BARBICAN CINEMA

Whilst at AHMM, Eric was part of the Design Team for the Barbican Cinema project.

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The architecturally renowned Barbican Centre, opened in 1982 and now Grade II Listed, is one of the world’s leading arts centres founded and run by the City of London Corporation. AHMM was appointed in 2000 to create a new public realm for this building, in which AHMM stripped away years of accreted decoration, signage and structure to reinforce the essential qualities of the original building and clarify access to the centre’s many venues.

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In 2012, AHMM was appointed again to develop the designs for the exterior of a new cinema facility while the interior layouts are by cinema specialist designers, NBDA. This Barbican Cinema is located within the converted shell of Barbican Exhibition Hall 2 and the development is an important part of the emerging Barbican campus, giving the Centre a highly visible street presence for the first time.

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The existing main elevation presented constraints including those dictated by the existing structure, the services requirements and the uses which needed to be enclosed by the facade. An existing concrete up stand and regular column spacing, along with imposed structural and M&E requirements, provides both zones of use and areas for different elevational treatments. In response to the brutalist complex, the elevations were transformed from the originally opaque and impermeable to a fully glazed and active frontage.