Barbican

The Barbican is a substantial estate that includes flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, a hostel, a girls' school, a school of music and drama, and an arts centre comprising a concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices. All of this is served by underground car parking, pedestrian walkways and a canal. The complex was designed between 1955 and 1959, with the arts centre element redesigned from 1964 to 1968, then built with modifications between 1962 and 1982. The architects were Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (later known as Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)), working for the Corporation of the City of London, with Ove Arup and Partners as engineers.

The development is constructed of poured in situ reinforced concrete, with exposed surfaces largely pick-hammered, and smaller areas bush-hammered, which expose the Pen Lee granite aggregate. The City of London School for Girls, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Wallside, the Postern, and plinths to the lakeside blocks and water features are clad in glazed engineering brick. Roofs are flat and asphalted, paved with concrete tiles that match the wall finishes. The main blocks are supported on concrete columns that extend the bored piles sunk up to 60 feet deep. The tower blocks are formed around a central lift shaft and stairwells, with a peripheral framework of beams and split piers rising from exposed columns. The terrace blocks are based on concrete cross-walls supported on columns, with floor slabs spanning between the cross-walls and the balcony edge beams. The podium and tower blocks feature thick upswept concrete balustrades, developed by Ove Arup and Partners in consultation with the architects in 1961.

The housing was built between 1964 and 1975. The 35-acre rectangular site comprises seven-storey blocks set on a raised pedestrian podium, with mews housing, basement storage and car parking below for 2,500 cars, and three triangular towers of 44, 44 and 43 storeys rising above. Most flats are served directly from lifts, though some blocks comprise flats or maisonettes arranged in a scissor plan around a spinal corridor. There are broad similarities between the long east-west running terraces, between the shorter north-south terraces, and to a lesser extent also in the North Barbican development (Blocks XIV to XVIII). Blocks IX and XIII and the mews blocks are distinctive, and there are many variations in the individual unit layouts. Blocks are described in terms of their storeys above podium level, which for the North Barbican is a half-storey higher than that for the rest of the development. The different levels meet in the arts centre.

The terraces of flats are mainly arranged in pairs off top-lit stairwells and lift towers. All flats have a balcony, reached via sliding aluminium windows in thick varnished timber surrounds. The balconies have concrete paviours, and some retain planting boxes. The flats have cupboards by the front door containing letter boxes and metre boxes, and some retain kitchen cupboards, tiled bathrooms and a Garchey waste disposal system. The seventh-floor flats have high ceilings into distinctive round-arched roof spaces. Flats in the towers are larger, with even larger penthouse units. The mews houses are designed to a simple yet high standard, though the interiors have not been inspected.

Blocks I, II and III, known as the three triangular towers, feature upswept balconies running round the perimeter, with jagged stepped tops containing penthouses of up to three storeys with roof gardens. Below penthouse level there are three large flats per floor, with living rooms in the prows, served by a central triangular well with a lift on each side, which can be controlled from a common central panel. They have sliding timber windows, metal and glass balustrades with painted steel uprights, and double-height glazed entrances. Lauderdale House also incorporates two ground-floor shops.

Block IV, Defoe House (Nos. 1-178), is seven storeys above the podium with two storeys below. It has twelve broad bays between giant concrete columns supporting cross beams, with the ends of the beams on other floors exposed to form large bays. Each of these is subdivided into three room spans, forming a pattern of two and one units wide between glazed firescreens. The podium is open, with glazed entrances to the flats in each of the twelve bays. Sliding varnished timber windows are set behind paved balconies with metal and glass balustrades, many with concrete window boxes, and painted undersides to the roof. There are 24 rooftop penthouses with double-height fully-glazed ends under rounded tops, given a distinctive white finish. The one-two pattern of the flats is explained by their being L-shaped and having a double aspect, each pair wrapped around a central fully glazed lightwell containing the staircase and lift.

