember of seeing it through the naked eye.
Ooh, another arcology. There's a little one in Alaska <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begich_Towers" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begich_Towers</a>
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.<p>Another fun Barbican fact is their Garchey System for waste disposal.<p>The wet food waste is collected communally and taken away by custom-built tanker vehicles that connect to the holding tanks.
<a href="https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk/barbican-now/garchey/the-garchey-system/" rel="nofollow">https://www.barbicanliving.co.uk/barbican-now/garchey/the-ga...</a>
> Leica M11 + 35mm Summilux FLE<p>I've never shot Leica. Is this color grading something you can pull straight out of the camera, or is this applied in post?<p>(Also wow that is expensive kit.)
Two less mentioned sides of the Barbican that I love:<p>- 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.<p>- 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 <i>more</i> organic than most modern architecture. It's a place of wonder and surprise.<p>I love the Barbican.
I have fond memories of classical concerts there when it was the place to go.<p>It was also the setting for part of Harry Styles As It Was <a href="https://youtu.be/H5v3kku4y6Q" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/H5v3kku4y6Q</a>
Never Too Small has an episode on a renovated flat in the Barbican: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2L0uML715dE" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2L0uML715dE</a><p>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.
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.<p>The appearance of various Barbican adjacent locations in Slow Horses was a nice touch. And very on-point given the nature of Slough House.<p>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.
(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?
The residents are already on to you.<p><a href="https://www.barbicantalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31087" rel="nofollow">https://www.barbicantalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31087</a>
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.<p>There used to be an iconic club Fabric it was called. Nearby Farringdon is my favourite place in London. Most underrated area.
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.
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.
I have lived there many years ago and it was amazing.<p>Theatre, concert hall, library, cinema and a few other things in the building. well kept gardens. Friendly and peaceful.
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.<p>It's an interesting place to be sure, but I wouldn't praise it nearly as much as the article does.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43966676">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43966676</a> expresses some of what I felt.
I recently saw a flat listing, which gives a nice peek inside of one of the very nicely furnished flats:<p><a href="https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/defoe-house-II" rel="nofollow">https://themodernhouse.com/sales-list/defoe-house-II</a><p>Edit: Just saw there's another comment with some other listings from that website, they are all quite nice.
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.
Some of Star Wars: Andor was filmed there. The concrete walkways look great as futuristic structures.<p><a href="https://www.nadamaktari.com/nadamaktari-memorylog/architectureofandor-part2-reframingthebarbican" rel="nofollow">https://www.nadamaktari.com/nadamaktari-memorylog/architectu...</a>
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".
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.<p>Never got up high enough to see the greenhouse.
I live here — what I love most is the sense of excitement for a different and better future which runs through the neighbourhood.<p>There's a lot less of that feeling out in the world of 2025 but you can still find it if you look.
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.
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.
There's also the Barbican Centre that a cinema/theatre/concert hall, they have some great stuff there<p><a href="https://www.barbican.org.uk/" rel="nofollow">https://www.barbican.org.uk/</a>
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.
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.
The events, cultural activities and especially some of the curated exhibitions at the Barbican have been outstanding. Highly recommend to anyone visiting London.
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.
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.
Even though it serves as expensive housing for private purchase, it still manages to exude Soviet central-planned estate vibes.<p>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.<p>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.