4 ms·

Too much of this architecture in London. I wish the South Bank centre and the Barbican would be demolished and re-developed. Fun fact about the Barbican: The c

Too much of this architecture in London. I wish the South Bank centre and the Barbican would be demolished and re-developed. Fun fact about the Barbican: The central heating is controlled centrally. Tenants get a notification about which day it will be turned on for winter.

CaptainZapp 8y ago
I'm not disturbed by the Barbican as such (it can be argued that it really is a masterpiece), but by the exhibition venues, which, in my opinion are really utter crap. Unfortunately they sometimes run really good exhibitions. Compare that to the Centre Pompidou in Paris [1], on which arguments about the building will probably never cease (personally I think it's brilliant), which went up at about the same time. But it's hard to argue about its quality as an exhibition venue (or rather venues). [1] https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/five-facts-about-the-construction-of-the-pompidou-centre/ https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/five-facts-about-t...
- gadders 8y ago
  Yeah, I guess the Barbican flats don't look as bad as the theatre bit etc. I prefer the Lloyds building to the Pompidou. Less Fisher-Price colours.
  - CaptainZapp 8y ago
    The colors are not arbitrary, since they encode functionality. From [1] One of the distinctive features of the Centre Pompidou is the striking presence of colour. Four strong colours – blue, red, yellow and green – clothe the structure and enliven the façade, their use governed by a code laid down by the architects: blue for circulating air (air conditioning) yellow for circulating electricity green for circulating water red for circulating people (escalators and lifts). [1] https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/The-Centre-Pompidou/The-Building https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/The-Centre-Pompidou/The-Bui...
    - gadders 8y ago
      A friend was a senior IT guy at Lloyds. He said the building was a pig, functionally. All the network cables etc had to go down the pipes on the outside of the building.

CaptainZapp 8y ago

I'm not disturbed by the Barbican as such (it can be argued that it really is a masterpiece), but by the exhibition venues, which, in my opinion are really utter crap. Unfortunately they sometimes run really good exhibitions. Compare that to the Centre Pompidou in Paris [1], on which arguments about the building will probably never cease (personally I think it's brilliant), which went up at about the same time. But it's hard to argue about its quality as an exhibition venue (or rather venues). [1] https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/five-facts-about-the-construction-of-the-pompidou-centre/ https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/five-facts-about-t...

gadders 8y ago
Yeah, I guess the Barbican flats don't look as bad as the theatre bit etc. I prefer the Lloyds building to the Pompidou. Less Fisher-Price colours.
- CaptainZapp 8y ago
  The colors are not arbitrary, since they encode functionality. From [1] One of the distinctive features of the Centre Pompidou is the striking presence of colour. Four strong colours – blue, red, yellow and green – clothe the structure and enliven the façade, their use governed by a code laid down by the architects: blue for circulating air (air conditioning) yellow for circulating electricity green for circulating water red for circulating people (escalators and lifts). [1] https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/The-Centre-Pompidou/The-Building https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/The-Centre-Pompidou/The-Bui...
  - gadders 8y ago
    A friend was a senior IT guy at Lloyds. He said the building was a pig, functionally. All the network cables etc had to go down the pipes on the outside of the building.