I read with interest about the refurbishment plans for the Barbican (Barbican revamp to give ‘bewildering’ arts centre a new lease of life, 5 December). I spent more than 30 years working on the prototype – the large complex of buildings that the architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon designed for the University of Leeds, constructed circa 1970.
All of the design features in the Barbican were there in the Leeds complex of offices, laboratories, library and so on, including all the problems. I always explained to visitors that I regarded the Chamberlin buildings primarily as a large-scale piece of brutalist sculpture rather than as a working environment.
Several cycles of remediation and refurbishment have been undertaken by the university over subsequent decades and, if they haven’t done so already, those undertaking the Barbican refurbishments might consider jumping on the train to Leeds to see how the university has weatherproofed and humanised the buildings.
Alan Radford
Horsforth, West Yorkshire
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