Barbican Living
The different types of flats in Willoughby House
Like all terraces running north to south, there is a central internal corridor running down the middle of the building on each floor. Lifts are at the ends and in the centre of the block. In all the other north to south blocks, flats are on one side of the corridor or the other, and all their windows face either east or west. But the Barbican designers thought that the view over Moor Lane was not nice enough for living rooms. So the majority of the accommodation is planned on what they call the ''Scissors'' or ''Up and Over'' principle. In other words, you go “up” to your living area and then “over” (the corridor) to your bedroom area. (Alternatively you go down and under). The result is that all the living rooms of maisonettes look west over the lake and all the bedrooms face east over Moor Lane. The complexity of squeezing the typical east-west flat arrangement into a north-south building meant that flats are rarely the same.
Regular flats
The Barbican designated each different design a flat “type” and in other blocks I have endeavoured to describe each. But here I don’t think it would help. Basically, the typical layout is as follows. There is an entrance off the corridor. You go up a half flight of stairs to your living room and kitchen. Then you go up a further half flight, back over the main corridor, to one or two bedroom, a bathroom and a WC. The two flats at each end of the corridor don’t have these problems because the corridor ends at their front doors. They have windows on two sides and are one or two bedroom varieties.
Penthouse Flats
Willoughby has almost as many penthouse types as maisonette types. Generally they have the living room, a bedroom and another bedroom stacked on top of each other, with the kitchen bathroom and WC located according to the dictates of space.
Flat Types
Willoughby House |
|||
Type |
Total |
Rooms |
Accommodation |
16 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
16 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
4 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
4 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
2 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
2 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
16 |
3 |
2 bedrooms, living room |
|
16 |
3 |
2 bedrooms, living room |
|
2 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
2 |
3 |
1 bedroom, living room, store room |
|
12 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
12 |
3 |
1 bedroom, living room, with dining/study area |
|
6 |
3 |
2 bedrooms, living room |
|
2 |
3 |
2 bedrooms, living room |
|
8 |
4 |
3 bedrooms, living room |
|
1 |
3 |
2 bedrooms, living room |
|
1 |
3 |
2 bedrooms, living room, store room |
|
2 |
3 |
1 bedroom, living room, lounge/study |
|
8 |
4 |
2 bedrooms, living room, lounge/study |
|
8 |
3 |
1 bedroom, living room, lounge/study |
|
1 |
3 |
1 bedroom, living room, lounge/study |
|
1 |
3 |
1 bedroom, living room, lounge/study |
|
2 |
3 |
2 bedrooms, living room |
|
2 |
2 |
1 bedroom, living room |
|
2 |
3 |
2 bedrooms, living room |
|
TOTAL |
148 |
|
|
