The Architecture of Andor Part II: Re-Framing the Barbican

Still of the Barbican as ‘Coruscant’ in Star Wars: Andor set within my own image when visiting the film location.

One of the most iconic Brutalist developments within the City of London is the Barbican Centre. It’s also one of the easiest places to get lost in. A little walk on the bridges could end up in the most interesting spaces, or in a space far far away. This is Part II of the Architecture in the Andor series, exploring the Barbican and how it was used in Star Wars: Andor to represent Coruscant.

Built between 1965 and 1976, the scheme was designed by architects Chamberlin Powell and Bon in 1955, intending to reverse the population decline in the area bombed during the Second World War. The Barbican’s development includes the art venues of the Barbican Centre, a public library, and the Museum of London, as well as the Barbican Estate which comprises of 3 tower blocks, 13 terrace blocks, 2 mews and a row of townhouses. (1)

Frank Woods, a younger partner to the architects, described how in the studios, the Barbican was perceived from the view of modernists, not even using the word ‘Brutalism’ to refer to the concrete, but using it as a material which was readily available.

He further explains that the Barbican has taken generations to be constructed, absorbed, and regarded as an international model of its kind, and was even queried that as time passes, the Barbican “grows to match and reflect the society in which it will stand”. (2)

This implies the Barbican as a permanently changing monument as the world changes, where its architecture will not fail to be read as part of the urban context and society of its time.

This can be quite contradicting to the evolution of Brutalism as a style of architecture, where ‘isolation’ and ‘alienation’ are terms often used to describe its place within our contexts, further entertaining the thought of whether the Barbican was initially accepted by society as a modernist ideal and utopia rather than an example of Brutalism and if it still is.

Own Images of the Barbican Centre.

Disposition of Space

The development of the Barbican was extensive, yet it had illustrated a style of placemaking unseen before its time of completion.

What could be an accurate and perhaps still relevant review was through the Architect’s Journal which described the Barbican when completed as having: “all the aspects, gigantisms single of purpose - of that bygone age when architects had the confidence (or naivety) to believe that monumentality had a place in architecture and that part of the [architects’] job as designers was the imposition of a discipline and order on the users of the building.” (3)

However, Piers Gough, wrote that:

“The Barbican, with its multi-levels of pedestrian realm, was the closest built reality to the seemingly inevitable three-dimensional complexity of the future city.”(4)

A complexity easily charted when navigating the Barbican as it provides a dramatic setting of monumentalism which although can be experienced as an imposing space, it can be argued the Barbican’s display of interlocking walkways and use of space is rather a disposition of space, both complex yet simple enough to re-enact as a city itself.

Cross Section showing the many spaces, walkways, and complexities in the structure of the Barbican centre. Image via RIBA Architecture.com

Re-Framing the Barbican

In episode 7 of Andor, ‘Announcement’, the Barbican is used as a meeting point between two rebels undercover in Coruscant. There are two scenes of the Barbican, a montage of walking shots, both outside and inside the centre. The first scene follows a female character in disguise known as ‘Kleya’ who appears to be from an upper-middle class background. The Barbican in these scenes is re-framed.

When filming an architectural structure, the film not only frames it, but re-frames. The act of framing the Barbican in Andor for this scene, much like the duplication of an image, amounts to an intervention of the Barbican within its social context. (5)

This intervention of the social context within a frame, even within a Brutalist architectural style, is inevitable. Kim Dovey explains in ‘Framing Places’ that:

“Because architecture and urban design involve transformations in the ways we frame life, because design is the imagination and production of the future, the field cannot claim autonomy from the politics of social change” (6)

Unlike the Brunswick, the Barbican seemed to have less effect in displacing its assertion within reality but rather re-exhibits itself through framing. The nature of the mise en cadre of the building within Andor relies on framing the Barbican with realistic elements taking priority. The choices of leaving both complex structural forms as well as detailing such as its lamps within the foreground of the frame feeds into a larger understanding of the embodiment of the space, grounding its reality when the background is changed through visual effects into a futuristic cityscape.

