Free installation made from the Barbican's own materials, centred on a 1:22 scale model of the estate, that explores the buildings and their history through objects from the Barbican Archive.
Concrete and Clay: Archiving the Barbican is on at the Barbican Centre on Wednesday 21 October, and it's a free installation. It's built from the Centre's own original materials, and it's meant to help you get your bearings in the buildings and their complex histories through a changing selection of stories and objects from the Barbican Archive. The whole thing is centred on a rarely seen 1:22-scale model of the Centre and the Estate, so you can see the whole thing laid out in miniature while you're standing right inside it.
To get why that matters, it helps to have the scale of the place in your head. The Barbican is one of London's most singular architectural achievements, known worldwide as an icon of the brutalist style. It grew out of a visionary plan by the City of London and architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon to transform how people experience buildings and cities. Construction of the estate began in 1965 and took eleven years, with the Centre another six on top, opening to the public in 1982 and later Grade II-listed in September 2001. The 40-acre estate now homes more than 4,000 residents across some 2,000 flats, alongside the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the City of London School for Girls and the Barbican Library.
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Working with Google Arts and Culture, the Centre has catalogued and digitised thousands of architectural plans, drawings, photos, objects and leaflets, and this installation draws from that archive. It's on Level G of the Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS, and it's free to visit.
