Sci-Fi Penguin Classics Get A Barbican Makeover

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 81 months ago

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Sci-Fi Penguin Classics Get A Barbican Makeover

There is, without a doubt, something of a dystopian atmosphere to Barbican. Those three towers prickling the sky like great concrete Stickle Bricks must have something dark going on inside.

A new series of Penguin covers, for some of literature's best-loved sci-fi novels, takes inspiration from Chamberlin, Powell and Bon's brutalist masterpiece. Two of the aforementioned towers become the sinister ministries, in a reissue of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The Barbican's conservatory moonlights as an uncharted island in the Pacific, for HG Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau (seriously though, the conservatory is never this quiet on a Sunday).  

The Barbican's Martini bar stands in for the Korova Milk Bar in A Clockwork Orange. Perhaps if Alex and his droogs has sunk a couple of the excellent espresso martinis served here, they'd be in a mellower mood.

The Barbican's bowels become the setting for the cover of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein — those jump leads in the bottom corner suggesting the Monster has already broken free (and is probably taking in a performance from the LSO).

The Penguin Classics - Barbican Limited Editions are available now, priced £8.99 each, from the Barbican shop and online.

Last Updated 09 June 2017