Photographing Monumental Concrete Spaces with a Human Perspective.
I see photographing the Barbican as an opportunity to capture a landmark that’s both celebrated and contested. Designed by Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon and completed in 1982, the complex stands as a unique architectural icon in London.
The Barbican’s sheer verticality and the saw-tooth rhythm of its balconies create a powerful and industrial monumentality. These are towers and buildings that loom, where concrete—not so much glass or metal—seems to define the visual and physical experience. Concrete in the walls, concrete in the columns, concrete as the constant. In each photograph, I aimed to balance the massive presence of the complex with moments of warmth—showing how concrete can still (or any material) embody the human scale.
Throughout the complex, I focused on leading lines to emphasise its mass and structure, and how light and shadow carve out volumes in the landscape of stark forms. While I maintained an objective approach, I chose to weave in elements of the natural world and the presence of people to convey scale and suggest usage. These glimpses of life in and around the architecture serve as a reminder of the human experience woven into it.
For RibaPix (the photography bank of the Royal Institute of British Architects) I photographed to frame the architecture in ways that balanced objective documentation with my sense of what these spaces mean. To explore more of the photographs, visit bit.ly/3NL2lgF
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