Barbican renovated to give ‘puzzling’ arts center a new lease of life | Barbican

“any“Everything is leaking,” says Philippa Simpson, director of buildings and refurbishment at the Barbican Hotel, standing outside the venue’s lake area and inspecting the tired tiles beneath her feet.

Water seeps through cracks into the building below and serves as a reminder of the task facing Simpson and the team repairing the 43-year-old landmark.

The first phase of the project will cost £231 million, and Simpson – who has done similar, if less daunting, work at the Young V&A in east London – hopes it will be completed in time for its 50th anniversary in 2032. The total bill is estimated at £451 million.

A huge task lies ahead. During a behind-the-scenes look, The Guardian shows the inner workings, including the Central Services Plant Room: a maze of concrete corridors lined with green pipes a third the size of Wembley Stadium.

Inside, five tanks, including a 250,000-litre tank – which provided hot water for heating – are dormant and need to be replaced. The problem is that the barbicans were built around them, which meant they needed to be chopped up and removed.

This task is what Richard McWilliam, head of engineering, calls “a messy, risky job,” which could serve as a description of the entire project. The Barbican Center was divisive when it opened (the Guardian described it as “the world’s most baffling arts centre”), but today it is celebrated by many as an iconic part of London’s skyline and creative life.

Opened in 1982, the Barbican Arts Center is a unique cultural institution. Built in central London on a former bomb site, the center’s cultural offering was primarily intended to entertain the 4,000 residents of the flats above it. Today, more than 1.5 million people enter its doors each year, making it one of the UK’s most popular cultural attractions.

Part of the challenge is his age – or lack thereof. Compared to the Young V&A, which has a building dating from the 1870s that has already undergone several retrofits, it is a very small building. The Barbican has never had a major facelift.

“We have these extraordinary civic spaces in the heart of the Square Mile,” says Simpson. “But how do you make it usable for everyone? How do you make it fully permissive, fully open, fully inclusive?”

Comprising a theatre, concert space, art gallery and conservatory, the Barbican Hotel has been celebrated as a well-executed vision of mid-century communal living. But it severely lacks modern design standards.

The conservatory is not accessible to wheelchair users and is only open to the public for a few hours during the weekend. The lake area – full of leaking tiles – looks worn; Their foyers, which should be a welcoming area offering visitors relevant information, are confusing spaces.

“People coming in and out of the main doors at Lakeside often miss the elevators,” says Jamie Sodra, a partner at Turner Prize-winning architecture group Assemble, who is part of the design team overhauling the organization’s wayfinding process. “They walk completely in front of them.” New light bulbs will illuminate the lobby spaces, and soiled carpeting will be torn out and replaced.

It’s not the only porous tiles at the Barbican; Sudra says there are about 40 different entrances to the building. “Because there are so many entry points, it makes people feel a little bit more confused, and they don’t have a clear idea of ​​what level they’ve actually entered,” she says.

The history of the Arts Center clears up some of the confusion. They had to be built around other elements, such as the lake and apartments in the first place, which means that there is little consistency in the design and the entrances are not where you would expect to find them.

The Silk Street entrance, which many consider the “front” of the building, is actually the back; While the massive doors facing the lake are technically the front entrance. Corridors loom over the spaces. There are secret passages for residents. Even for seasoned visitors, there is little rhyme or reason.

The Barbican’s labyrinthine design has attracted many visitors over the years. Stanley Tucci and David Dimbleby got lost, while explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes once climbed over a wall to get in. Brian Eno was found wandering around the fourth floor trying to find the ground floor fountain room. Fiona Shaw hated performing in the building and complained about the actors getting lost on the inhospitable stairs and corridors.

One of Sudra’s biggest jobs is to create a new signage scheme to replace the four now in use. They often clash and access groups say it is difficult for people to follow them. All Ken Briggs tags except the original (which are included) Ken Briggs tags are now removed.

The organization has historically been successful in making hay because of the difficulty visitors have when trying to find it. Posters printed shortly after its opening show film critic Barry Norman holding a map next to a bemused-looking police officer with the caption: “If Barry Norman can find the new Barbican Center before it opens in March, he will review the classic English film season.”

At one point, the store sold a T-shirt that said: “I found the Barbican Centre.” Simpson hopes that when construction begins in 2027, a new, more manageable era will begin.