Block IVB, Lambert Jones Mews (Nos. 1-8), comprises two-storey houses of glazed engineering brick set forward of and below the level of the podium, reached via their own roadway, with granite setts continued as low walls to the fronts of the houses. Each house has a garage to the right of the front door. Doors and windows are of timber under concrete lintels. The first floor has corner windows and glazed doors under deep concrete lintels giving on to central stairs leading to the roof. The near-flat roofs are paved, with brick parapets topped with 1990s metal caps, behind which are slabbed roof gardens and projecting ventilated service or storage turrets.

Block V, Gilbert House (flats numbered 101-114, 201-214, 301-314, 401-414, 501-514, 601-614, 701-704), has an attached public house. It comprises seven wide bays, each three windows wide, with narrower bays at the ends, supported on twelve giant double pairs of concrete columns which descend into the lake. There is no podium here, but a bridge (Gilbert Bridge) over the lake instead. Sliding varnished timber windows are set behind paved balconies with metal and glass balustrades, and some with concrete window boxes (more have been removed here than elsewhere), with painted undersides to the roof. Rooftop penthouses have double-height fully-glazed ends under rounded tops, given a distinctive white finish. Each flat is a structural bay wide, reached via lifts and stairs at each end. Under the bridge at the southern end is a public house, Crowders. A plaque commemorates the foundation of the Lady Eleanor Holles School on this site in 1711 (installed 1984), and at the northern end is the foundation stone of the Arts Centre, unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on 20 November 1972, on the occasion of their Silver Wedding Anniversary.

Block VI, Speed House (1-114), is seven storeys above the podium with two storeys below. It has seven broad bays between concrete columns supporting cross beams, with the ends of the beams on other floors exposed to form large bays. Each of these is subdivided into three room spans, forming a pattern of two and one units wide between glazed firescreens. A narrower eighth bay is set at right angles. The podium is open, but with glazed entrances to the flats in each of the eight bays. Sliding varnished timber windows are set behind paved balconies with metal and glass balustrades, many with concrete window boxes, and painted undersides to the roof. There are 24 rooftop penthouses with double-height fully-glazed ends under rounded tops, given a distinctive white finish. The one-two pattern of the flats is explained by their being L-shaped and having a double aspect, each pair wrapped around a central fully glazed lightwell containing the staircase and lift. Two-storey maisonettes are set around similar staircases and lifts on the levels below the podium, with car ports and bedrooms on the lower level.

Block VII, Willoughby House (101-124, 201-204, 301-344, 401-404, 501-544, 601-604, 701-724), contains flats and two-storey maisonettes. It is seven storeys, with seventeen main bays, made up of eight wide bays and shorter end units set symmetrically either side of a central lift and stairwell, with escape doors on to the west-facing balcony, and further lifts and stairs at either end. Each bay comprises two units, each three varnished timber windows wide, with the right-hand window sliding to open on to the balcony. It has metal and glass balustrades, many with concrete planting boxes, and painted undersides to the balcony roofs. Rooftop penthouses have double-height fully-glazed ends under rounded tops, given a white finish.

Block VIIB, Brandon Mews (1-26), is a low mews block clad in glazed engineering brick, set forward of Willoughby House by the east end of the lake. It includes a water shoot into the lake. It comprises two-storey mews houses with internal bathrooms and staircases served by angled rooflights, which were covered over in the 1980s by round-arched brown perspex glazing. Houses are accessed in groups of four or five via walkways off the public podium. A further walkway extends out into the lake, via a staircase to a podium in the lake that contains planting and a water shoot which recycles and aerates the lake water.

Block VIII, Andrewes House (1-192), is seven storeys above the podium with two storeys below. It has eleven broad bays between giant concrete columns supporting cross beams, with the ends of the beams on other floors exposed to form a rhythm of large bays. Each of these is subdivided into three room spans, forming a pattern of two and one units wide between glazed firescreens. The podium is open, but with glazed entrances to the flats in each of the eleven bays. Sliding varnished timber windows are set behind paved balconies (renewed 1999-2000) with metal and glass balustrades, many with concrete window boxes, and painted undersides to the roof. There are 22 rooftop penthouses with double-height fully-glazed ends under rounded tops, given a distinctive white finish. The one-two pattern of the flats is explained by their being L-shaped and having a double aspect, each pair wrapped around a central glazed lightwell (glazing renewed with thicker sections and roof partly infilled in 1999-2000) containing the staircase and lift. Two-storey mews houses clad in glazed engineering brick are set under the podium, with south-facing patios incorporating ventilation holes to the car park below.

