Barbican Centre (London, Great Britain)
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory.
The London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra are based in the center's Concert Hall. In 2013, it once again became the London-based venue of the Royal Shakespeare Company following the company's departure in 2001.
In to two theatre spaces play host to the finest international theatre, dance and performance by artists and companies who are challenging the idea of what theatre can be.
An icon of Brutalist architecture, the Barbican is one of the UK’s architectural treasures.
Working with a site almost completely razed by the Blitz, the Barbican’s architects, Chamberlain, Powell, and Bon, seized the opportunity to propose a radical transformation of how we live in buildings and cities.
The result is one of London’s most ambitious and unique architectural achievements: a city within a city that is raised above street level and draws on a rich palette of references, from ancient Roman fortresses and French Modernism to Mediterranean holidays and Scandinavian design.