BRUTAL TRUTHS

Arrive at sunset perhaps or during a dramatic thunderstorm and the rising, jagged towers of the Barbican Estate can appear like a retro-futurist fever dream, a 1960s vision of what 21st-century London might look like. Architecture buffs will swoon over the rugged brutalist style on display throughout, yet what is even more impressive is the audacious ambition of the whole project in the first place.

There are 2,014 flats spread across three tower blocks, 13 terrace blocks and more, as well as two schools, a public library, a church, a museum and the Barbican Centre, which remains the largest arts complex in Europe to this day. There are 2,500 car-parking spots, yet also lakes, waterfalls and a vast conservatory filled with exotic plants. Perhaps most impressive of all, these facilities