Block IX, The Postern (1-10), comprises four-storey houses over a basement, all clad in glazed engineering brick, with flat two-step roofs and a higher service duct. The houses can be entered at third storey and from street level two storeys below, where there are also garages. The lowest openings have an inverted round-arched form. The plans are long and narrow, with living and bedrooms on lower floors, kitchen and dining rooms at podium level, with a bedroom and roof garden above, all linked via internal dog-leg stairs with open treads. The podium is finished with a round-arcaded pattern to mullions supporting the balustrade on the open east side.

Block XIII, Wallside (1-16), contains houses, including two units designed for a doctor, dentist or similar professional chambers. It is clad in glazed engineering brick, with two-step flat roofs incorporating roof gardens and a higher ventilation flue. It is four storeys, set on, above and below the podium. The houses are set in pairs except at either end, and are entered at podium level, with square brick-clad piers supporting the floor above the podium. Bedrooms are mainly on lower floors, reached via an open-tread dog-leg stair, but there are variations in the internal planning that distinguish it from the more regular adjoining Postern.

Block X, Mountjoy House (101-114, 201-214, 301-314, 401-414, 501-514, 601-614, 701-704), is seven storeys. It has five wide bays, each three windows wide, with narrower bays at the ends, supported on giant double pairs of concrete columns which descend to the level of the lake. There is a series of narrow walkways. The block is entered via lifts and stairs at either end, with flats set either east or west of the internal stairwell lobbies. Each flat is a structural bay wide, except for the penthouse flats. Sliding varnished timber windows are set behind paved balconies with metal and glass balustrades, some with concrete window boxes, and painted undersides to the roof. Rooftop penthouses have double-height rooms lit by fully-glazed ends under rounded tops, given a white finish.

Block XI, Thomas More House (1-155), is seven storeys above the podium with two storeys below. It has eleven and a half bays between concrete columns supporting cross beams, with the ends of the beams on other floors exposed to form a rhythm of large bays. Each of these is subdivided into three room spans, forming a pattern of two and one units wide between glazed firescreens. The podium is open, but with glazed entrances to the flats in nine bays. Sliding varnished timber windows are set behind paved balconies with metal and glass balustrades, many with concrete window boxes, and painted undersides to the roof. There are 24 rooftop penthouses with double-height fully-glazed ends under rounded tops, given a white finish. The one-two pattern of the flats is explained by their being L-shaped and having a double aspect, each pair wrapped around a central fully glazed lightwell containing the staircase and lift. At the eastern end, Thomas More House abuts Mountjoy House, and has underneath it the sports hall range of the City of London School for Girls.

Block XII, Seddon House (101-112, 201-212, 301-312, 401-412, 501-512, 601-612, 701-703), is seven storeys. It has six wide bays, each three windows wide, with narrower bays at the ends, supported on giant double pairs of concrete columns which descend to the level of the lake below the podium. The block is entered via lifts and stairs at either end, with flats set either east or west of the internal stairwell lobbies except for the penthouses. Each flat is a structural bay wide, except for the penthouse flats, which are two. Sliding varnished timber windows are set behind paved balconies with metal and glass balustrades, most with concrete window boxes, and painted undersides to the roof. Rooftop penthouses have double-height rooms lit by fully-glazed ends under rounded tops, given a white finish.

Block XIV, John Trundle House (1-133), has twelve bays with four entrances, stairs and lifts, and a central corridor serving single-aspect flats. It is seven storeys plus a mezzanine entrance, set above the podium level of North Barbican above Beech Street (Beech Gardens). The block is supported on paired columns which support the cross walls, with cross beams expressed externally and with white-painted soffits. Rooftop flats have a higher, fully-glazed round-arched form, eight to the block, set in pairs except at the ends, set behind balconies, forming a distinctive white roof-line. The lower floors have three windows per bay, each with a central varnished wood door opening on to a balcony, all with planting boxes behind metal and glass balustrades. The steps up to the mezzanine entrances are tiled, and each has a glass door. A deep curved balustrade runs along the podium on both sides. Beneath is White Lyon Court, which gives on to a ramp leading from Goswell Road to Beech Gardens. This elevation is entirely glazed, with steel windows and doors.

