VIDEO: London From the Top of The Barbican, A Brutalist Icon

Recently voted the UK’s ugliest tower, The Barbican Tower is one of the three residential towers of the Barbican Estate, built between 1965 and 1976 in London. Along with fourteen apartment blocks, the Barbican Estate contains 2014 flats, connected by a labyrinth of floating passageways and landscaped gardens.

Designed by the architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, the Estate was part of a utopian vision of urban renewal and transformation of the city center after the Second World War. When it opened in 1982, Queen Elizabeth even referred to the high-end mega-complex as “one of the modern wonders of the world." Though many Londoners despise the massive concrete megastructure, it is in fact a Brutalist masterpiece in the heart of London, a relic from a time of architectural coherence and uncompromised ambition.

Check out the incredible view from the Barbican Tower in the time-lapse above, and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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Cite: Gili Merin. "VIDEO: London From the Top of The Barbican, A Brutalist Icon " 12 Apr 2014. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/494959/video-london-from-the-top-of-the-barbican-a-brutalist-icon> ISSN 0719-8884

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