What was your ideal place that isn't your home or work look like for you?

For me, this place would have to have a movie theater, a cafe, places to lounge and eat,

and maybe an area for art. And a bar would be fun too. I know, that sounds like too many things to fit in a singular place, but I promise it's out there.

Specifically, in London, England, right off the circle, Hammersmith and City, or Metropolitan

Tube Line.

There sits the ultimate third place, the Barbicants, which has apartments, conservatories, and community space.

You may have heard people talking about third places as the world started opening up again post-pandemic,

because they were craving somewhere that was neither their home or work.

This place was way ahead of its time.

I'm Morgan Johnson and this is Atlas Obscura,

a celebration about the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today we're going to be exploring the Barbican Estate and Center,

how it can to be, why it is so special, and how you can find your very own third place.

More after this. I stumbled across the barbican on a whim when I was studying abroad in London. My friend and I found it during one of our first weeks in the city when we wanted to see a film. Initially, we went to the

wrong building and were directed across the street. And when we got there, wow. Coming here,

we thought we were going to your average movie theater.

But that's not what the Barbican Center is. After we got our tickets, we were told the theater was in

the basement. On our way, we realized how lively this space is. There was a gift shop and theater

space to our left, a cafe to our right, and a ton of

people just hanging around and enjoying the space. This was all before we even reached the stairs to get to our theater.

Days later, I kept asking myself, what is this place?

I started digging, aka Googling.

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