Block XV, Bunyan House (201-223, 301-323, 501-523), is a seventeen-bay block, mainly of maisonettes arranged in a scissor plan around central corridors. It is six storeys set over an open ground floor, supported on two rows each of ten paired giant columns, which extend down to frame a brick-paved ramp leading from Goswell Road to Beech Gardens. An entrance, lift and stair tower is at the north-east end. Underneath the podium is a fitness centre, entirely glazed with metal-framed windows. The maisonettes have varnished timber windows set behind balconies with metal and glass balustrades and planting boxes. The north elevation is complex, with paired balconies on levels 2, 3 and 5, with continuous glazing to levels 1 and 4. On the south elevation, levels 1 and 4 are set behind the others. Soffits are white-painted. The roof level has a high round-arched motif to principal rooms, entirely glazed between exposed concrete frames. These higher rooms are set in pairs with balconies between. Bunyan House is set behind a landscaped forecourt on the podium, with planting boxes formed of red paviours and a circular fountain pool.

Block XVI, Bryer Court (101-108, 201-208, 301-308, 401-408, 501-508, 601-608, 701-708), is an eight-bay block of seven storeys set over an open podium floor with a large pool on the podium, supported on paired giant columns. A rear access gallery is reached from an entrance lobby, stairs and lifts at the southern end of the block. The single-aspect design was dictated by the presence of Murray House (1956) behind, which intrudes into the Barbican site. The lower floors have varnished wooden windows, those in the centre opening on to balconies with metal and glass balustrades and planting boxes, with white-painted soffits. The top floor has higher, round-arched rooms entirely glazed between the concrete frame, with white tops.

Block XVII, Ben Jonson House (201-268, 301-368, 501-568), is a 52-bay block set over an open podium floor and supported on two rows each of giant paired columns. It is seven storeys. The north elevation is complex, with paired balconies on levels 2, 3 and 5, with continuous glazing to levels 1 and 4. On the south elevation, levels 1 and 4 are set behind the others. Soffits are white-painted. The roof level has a high round-arched motif to principal rooms, entirely glazed between exposed concrete frames, forming the roof-line. These higher rooms are set in pairs, except around lifts at either end and in the centre, with balconies between. The podium has planting boxes and a fountain in paved surrounds, with the same red tiles facing round capsules set under the block and serving as exits, mainly for the conference centre underneath. To the side of the podium balustrade are large concrete raised planting boxes. The block links to Breton House.

Block XVIII, Breton House (1-111), is seven storeys with a rooftop, entered from three entrances at mezzanine level above the podium, with a spinal corridor and rooms at podium level on the north-east elevation. The block is supported on paired columns which support the cross walls, with cross beams expressed externally and white-painted soffits. Roof-top flats have a higher, fully-glazed round-arched form, eight to the block, set in pairs except at the ends, set behind balconies, forming a white roof-line. The lower floors have three windows per bay, each with a central varnished wood door opening on to a balcony, with planting boxes behind metal and glass balustrades. The steps up to the mezzanine entrances are tiled, and each has a glass door.

The YMCA (1965-71) is a 16-storey tower set off the ramp at the northern entrance to the site from Goswell Road. The lower three floors have fully glazed communal areas with external escape stairs. The upper floors have smaller rooms set off staircases to north and south, with set-back bathrooms in the centre of the long ranges. There is a floor of staff flats and a penthouse flat for the warden. The south side has a projecting concrete fire escape with glass screens flanking the exit from each floor. All windows are of black painted steel, those to the rooms slightly inset with central pivots. There is a continuous set-back vertical glazing band to the north stair. The height and position of the YMCA were designed to unite the Barbican with Chamberlin, Powell and Bon's earlier Golden Lane Estate, which features a tower of the same height.

