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The Barbican

(arslan.io)
723 points farslan | 2 comments | 12 May 25 15:28 UTC | HN request time: 0.512s | source
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mjamil ◴[12 May 25 20:38 UTC] No.43967211[source]▶
It is utterly weird to me that so many commenters here appreciate the Barbican's aesthetics. To me, it is an ugly eyesore that's a legacy of the brutalist wave of the mid-20th century. I lived close to it (in Islington) for many months, and avoided walking through it to get to the City (where I worked).
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1. ljm ◴[12 May 25 21:02 UTC] No.43967429[source]▶
Maybe because other brutalist estates in London aren’t nearly as well kept or, uh, wealthy, than the Barbican is. And perhaps it’s uncommon to wander through such estates when you don’t live in them.

The old Robin Hood Gardens before they were demolished were quite unwelcoming, looking from the outside. You wouldn’t go anywhere near those kind of estates unless you were a resident, and you’d have a very different impression as someone who saw what it was like internally.

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2. frutiger ◴[12 May 25 21:50 UTC] No.43967809[source]▶
Heh, very strange to see someone mention this online. (I grew up in the non-Brutalist but nearby Aberfeldy Estate, and now live a few thousand miles away).