as we are cracking on with 2024, i’ve decided that of the many architectural inspiration series we planned, it’s probably best to tackle the beast first and share some images and thoughts of the barbican estate in london. i’m calling it a beast because it’s an enormous, expensive and very well-known icon of british brutalism. for this seasoned concrete-hugger, it then makes no sense to keep postponing this blog post any further (especially as our rug already exits and more stuff might come soon…), so do come with us to explore the place from a textile designer’s perspective.
i guess everyone somewhat interested in brutalism knows some of the basic facts - designed on a 35-acre ww2 bombsite by chamberlin, powell & bon for the corporation of the city of london, it opened its first flats in 1969 but the completion of the construction only really finished in the late 1970s, after a long and expensive process and it is now home to approx 4000 people in 2000 flats. of course the uniqueness of the estate comes from the fact that unlike many other brutalist projects in the uk, it was not built for social housing and the architects were not held by the typical council budget restraints -which resulted in one of the most free and complete architectural visions, achieved by some extremely time consuming and labour intensive processes.
if you want to know about these in more detail, my first recommendation is raw concrete by barnabas calder. quite early on in the book, he has a brilliant chapter about the barbican, with some focus on the social context around it, from conception throughout the whole of the construction process which makes for a very informative and interesting read as it touches on some of the tensions throughout the whole process of building it. he provides an important angle that does not often get mentioned on design blogs like these, as we tend to get lost in the form and the aesthetics - with good reason of course, but without context it would become rather meaningless.
i first visited a couple of years ago and the first thing that really affected my perception was its sheer scale. of course it is at this enormous scale that these visions for the order of forms work the best, and i think this is why it’s such a brutalist mecca here, the complete, intact and vast system of space. i don’t exactly know where my search for a geometric order comes from, all i know is that the deceptively monotonous facade of the terraced blocks (arranged in neat squares of course) gives me a sense of enclosed cosiness and open clarity at the same time. in every one of these blog posts i’m attempting to describe this feeling but it’s so hard to explain - there is just this sense of calm that i only find in places such as this.
the three 42-floor tall tower blocks bring some exciting angles with a lean, triangular layout and column of balconies tightly stacked into the sky. of course, the repeating geometric forms serve a textile pattern designer well. it really helps that i visited on a sunny day and the shadows projected on the surfaces aid the imagination in reducing these sharp angles to two-dimensional shapes. but the surface itself, the slate and hammered concrete texture that really is on every surface, is equally important - i always say that i want the weave of my cloth to resemble the raw concrete itself, and the pattern to play with the form.
to explore a bit more about the material and the techy bits of the architecture, my second recommendation is my favourite podcast series, about buildings and cities - they have a brilliant episode about the estate, touching on some of these details of the surfaces too as they take you on a journey around the estate. they’re much better suited to explore a more architectural angle than i’d ever be able to so do have a listen to it.
what i found the most surprising about it that it was a lot less grey than i imagined - of course, the concrete surfaces are raw and beautifully grey, and the shapes and forms are varied and playful, but the pavements are tiled with maroon bricks all over, and the ponds with the surrounding greenery reflect with a very strong teal and green everywhere. it is surprisingly colourful and stimulating in its order, the “oasis” comparisons do seem to be very fitting - not in small part due to the tropical garden accessible to residents only.
but we can’t quite go away of course without stepping foot in the arts centre, home to a concert hall, cinema and exhibition halls amongst others. seeing how the columns and the concrete coffered ceilings repeat and continue inside is an exciting exploration that i really enjoyed even if some of might not work that well today or may be in need of renovation.
for the last recommendation, i want to bring you an article from the rics blog, as it’s quite fresh and talks a bit about some of the repairs as well as bringing you some amazing pictures that hopefully will inspire you to appreciate it if you haven’t visited already - and if you have, i hope you’ll now see it from a surface pattern design angle too.
if you liked this trip, you can subscribe to our newsletter below - we’re only sending these monthly with a free downloadable graphic print, and you’ll always be amongst the first to notify of a new architectural journey, or new prints inspired by them.
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links:
raw concrete: the beauty of brutalism, barnabas calder, 2016, penguin books, london - purchase link to the barbican shop
establishment brutalism: the barbican estate, about buildings and cities ep 4, 2021 - youtube link to episode.
brutal or beautiful? the barbican estate, matthew williams, 2023, modus/rics - link to article on rics.org