The podium has upswept concrete balustrades and brick and tile paviours. There are some large concrete planters at the northern and southern edges. To the south west of the site, Seddon Highwalk and John Wesley Highwalk are covered ways under white round-arched roofs. John Wesley Highwalk terminates in a glazed brick service tower containing stairs to Aldersgate Street and up to the roof, with rounded walls and a pyramidal roof.

The lake, with brick-paved surrounds, follows the remodelled line of the Underground railway between Barbican and Moorgate stations and serves the filtration system for the Barbican Arts Centre. It has geometrically placed fountains. Raised circular brick beds with fountains and planting front the broad terrace serving the Arts Centre, reached via steps down from the podium and from within the Arts Centre itself. Eight similar round brick gardens are set at the level of the lake, slightly sunken within it, accessed via a spur in front of Andrewes House. The lake steps down a level, with a fountain and waterfall, under Gilbert House.

The City of London School for Girls was built between 1963 and 1969, with infilling from 1990 to 1991 by Dannatt, Johnson and Partners. It is of red semi-engineering brick on a reinforced concrete frame, with exposed concrete in piers and beams. The main block is four storeys with a semi-basement, and a two-storey wing to the side incorporates a gymnasium and swimming pool. The flat roof on top serves as the entrance and playground and is paved in red brick paviours. A strong grid of timber and aluminium windows is recessed behind projecting brick piers with concrete tops. Dannatt's infill, in grey brick, is treated as a simple pavilion. Timber and glass entrance doors give on to an entrance hall overlooking the main assembly hall, whose main floor is at basement level. Stairs rise through the centre of the school, with classrooms on either side and a second-floor dining hall. The hard finishes of tiled floors and timber screens (overlooking the hall and light wells) are a particular feature of the interior, which is unusually finely detailed. Art and crafts rooms are concentrated on the third floor. The lower wing retains a brick arcade within Dannatt's extension, and built-in seating and a concrete table in the open section are retained at the southern end. Beyond this is the gymnasium, with a swimming pool below. The pool extends to a top-lit double-height section at the deep end beyond.

The school is of special interest for the quality of its materials, the strongly architectural quality of its double-height spaces, staircase hall and infilled arcade, and for the way its complex plan fits logically into an awkward site. It was the first part of the Barbican complex to be completed.

The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, designed in 1959, revised in 1968 and built from 1971 to 1977, is, like the School for Girls, clad in brick on a concrete frame with bush-hammering to the exposed frame, which is expressed as a series of paired columns forming a ground-floor loggia overlooking the lake to the south. There is an exposed concrete lift tower at the eastern corner of the school. The Music School consists of practice studios on three levels spaced around two sides of the Music Hall, which is about 75 feet by 45 feet, with recording studios underneath. The practice studios are seen externally as a line of octagonal boxes, stacked two and three storeys high, with lines of six facing the lake and of four to the east. Windows are set in thick timber surrounds, which, along with the spandrel panels below, are painted red. In the larger windows are abstract stained glass friezes by Celia Frank. There is a roof-top garden above the music hall. An expansion joint separates the Music School at the front from the Drama School facing north, which has a theatre and movement studio, with the library in between extending into barrel-vaulted roofs, and a bar below. The conservatory which surrounds the Arts Centre Theatre is extended eastwards to link with the small conservatory over the Guildhall School of Music and Drama flytower. The small internal spaces have hard red tiled floors, larger rooms and halls have wood block floors, and music practice studios are carpeted.

