Barbican Cross Section A3 Art Print
Last updated: 3 September 2026
What this page is. A plain reference for the Cross Section A3 art print, which is the £12 Barbican art print sold by the Barbican Shop. So you will find the verified price, the stock and the print specification here. Then there is what the drawing actually shows, how to frame an A3, and where the shop's own product description slips on the architects' name and on the dates. Everything below was checked on 30 August 2026 against the Barbican Shop, Historic England and the City of London.
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What £12 buys
You get the print, and nothing else. It is A3, so 297 by 420mm. The shop prints it as a giclée with UV inks on art paper. However, there is no frame and no mount at this price. Stock stood at forty copies when we checked on 30 August 2026, so this is a shop item rather than a limited run.
Delivery then goes by Royal Mail Tracked 48. The shop aims to dispatch within two business days, and after that it quotes three to five business days for UK orders. UK shipping is free once you spend £75. At the time of writing, though, the shop had paused deliveries to the United States, and also to the EU and Northern Ireland.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Price | £12.00 |
| Size | A3, 297 x 420mm |
| Process | Giclée printed with UV inks on art paper |
| Framing | None, so it arrives as a bare sheet |
| Edition | Open, and also unnumbered and unsigned |
| Stock | In stock, 40 copies on 30 August 2026 |
| Seller | Barbican Shop, so no reseller in between |
What the drawing shows
It is a perspective section. In other words, somebody sliced the building open and then drew the cut face in three dimensions rather than flat. On the left a curved, ribbed terrace block sits in front of a stepped tower. Next to it an auditorium opens up, raked and drawn seat by seat, with the audience already in place.
In the middle, meanwhile, a glasshouse of palms and ferns climbs a sloping glazed roof. Beside that the theatre's fly tower runs the full height of the sheet, stage rigging included. Further right the foyer floors stack up in section. Finally a car sits parked in the car park at the bottom.
Hundreds of tiny figures walk the levels throughout, and they are the detail that makes it readable. So they give the section its scale. Because they are everywhere, they also show how the architects expected people to move between the concourses.
The Barbican Shop calls it an image from its archives. Its sister print in the same range, Elevation of a Terrace Block, carries the credit "From the RIBA Collections". This one comes from there too, and the shop's own second product photograph carries the reference in its filename. The record is RIBA92181, a perspective section of the Barbican Centre by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon.
RIBA files the item as a photoprint by John Maltby, dated 1970, and its own note says plainly that this is a photograph of a drawing. So the sheet reproduces Maltby's 1970 photograph, and the drawing he photographed is the Chamberlin, Powell and Bon original. The credit line reads John Maltby / RIBA Collections.
Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, spelled properly
The shop's product page credits "Chamberlain, Powell & Bon". That spelling is wrong, and it travels a long way once it is on a label. The practice was Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, named after Peter Chamberlin, with Geoffry Powell and Christoph Bon. Both Historic England and the City of London spell it Chamberlin.
Historic England then goes further. It names Peter Chamberlin and Christoph Bon as the architects in charge of the arts centre. So the credit line on a Barbican art print is not a small matter of house style. Instead it is the difference between three named people and a misremembered firm.
Estate or Centre, and which dates belong to which
The shop attaches "(1965-1976)" to a drawing of the Barbican Centre. Those are the Barbican Estate's construction dates, though, and not the Centre's. The City of London is clear that work on the estate started in 1965 and took eleven years. Meanwhile the residential blocks went up between 1969 and 1976.
The arts centre ran on its own, later timeline. Historic England records that it took its present form in a 1968 design, and builders then worked on it from 1971 to 1982. It opened on 3 March 1982, when the Queen called it "a modern wonder of the world".
So an image dated 1970 sits at the start of the Centre's own construction, rather than near the end of the estate's. Blurring the two is the standard error in writing about the Barbican. Because this print shows the Centre, it is a good place not to make it.
Framing an A3 print
A3 is a standard size, so frames are cheap and easy to find. The Barbican Shop also sells its own black wooden frame in A3 at £35, in wood 1.6cm wide and 3.2cm deep. Print and frame together therefore come to £47. Even so, that is still well under the framed custom version.
One thing to plan for. The shop's own product photograph shows the print floating inside a wide white mount. Because a mount always needs a frame larger than the sheet, an A3 frame will hold this print edge to edge with no border at all. So if you want the mounted look, buy the next size up and cut an A3 aperture. Alternatively, our guide to theprintspace covers printing and framing if you would rather hand the job over.
