Barbican Centre by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

London’s Barbican Centre was presented at the AT Awards live finals on 20 September 2023 to a jury comprising Rab Bennetts, Juliette Morgan, Neil Thomas, Peter Bishop, Nana Biamah-Ofosu, and Chair Isabel Allen. Read about how the project has stood the test of time.

Credit: Timothy Soar

Completed
2006

AHMM’s partnership with the Barbican Arts Centre – the organisation and the building –spans more than 20 years. Prior to the practice’s transformative foyer and gallery projects, the building had suffered from poor wayfinding – an issue exacerbated by inconspicuous entrances, an incomplete high-walk system, and years of accumulated clutter.

Key interventions include inserting a new bridge to provide an unambiguous route from Silk Street to the heart of the foyers and the principal vertical circulation core; demolishing a 17-tonne staircase and flooring over the five-storey void between the lower foyers and art gallery to create a state-of-the-art gallery capable of exhibiting (and insuring) world-class artwork; burying original fabric to create level access for all; and improving wayfinding by relocating and reworking the front-of-house facilities to form a family of crisply-defined, over-scaled ‘portals’ sitting confidently within the existing concrete structure.

Credit: Timothy Soar

AHMM has continued to work with the Barbican to extend the use of its facilities beyond the original brief, maintaining and building on the organisation’s cultural programme, while supporting its commercial viability. Further works have included the provision of two new cinemas and a large, split-level shop that established a new connection to the mezzanine, improving both accessibility and inclusivity.

Visitor numbers more than doubled in the ten years following completion of the gallery and foyer projects – testament to the success of the entrance strategy, simplified circulation routes, improved legibility, and new and improved visitor attractions. A subsequent focus on improving the commercial aspects of the building, including the shop, restaurants and cafés, has allowed the centre to continue developing into a vibrant destination for the arts and other leisure activities.