client: The Barbican Arts Centre
narrative: The personification of the Barbican’s history.
A place-making and way-finding system for the Barbican Arts Centre using the Barbican’s history to create a persona which is discovered through poetic narratives inserted into the Barbican’s yellow line way finding system and enhanced at the main entrance by stop motion videos depicting the journeys.
A rotation of artworks, posters and sculptures were commissioned to illustrate the poems along the way finding yellow line journeys, which were compiled into a series of booklets helping visitors to navigate the poetic yellow lines around the Barbican.
The design helps visitors to navigate the Barbican Centre, making it more accessible as well as revealing the layers of history within the Barbican area.
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- A map of the Barbican Yellow Lines. Poems inserted into the Barbican’s Yellow Line way finding system reveal the rich history of the Barbican area.
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- A series of 8 journey guides to take visitors through the Barbican, revealing the poetry in the yellow lines, the Barbican’s history and allowing them to discover artworks along the way.
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- An iconic example of brutalist architecture: Barbican Towers in London
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- Chalk spray was used to stencil over the existing yellow lines to test the poetry element inserted into the lines.
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- A way-finding and place-making design strategy for the Barbican Arts Centre using the personification of the Barbican’s history.