The Arts Centre was largely designed in its present form in 1968 and was built from 1971 to 1982. Peter Chamberlin and Christoph Bon were architects in charge, with John Honer and Gordon Ruwald as project architects. It is of reinforced concrete, with innovative diaphragm walling, largely set below podium level. The principal spaces comprise a theatre designed for the Royal Shakespeare Company, a studio theatre (The Pit) added as the plans evolved, a concert hall designed in conjunction with the London Symphony Orchestra, a public lending library, an art gallery for temporary exhibitions, three cinemas, a conservatory, offices, restaurants, shops and foyers. The principal entrance is from Whitecross Street, under a canopy added to the designs of Diane Radford and Lindsey Bell in 1993-5, with glazed doors and a security entrance to the side and a driveway over timber setts to the left, with the stage door for the theatre beyond. Above is the podium and a glazed conservatory wrapped around the theatre flytower (and that of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama) with aluminium glazing and doors. Beyond, on the higher podium of North Barbican, is the entrance to the Barbican Exhibition Halls via a glazed single-storey building, highly glazed under a deep frieze. The halls are set below the podium. To the lake is a bank of cafes and restaurants to the right, clad in vertical white tiles. This has a stepped profile, with a first-floor balcony over a projecting ground-floor 'waterside' cafe, and a landscaped roof terrace to the upper level. It is four storeys (three with restaurants) and four main bays wide. To the left is a rounded staircase tower, and the main arts centre of six and seven bays is stepped behind Defoe House. Four bays facing the lake are expressed in square areas of vertical white towers over the roof-garden, with fascia and metal-glazed foyer areas below.

Foyers are on three main levels including a balcony, with theatre foyers on mezzanine level, now with a wheelchair access bridge across. The stalls (service road) level has a woodblock floor. Regularly spaced stairs are either side of central lifts, forming open wells through the three levels. There is a suspended iridescent perspex sculpture by Michel Santry, and busts of Shakespeare by Roubiliac (1760) and of Vaughan Williams by Jacob Epstein. Alterations and additional sculpture by Pentagram date from 1993-5.

To the west of the foyer, separated from it by internal glazed partitions, the library is set on two main levels, including areas for a children's library and music library. There are internal staircases (one of which is now blocked) and natural timber fittings. A broad external staircase from North Barbican has an entrance to the side. The art gallery is on two floors over the library and foyer. The main, upper level has small galleries opening off a central core around a central staircase, which overlooks the foyers below. A separate lower gallery curves round the Barbican Hall, marking the form of Frobisher Crescent above. There is a sculpture court over the Barbican Hall, with doors (not used) into the art gallery, backed by Frobisher Crescent. Frobisher Crescent houses offices for the Barbican Arts Centre's administration.

The theatre was first designed in 1959 as an adjunct to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, with theatre consultant Richard Southern. The scheme was expanded in 1964 with the involvement of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, and the final designs date from April 1968. It was built from 1970 to 1982, with Peter Chamberlin as architect in charge, succeeded by Christoph Bon. It has fan-shaped continental seating with steeply raked stalls and balconies, and steep side slips. Seating was devised by Robin Day. The theatre is lined in Peruvian walnut, lightly stained, which contrasts with the bush-hammered balcony fronts. A louvred ceiling unites the auditorium and fixed forestage areas. The front rows of seats can be lowered to make an orchestra pit if required, although there is more room for musicians above the wings to either side. The stage has a 100-foot fly tower to grid, with storage area for flats and stairs to traps below.

The theatre is entered from stairs on two sides, which have doors opening on to the separate rows, controlled by magnets. The dog-leg stairs on either side form high spaces and give on to foyers set between the theatre and the main Barbican space.

The concert hall was designed in consultation with Hugh Creighton, acoustic consultant. Spans are bridged by post-tensioned reinforced concrete double cruciform beams, with a timber canopy, reflective decoration in aspen pine to side walls and (a remodelling of 1994) balcony fronts. A stepped timber section over the stage and along the rear stage wall is profiled to reflect the sound forward into the auditorium and conceals film screens, house curtains, lighting and loudspeakers, as well as a maintenance gantry. The rear of the stage can be raised, and the front brought forward by removing seats and raising a five-foot section of the auditorium. The stalls have two balconies, designed with a fan-shaped plan to minimise the distance between the stage and the rear seats. Seating by Robin Day is incorporated into the stepping of the levels, with timber floors (the steps form the back of each row).

The cinema and studio theatre (The Pit) are set in the basement and are simply finished. The Pit is designed for maximum flexibility, with tiered seats around a central space that can be adapted for end-stage, three-sided or in-the-round productions. Two further cinemas are at conservatory level.