The Barbican Estate, or Barbican, is a residential complex of around 2,000 flats, maisonettes and houses in central London, England, within the City of London. It is in an area once devastated by World War II bombings and densely populated by financial institutions, 1.4 miles (2.2 km) north east of Charing Cross . [ 1 ]

“Lastly the three high towers rising up into the sky will give dramatic contrast to the otherwise horizontal treatment of the buildings and, by their distinctive form and relationship to each other, will both mark the change of axis at ground level and give identity to …

Jul 12, 2016 · On the 29th December, 1940, at the height of the Second World War, an air raid by the Luftwaffe razed a 35-acre site in the heart of the City of London to the ground. The site was known as the...

Jan 3, 2024 · The Barbican is a huge Brutalist, post-war building estate in the North West corner of the City of London, that includes just over 2000 flats for around 4000 residents over 3 towers and a number of lower rise blocks.

It is one of the largest brutalist builds in the world, but the structure is contrasted with an ample central outdoor space with plenty of greenery and water features.

Feb 28, 2022 · The number of flats in the Barbican has expanded in the 20th century. What was originally built in the mid-1960s as the Barbican YMCA – a tower of single rooms aimed at young people working in the City – was reconfigured into 74 private flats in 2015/2016 and is now known as Blake Tower.

An icon of Brutalist architecture, the Barbican is one of the UK’s architectural treasures. Working with a site almost completely razed by the Blitz, the Barbican’s architects, Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, seized the opportunity to propose a radical transformation of how we …

The barbican of the White Tower in Nuremberg (reconstruction). In the Middle Ages, barbicans were typically situated outside, or at the edge of, the main line of defenses, and were connected to the city walls with a walled road called the neck.They would thus defend the entrance to the city or castle at the "choke point". [1] In the 15th century, with the improvement in siege tactics and ...

We uncover some of the facts and unexpected stories behind the history and architecture of the Barbican Centre and Barbican Estate.

It can get confusing when we talk about 'The Barbican', because it can mean two different, but connected things. Both were designed by the same architects: Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, with the...