In August it was announced that London's Blake Tower, the fourth high-rise that completes the brutalist Barbican Estate, was to be converted into 74 luxury residences comprising two and three bedroom apartments, studios and two penthouses. Purpose designed as a youth hostel in 1968 by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, the Grade II listed, 17-storey block has been empty since 2012 and is now under the ownership of Redrow London, who are working with design studio Conran + Partners on the overhaul.
December saw the unveiling of the first show apartment, which demonstrates how the designers will fuse the building's original brutalist features, such as exposed concrete and pick-and-brush-hammered interior walls, with contemporary brass fittings, light oak floors and a warm colour palette.
Features such as a brass screen in the show apartment's reception and the bespoke terrazzo bathroom vanity units echo the curved shape of the Barbican's distinctive balustrades, while the curved ends of the door handles reference the estate’s renowned central water fountain, Frobisher Crescent.
'We have been inspired by the historical, architectural and cultural characteristics of the Barbican to create a fresh, exciting and crafted design,' says Simon Kincaid, project director at Conran + Partners, who describes the development as a collection of apartments which have ‘a modern heritage'.
'We celebrate and reveal the buildings iconic hammered concrete finish in a controlled manner, giving the apartments authenticity and character,' he continues. 'Kitchen, bathroom and joinery designs include carefully considered materiality and detailing in response to the honest innovative and modernist design principles seen in the Barbican Estate.'
While the show apartment demonstrates a two-bedroom layout, buyers can choose from floorplans that range in size from 450 sq ft to over 2,000 sq ft and that take in impressive views of London’s skyline with the London Eye and the Shard to the south. With architects Harper Downie taking on the refurbishment of the building's exterior, Blake Tower is scheduled for completion this year.
Designed by Conran + Partners, the show apartment demonstrates how the building's original brutalist features, such as exposed concrete and pick-and-brush-hammered interior walls, will be fused with contemporary brass fittings, light oak floors and a warm colour palette
'Kitchen, bathroom and joinery designs include carefully considered materiality and detailing in response to the honest innovative and modernist design principles seen in the Barbican Estate,' says Simon Kincaid, project director at Conran + Partners
INFORMATION
Prices start at £720,000. For more information visit Blake Tower’s website
Photography: Richard John Seymour
-
Messika’s fluid jewellery is given a textural twistThe Parisian brand borrows a textural finish previously reserved for high jewellery with its new collection, ‘Move Ciselé’
-
This ingenious London office expansion was built in an on-site workshopNew Wave London and Thomas-McBrien Architects make a splash with this glulam extension built in the very studio it sought to transform. Here's how they did it
-
The bespoke Jaguar E-Type GTO melds elements from every era of the classic sports carECD Automotive Design’s one-off commission caters to a client who wanted to combine the greatest hits of Jaguar’s E-Type along with modern conveniences and more power
-
What is eco-brutalism? Inside the green monoliths of the movementThe juxtaposition of stark concrete and tumbling greenery is eminently Instagrammable, but how does this architectural movement address the sustainability issues associated with brutalism?
-
Brutalism’s unsung mecca? The PhilippinesPhilippine brutalism is an architecture subgenre to be explored and admired; the brains and lens behind visual database Brutalist Pilipinas, Patrick Kasingsing, takes us on a tour
-
The Lighthouse draws on Bauhaus principles to create a new-era workspace campusThe Lighthouse, a Los Angeles office space by Warkentin Associates, brings together Bauhaus, brutalism and contemporary workspace design trends
-
A Medellin house offers art, brutalism and dramaA monumentally brutalist, art-filled Medellin house by architecture studio 5 Sólidos on the Colombian city’s outskirts plays all the angles
-
The best brutalism books to add to your library in 2025Can’t get enough Kahn? Stan for the Smithsons? These are the tomes for you
-
Brutalist bathrooms that bare allBrutalist bathrooms: from cooling concrete flooring to volcanic stone basins, dip into the stripped-back aesthetic with these inspiring examples from around the world
-
Space House: explore the brutalist London landmark’s new chapterSpace House, a landmark of brutalist architecture by Richard Seifert & Partners in London’s Covent Garden, is back following a 21st-century redesign by Squire & Partners and developer Seaforth Land
-
‘Concrete Dreams’: rethinking Newcastle’s brutalist pastA new project and exhibition at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle revisits the radical urban ideas that changed Tyneside in the 1960s and 1970s
