The government plan for rebuilding London after World War II called for this incredibly valuable land to be filled with office towers to help fill the City of London’s insatiable need for office space. What got built instead was a monument to urbanism and Brutalist architecture housing 2,000 residences, 3 schools, a church, and a performing arts complex.

There’s a lot we can learn about navigating the stakeholders and constraints we face every day from the people who made the Barbican a reality. Let’s dig into the fascinating story of this incredible set of buildings.