Barbican Living

The waterfall

At the eastern end of the lake is the waterfall - or I think the correct term is 'cascade'. This is an imposing piece of concrete sculpture. Water is pumped up inside it to podium level. It then pours down to the lake in two waterfalls, one backwards towards the windows of Brandon Mews and the other towards the main part of the lake. (The picture was taken in a snowstorm).

You can walk through and underneath it to get from the pavement in front of Thomas More House to the garden in front of Speed House. As in the best “lost world” films, you can walk behind the wall of water cascading down in front of Brandon Mews without getting wet. The structure contains little raised gardens on either side of the waterfall, but these are rather bedraggled because they have shallow concrete beds.

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