Barbican book

LONDON’S BRUTALIST

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Address: Silk Street London, EC2 United Kingdom Public transit: Barbican Moorgate Owner: City of London Corporation Designation: Grade II Type Performing Arts centre and Mixed-use development Capacity:

Barbican Hall: 1,943 Barbican Theatre: 1,156 The Pit: 200

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History

1955 First proposals submitted to the Corporation of London 1956 Duncan Sandys, Minister for Housing, supports the scheme 1959 Corporation of London selects a scheme devised by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon 1960 Royal Shakespeare Company and London Symphony Orchestra become involved in the planning of the Barbican 1971 Construction work begins 1982 Barbican opened by HM The Queen on 3 March 1995 John Tusa appointed Managing Director, with Graham Sheffield as Artistic Director

2002 The Barbican celebrates its 20th birthday with a major refurbishment and improvements, offering enhanced facilities and greater ease of access 2007 The Barbican celebrates its 25th birthday with a marathon fortnight of events and a new look following the major ÂŁ35 million refurbishment of the foyers, public spaces and all the venues.

Sir Nicholas Kenyon appointed Managing Director 2012 Barbican celebrates 30th birthday and plays major role in Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival with a groundbreaking programme featuring Tanztheater Wuppertal (Pina Bausch), Cate Blanchett and Wynton Marsalis.

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During World War II, the City suffered serious damage and loss of life.

The Cripplegate ward was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population of the City stood at 5,324 of whom 48 lived in Cripplegate.

Discussions began in 1952 about the future of the site, and the decision to build new residential properties was taken by the Court of Common Council on 19 September 1957.

The estate was built between 1965 and 1976, on a 35-acre site that had been bombed in World War II. The complex was designed by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, whose first work was the ground-breaking Golden Lane Estate immediately north of the Barbican. The estate of 40 acres was officially opened in 1969 and is now home to around 4,000 people living in 2,014 flats.The flats reflect the widespread use in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s of concrete as the visible face of the building.

The central public court of the Barbican, Lakeside Terrace, features a cafĂŠ area.

The Minister for the Arts, Tessa Blackstone, announced in September 2001 that the Barbican complex was to be Grade II listed. It has been designated a site of special architectural interest for its scale, its cohesion and the ambition of the project.

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A new photo-book offers unprecedented access to the homes of some of the estate’s most devout residents – an ideal opportunity for architects, interior designers and voyeurs alike

“I wanted to allow the public to get a rare glimpse of what goes on within the Barbican Estate, as you don’t often get to see it from the inside,” says Anton Rodriguez, a current occupant and professional photographer who has compiled a beautiful selection of portraits featuring the real homes and residents of one of London’s most contentious architectural sites.

As an icon of Brutalism, the Barbican is Grade II-listed, but it is nevertheless often widely derided as the ugliest building in the city. The complex network of elevated walkways, hidden gardens and vast, bush-hammered tower blocks is built around one of Britain’s last surviving mediaeval churches, as if the entire site has been beamed in from a distant planet. For some this is an unnavigable dystopian nightmare; others laud it as shrine to modernism, offering convenience, culture and community through innovative urban planning. Astonishingly the estate holds around 4,000 people (that’s half of the City of London’s population) in 2,000 flats with 140 different types of layout. Rodriguez has completed 22 case studies, but hopes to eventually document the entire community. Unsurprisingly a significant number of his subjects are architects, while an even larger proportion nursed an obsession with the Barbican’s ‘complete’ living long before they moved in.

These intimate images uncover a human side to the estate, while simultaneously revealing the enviable interiors concealed within the concrete. The result is a wonderful mix of the young and old; singles, couples and families; all residing in either staunchly preserved mid-century style or joyful antique clutter. The wonderfully minimal architecture is sympathetic to both, while beautiful details such as barrel-vaulted ceilings and inverted arch windows are a wonder to behold.

Text by, Holly Black

HISTORY OF BRUTALISM

Rooted in Modernism and first evident in the work of Le Corbusier in the late 1940s, the term brutalism was first used in an architectural context by Swedish architect Hans Asplund in 1950 who discussed nybrutalism. It was in 1954, when architectural critic Reyner Banham used the term more widely in his writings to refer to the work of English architects Alison and Peter Smithson who created the iconic Hunstanton School in Norfolk and later the Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar, east London. Their style rebelled against the more formal architecture of the 1930s and 40s.

The term brutalism came to refer to the functional raw concrete buildings emerging in the UK in the post-war period.Brutalism was popular for rebuilding government buildings and providing social housing in the period of social solidarity following the Second World War. Writer Jack Self in Fulcrum argues that Brutalism finds popularity in periods of cultural cohesion, representing “an abstract egalitarian ideal.� With individualism in architecture more likely in boom times, Self suggests that the current popularity in brutalist architecture could be related to the recession.

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