The architects of the Barbican, Chamberlin, Powell and Bon worked with an instinctive sense of place. The importance they attached to light in the pursuit of this goal was an important element of their designs for modern urban life.

With photography and text by architectural photographer Alan Ainsworth and contributions from experts including Piers Gough and Alec Forshaw, The Barbican: Architecture and Light explores for the first time how the architects’ concern for light helped create a genuine sense of place. Alan Ainsworth’s black and white photography offers an unusual view of one of the great architectural achievements of post-war Britain.

Alan Ainsworth worked in the City of London before becoming a photographer and writer. His recent publications include Clerkenwell: change and renewal (2010) and with Alec Forshaw New City: Contemporary Architecture in the City of London (2012).

Piers Gough was a founding partner of the architectural practice of CZWG in 1975. He was appointed a CBE for services to architecture in 1998 and was elected a Royal Academician in 2002. Alec Forshaw was Chief Conservation and Design Officer in Islington for over 20 years and is now a freelance writer, lecturer and consultant. Chris Rogers writes on architecture and visual culture. Johanna Gibbons is a Fellow of the Landscape Institute and founding partner in 1986 of J and L Gibbons. Jane Northcote is a management consultant, writer and photographer. Catherine Croft is a writer, journalist and the Director of The Twentieth Century Society.