walk/tour
Fore St, Barbican, EC2Y 8DA
A guided architecture walk exploring London’s post-war transformation, from the Brutalist vision of the Barbican to the High-tech Lloyd's Building and contemporary towers of the City. Through key landmarks, the tour reveals how social ideals, technological innovation, and economic change have shaped the modern skyline.
Barbican, Moorgate
Liverpool Street
100, 76, 153
The tour will end at the Monument station
The route includes multiple steps and level changes, and may not be fully accessible for those with mobility access requirements.
There will be several rest stops along the route, with limited opportunities for restroom access.
Walking tour
14:00–17:00
How to book
Please create a free visitor account to book your festival tickets.
The tour begins with Brutalism as a response to post-war reconstruction and the ambitions of the Welfare State. Through the Barbican Estate, we explore how raw concrete, repetitive forms, and elevated walkways were used to create a new model of collective urban living. Rather than a purely aesthetic style, Brutalism is presented as an architectural and social project—one that sought to address housing, community, and the experience of the modern city.
Moving into the City of London, the tour examines High-tech architecture as a shift toward transparency, flexibility, and the expression of structure and services. Buildings such as the Lloyd’s Building reveal how mechanical systems and construction logic become the architecture itself. The discussion also touches on the speculative ideas of Archigram, whose visions of adaptable, technology-driven cities helped shape the intellectual context for High-tech architecture, even if realised in more pragmatic, commercial forms.
The tour situates these architectural movements within key moments that reshaped London: the Blitz during the Second World War, which created the conditions for large-scale reconstruction; the legacy of the Great Fire of London, which established long-term patterns of urban regulation and rebuilding; and the IRA bombing campaigns, which influenced security, infrastructure, and the redevelopment of the City. Together, these events frame a recurring cycle of destruction and renewal that continues to define London’s urban form.
This tour explores how architecture in London reflects shifting social priorities and urban models across different periods. From the Barbican’s vision of collective living under the Welfare State to the City’s contemporary skyline shaped by global finance, buildings are understood as outcomes of broader economic and political systems rather than isolated objects.
The route also considers questions of access, public space, and inclusion—how elevated walkways, private plazas, and commercial towers structure movement and shape who the city is designed for. By comparing these environments, participants are invited to reflect on how ideas of community, ownership, and urban life have evolved, and what is gained or lost in the process.
Participants will encounter major landmarks including the Barbican Estate, Lloyd’s Building, the Gherkin, Leadenhall Building, 22 Bishopsgate, and the Walkie Talkie.
