"Many of the terrace blocks are raised on columns, a device employed to give continuity between different parts of the layout and to avoid what may otherwise have been, in a high density development, blunt and oppressive enclosures by buildings forbidding in scale."

Michael Brawne’s 1977 review of the Museum of London, one of the final parts of the London Wall development from the 1950s to the 1970s. "It is not only such specific site conditions which cause difficulties but rather more the general problem of approaching a building divorced from the ground and also, or very good reasons, presenting blank surfaces to the spaces which link it to the urban mesh that inevitably continues beyond its boundaries. Somehow the architectural act of recognising that the surroundings are alien, at the same time alienates the building itself from its setting."

Momus on the Barbican. "[It] has grown on me. It has its own charm. With age, it's becoming more weird, eccentric and unique. Yesterday, before running through the Brel show in the big theatre, I had a good rummage through the building." I think it does perhaps take time and effort to like the place.

'The fantastic "Concrete and Clay" is performed by the Unit Four Plus Two on the site of the Barbican which is under construction. Pathe Pictorial use the setting as a literal interpretation of the song'

"Part of Barbican Art Gallery’s current exhibition Radical Nature – Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969–2009, the experimental architectural collective EXYZT has created The Dalston Mill, turning a disused railway line and waste ground in Dalston into a vibrant rural retreat for the people of the area and beyond." 15 July 2009 - 6 August 2009.

"EXYZT are putting the finishing touches to their latest London project, The Dalston Mill, an off-site extension of the Barbican's Radical Nature exhibition."

Bob Stanley on the London highwalks (also named here as "pedways", which is apparently the more common term for them in Canada, although there they tend to be underground not elevated). It's a good overview. I need to find Drawing 3400B.

'Like most of Oobject's baffling complaint about the Highline, this attack on Beech Street is stunningly wrongheaded. The Highwalk gets plenty of use and is anything but a "sad and lonely" place. Beech Street isn't some Trumptonesque New Urbanist Quality Street, but it's not "hostile to pedestrians", either' Must write about highwalks. In the meantime, this is good.

"Who had the brilliant idea of plonking the conservatory on the top of the Barbican Arts Centre? ... It’s another of those eccentric elements which make the Barbican. But they’ve cut the budget, cut the gardeners, and cut the opening times and the whisper is that John Tusa wants to get rid of it altogether. And of course you can make something so ragged that it becomes its own argument for demolition."

"One Sunday in recent memory, accompanied by a, e, e, o, and no doubt numerous other vowels that failed to make their presence known to us as we walked with both purpose and purposelessness from the Barbican on to admire the various works of Berthold Lubetkin that are scattered around the broken city." Nice photos, including one of the MIlton Court highwalk open wound. Wonderfully irreverent.

"An unmissable chance to see rare archive documentaries that tell the story of the Barbican ... Introduced by David Heathcote, design and architectural historian and author of Penthouse Over the City: The Barbican and Modern Living"

A really interesting interactive visualisation of the radio spectrum at the Curve (so it's free, and open late).

I was trying to remember the name of the exhbition of this at the Barbican in 2004, and shockingly it turned out to be quite easy to find: "Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties".

A retro wonder as Joan Bakewell looks at the Barbican. Good bits: titles, nominative determinism ("Henry Wrong, Administrator"), a look at the old signage. Bad bits: a long dull intro, and it cuts off just as it gets going.

I thought if there was one part of London where concrete/brutalism was safe, it was the Barbican. Obviouly not. Sigh. (Regwall, bugmenot works)

"Saraceno is obsessed with clouds and would like to build floating cities. Having trained as an architect, he isn’t just talking hot air." at the Barbican

"Introduced by Lord Norman Foster and followed by the film’s director Mirjam von Arx in conversation with Gherkin Project Director Carla Picardi"

Part of the London Architecture Biennale, including Foster introducing a film about the making of 30 St Mary Axe