SkyscraperCity Forum banner

LONDON | Battersea Redevelopment

18367 Views 17 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  dadedum
The storied, iconic Battersea Power Station in London is being redeveloped in a massive mixed use development.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/
See less See more
  • Like
Reactions: 2
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
8
The New Battersea Is Part-Gehry, Part-Foster, All Ripply



Monday, April 7, 2014

In what's gearing up to be a starchitecture bonanza for the ages—or the perfect setup for a design-focused bromantic comedy—contemporary building wizards Frank Gehry and Norman Foster were tapped last fall to redevelop London's Battersea Power Station, the now defunct art deco coal fire plant that graces the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album Animals. Originally designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, the power station is the largest brick building in Europe, and has seen a number of failed proposals for redevelopment since it closed in 1983, including a stadium, a theme park, and a public garden. Foster and Gehry just released their plan for the site, and the question on everyone's mind is pastry-shaped spaceship or flamboyant scrum of disarticulated blocks?

The current plan has the area around the Battersea turned into a neighborhood of 1300 condos and apartments. A Gehry-designed huddle of residential buildings titled Prospect Place and equipped with his signature rippling facades will rise on the west side of a pedestrian thoroughfare known as the Electric Boulevard, while Foster will have his imprint on a large apartment complex called the Skyline on the other side of the street. As Gehry explains, their goal is to "to create a neighborhood that connects into the historic fabric of the city of London, but one that has its own identity and integrity," an assemblage of "humanistic environments that feel good to live in and visit."














http://curbed.com/archives/2014/04/07/gehry-and-foster-reveal-battersea-power-station-redesign.php
See less See more
  • Like
Reactions: 1
Battersea Power Station Redevelopment | Nine Elms SW8

London forum thread: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=650929

Official website: http://www.batterseapowerstation.co.uk/


Project facts

  • Cost: £8 billion ($13bn)
  • Area: 39 acres
  • Homes: 3,400
  • Masterplan architect: Rafael Vinoly
  • Development architects: Frank Gehry, Norman Foster, Wilkinson Eyre





The design for Phase 3 by Frank Gehry and Norman Foster have been revealed this morning:














Interview with Frank Gehry today: http://vimeo.com/architectsjournal/frankgehry


*embedding restricted
  • Like
Reactions: 3
With these last few renders, I'm convinced this project will turn out well. It'll bring a whole new life to this forgotten icon of London.
Personally, i don't like this project at all. The area is too crowded with condos which, in fairness, don't look different at all from all the other similar developments that have propped up in the area, and this will make the Power Station all less imposing. Plus, I've read that the station itself will become yet another shopping mall... I know it's completely unrealistic, but ai'd have loved if the roof stayed up and the whole place was turned in a museum, testifying London's history and industrialisation. For a country and a city which basically invented the modern industrial society there is surprisingly little memory left for that time.
Malaysia Square in London’s £8b Battersea project unveiled

By E Jacqui Chan / The Edge Financial Daily | December 2, 2014 : 9:02 AM MYT

MalaysiaSquare-Battersea-02DEc2014_theedgemarkets


PUTRAJAYA: Battersea Project Holding Co Ltd (BPHC) showcased the design here for the proposed “Malaysia Square” in the £8 billion (RM43.19 billion) Battersea Power Station (BPS) project in London yesterday.

The design was unveiled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who was on an official visit to Kuala Lumpur.
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/my/article/malaysia-square-london’s-£8b-battersea-project-unveiled
  • Like
Reactions: 3
Even from the renders, the Gehry grouping is utterly tiresome - the same "wacky" distortions of form that he always does, whether its Prague, Boston, or now London, as usual adding nothing to the overall urban fabric because it doesn't visibly relate to anything around it.

But I do like the long, gently curved building with the scroll at the end - and what looks like an entire public park on top giving great views onto the power station. That looks to be quite inspired. It is the one part of the project that actually seems to respond in any way to the original building.
Better than the "urban fabric" that's currently there.
Better than the "urban fabric" that's currently there.
Ie better than a wasteland? Woah... let's not set the aesthetic bar for these expensive, starchitect-designed projects too high or anything!
Nothing really works there. While I do not mind the housing around the station, I feel the station itself still looks useless.

I'm surprised they couldn't use the building for a shopping mall, train station, or university/school! They could even move a government or hospital into there!

I just feel underwhelming by it. London needs accommodation so I prefer them to build high, but the station itself is useless for housing, and someone must do something about those rails around it (cover them and build on top?).
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top