London's iconic Battersea Power Station has had numerous proposed reincarnations over the years, including being turned into a "green mountain" and livening up the design with a roller coaster. Now, as part of its regeneration, architecture firms Gehry Partners and Foster + Partners have announced their plans for it, which sees the building becoming the focal point of a new town center.
Battersea Power Station is Grade II listed and the current planned redevelopment of the full 42-acre site received outline Planning Consent in August 2011, followed by planning consent for its first phase from the London Borough of Wandsworth in 2012. The proposals by Gehry Partners and Foster + Partners for Phase 3 of the development are themselves subject to public consultation and planning permission.
The planned redevelopment is aimed at creating a new town centrer with places to live, work, socialize, shop and enjoy the arts. Phase 3 is regarded as, "the gateway to the entire development," containing, as it does, a new high street called The Electric Boulevard that will link a new tube station on an extended Northern Line with the Power Station itself. The development will contain 1,300 homes on either side of the boulevard, a 160 room hotel and 350,000 sq ft (32,500 sq m) of retail and restaurant space.
The Battersea Power Station project will be Gehry Partners' first in London. Its role in the development has been to design five buildings to the east of The Electric Boulevard in an area that will be known as Prospect Place. It will incorporate retail units, residential units, a community park and a multi-use community hub, as well as its flagship "Flower" building.
Foster + Partners, meanwhile, has designed a building called The Skyline that will stand to the west of The Electric Boulevard and will "undulate along the line of the boulevard." It will provide retail units, public spaces and a 1 km (0.6 mile) long roof garden that will provide views of the Power Station and London. It will also include residential units and a planned hotel.
"We have set out to make Battersea a showcase for the world’s very best architects and the designs we are unveiling today demonstrate that commitment in action," said Rob Tincknell, CEO of Battersea Power Station Development Company. "Phase Three is an important part of our plans for the Power Station site, creating a new thoroughfare which will be at the heart of the new vibrant community. We are determined to create a genuine sense of place, and developing landmark buildings in which people are proud to make their home and work in is vital to us achieving that aim."
Work began on Phase 1 of the development in July 2013, with reconstruction work on the chimneys due to begin shortly. A public exhibition of the Phase 3 plans will run from April 10 - 11.
Source: Battersea Power Station