The same drawing, three other ways
The A3 sheet is not the only option. The Barbican Shop also sells the same image as a made-to-order custom print, and as a postcard.
| Format | Unframed | Framed |
|---|---|---|
| A3 art print | £12 | Frame sold separately, so £35 more |
| Custom print, small | £25 | £80 |
| Custom print, medium | £35 | £110 |
| Custom print, large | £45 | £150 |
| Postcard, 14.8 x 10.5cm | £1 | Not offered |
Read the small print on the custom versions first, though. An outside supplier prints them on matt smooth fine art paper. They also take ten working days to make, and the delivery charge arrives separately, calculated by weight. Because they are made to order, you cannot return them either. The £12 A3 sheet carries none of those conditions.
The rest of the Barbican archive range
This print sits in a wider archive range, and the neighbours are cheap. We checked all of these prices on 30 August 2026.
| Item | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Elevation of a Terrace Block A3 art print | £12 | The 1966 terrace block drawing, also from the RIBA Collections |
| Barbican Redevelopment Roof Plan A3 art print | £12 | The colour-coded 1966 plan, drawn by resident volunteers |
| Conservatory Photo A3 art print | £12 | The glasshouse, so the greenest thing in the range |
| Aerial View of the Barbican Centre A3 print | £8 | Photograph by Peter Bloomfield |
| Frobisher Crescent and Sculpture Court A3 print | £8 | Also by Peter Bloomfield |
| Brutal or Beautiful poster | £6 | From the shop's own Brutal range |
| Archive magnets | £3.50 to £4 | Roof Plan, Cromwell Tower Under Construction, I Found the Barbican |
| Barbican tote bag | £6 | Plain, or two-tone if you prefer |
| Barbican: Life, History, Architecture | £13.95 | 96 pages, with commentaries by Tom Dixon, Mike Leigh, Jonathan Meades, Eric Parry and Vivienne Westwood |
| The Barbican Estate by Stefi Orazi | £50 | The flat-by-flat book, so the deep option |
The Roof Plan is the odd one out of that list, because residents made it. In December 1966 a team of volunteers called the Barbican Plans Group drew a colour-coded roof plan. They used it to organise the archive's architectural drawings, splitting the site into construction phases in Roman numerals. Each phase then went to a different contractor. So a filing system by residents doubles as a record of how the place actually went up.
Two of the magnets, Elevation of a Terrace Block and the Conservatory, were out of stock when we checked.
Where to buy the Barbican art print
Order it direct from the Barbican Shop. At £12 it is one of the cheaper things on our gifts under £25 guide, and it also comes with a documented source behind it. Stock and price move, though, so check both on the day.
Buy the Cross Section A3 art print, £12
Barbican art print FAQs
Does the £12 Barbican art print come framed?
No. Twelve pounds buys the A3 sheet alone, so there is no frame and no mount. The shop's own black wooden frame in A3 costs £35, and the pair therefore comes to £47.
What size is the Cross Section art print?
A3, which is 297 by 420mm. Because that is a standard size, any high street A3 frame will fit it.
Does it ship flat or rolled?
The Barbican Shop does not say either way on the product page. It goes out with everything else on Royal Mail Tracked 48, and dispatch takes up to two business days. So if it matters to you, email [email protected] before ordering.
Who designed the Barbican?
Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, with Ove Arup and Partners as engineers. Historic England also names Peter Chamberlin and Christoph Bon as the architects in charge of the arts centre. Note the spelling, though, because the shop's own page has it as Chamberlain.
Is the Barbican a listed building?
Yes. It is Grade II listed under list entry 1352667, first listed on 5 September 2001. The entry then covers the residential blocks and the arts centre together.
When did the Barbican Centre open?
On 3 March 1982. The estate around it went up earlier, between 1965 and 1976, which is why the shop's date bracket does not match the building in the drawing.
Is this an original drawing?
No. It is a giclée reproduction printed with UV inks, so the edition is open, unnumbered and unsigned. What it reproduces is a 1970 photograph by John Maltby of a Chamberlin, Powell and Bon perspective section, held in the RIBA Collections as RIBA92181.
Can I get it bigger than A3?
Yes. The same image comes as a made-to-order custom print at £25, £35 or £45 unframed. Those take ten working days, though, and they also carry a separate delivery charge and cannot be returned.
Does the Barbican Shop deliver outside the UK?
Not everywhere at the moment. The shop paused shipping to the United States over import rule changes, and it also paused the EU and Northern Ireland over GPSR safety regulations, both as at 30 August 2026.
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Prices, stock and specifications change. We checked everything on this page on 30 August 2026, against the Barbican Shop, Historic England list entry 1352667, the City of London and RIBA.
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