When placing the image frame of the Barbican onto my own image for example, the perception of a space beyond the screen is applied. The Barbican is re-framed through the visuals seen in Andor, which allows one to read the Barbican re-framed as a continuity, its realistic elements and complexity carrying through from the Andor frame into my own.

Recreated Images of the Barbican featuring the walking ramp on the 2nd floor in the Barbican Centre.

Schemas and Sequences

Lara Rascoroli describes experiencing the Barbican in her essay ‘No | Home | Movie: Essay Film, Architecture as Framing and the Non-house’ as a space which is “almost like a town, and can even lend itself to becoming a metaphor of the world”. (7)

Considering the Barbican as a metaphor of the world, particularly our world, is successful within Andor. As the Barbican was initially built for a larger middle-class setting within a financial district, it is evident the parallels are shown within Andor as the characters discuss money. Similar contexts were heard when I visited the Barbican.

The form of Brutalism as a configuration of a futuristic city through the Barbican has carried throughout its pedestrian routes. Piers Gough described Chamberlin Powell and Bon as “very skilful scenographers”, particularly when commenting on the sculpture park, the very location which was used in Andor. (8) This depiction of the Barbican as an architecture for cinema seemed to have traversed into the frame of film.

Stills from Andor Episode 7: ‘Announcement’ (2022) featuring the Barbican as Coruscant . Still image credit to Lucasfilm.

The Barbican also carries a memorability not just through image, but discourse. Filmmaker and producer Don Boyd claimed that “discourse is what I feel the Barbican has always represented”. (9) This emphasises the Barbican as a place for discussion, for people to conduct their own sequences perhaps with an underlying rebellious tone through history.

The Barbican’s own cinema had an evolution of its own in becoming renowned for independent cinema, screen talks and discussion. The Barbican also serves as a labyrinth of architectural discourse, despite its monumentality it carries a flexibility in providing a structure that engages its audience.

Perhaps it is the simplification of representing the Barbican as it is, especially in producing montages that do not reconfigure the sequences for Andor, that allows it to succeed in recognising and specifying an emotional event which is still present when experiencing the space.

References:

1. Chris v. Uffelen, “Massive, Expressive, Sculptural: Brutalism now and then” (Braun Publishing 2018) pp.162

2. Nicholas Kenyon, Elain Harwood, “Building Utopia: The Barbican Centre, Essay 3: ‘A Haven of Cultural Perfection’” (Published by Batsford, 2022)

3. Nicholas Kenyon, Elain Harwood, “Building Utopia: The Barbican Centre, Essay 3: ‘A Haven of Cultural Perfection’” (Published by Batsford, 2022)

4. Piers Gough, “Piers Gough on the Barbican”, The Barbican (14 Aug 2018) https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/piers-gough-on-the-barbican

5. Laura Rascaroli, “Film and Domestic Space. Architectures, Representations, Dispositif. Ch.9 No| Home| Movie: Essay Film, Architecture as Framing and the Non-house” (Edinburgh University Press. 2020) https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv136c512.15 pp. 157

6. Kim Dovey, “Framing Places: Mediating Power in Built Form” (Routledge 2008) pp.1-2

7. Laura Rascaroli, “Film and Domestic Space. Architectures, Representations, Dispositif. Ch.9 No| Home| Movie: Essay Film, Architecture as Framing and the Non-house” (Edinburgh University Press. 2020) https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctv136c512.15 pp. 157

8. Piers Gough, “Piers Gough on the Barbican”, The Barbican (14 Aug 2018) https://www.barbican.org.uk/read-watch-listen/piers-gough-on-the-barbican

9. Nicholas Kenyon, Sukhdev Sandhu, “Building Utopia: The Barbican Centre, Essay 11: ‘Cinema’” (Published by Batsford, 2022) https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=e10b5f63-0ec6-4af7-86da-485193fe9c7f%40redis&ppid=Page-__-27&vid=0&format=EK