Home Commercial PropertyFrank Gehry and Norman Foster to collaborate on Battersea Power Station

Frank Gehry and Norman Foster to collaborate on Battersea Power Station

by Sponsored Content
23rd Oct 13 11:16 am

Seminal architects Frank Gehry and Lord Norman Foster will collaborate on a series of building in the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station in a ground-breaking project for British architecture.

This will be Gehryโ€™s first major project in the UK.

The Canadian-American is often described as the worldโ€™s greatest living architect. His most famous buildings include Bilbaoโ€™s Guggenheim and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA.

Foster + Partners will work alongside Gehry Partners to create a shopping street called the High Street as part of the wider ยฃ8bn redevelopment.

The street will connect Battersea Power Station with a new Battersea tube station, and include residential buildings and commercial units, a hotel, a leisure centre and a library.

โ€œI love the power station,โ€ Gehry told the FT. โ€œEvery time I came to London I kept asking โ€˜what are they going to do with that?โ€™ Itโ€™s so well positioned it was inevitable that something would happen.โ€

โ€œLondon has a great streetscape,โ€ he said. โ€œTo reflect it we need to break down the scale, so it becomes a place people can feel at home.โ€

The FT said that Gehry will create โ€œa strikingly sculptural formโ€ at the centre of his designs.

Gehry told the paper: โ€œThe developers said the [potential] renters loved the view of the power station, so I said why donโ€™t we put a more sculptural object, we call it a โ€˜flowerโ€™, in the middle, as a secondary sculpture for Battersea โ€“ it gives something for everybody.โ€

Grant Brooker, design director, Foster + Partners, said: โ€œWe moved our own office to Wandsworth almost 25 years ago โ€“ the borough is very important to us, so we were absolutely delighted to be chosen to be part of this inspiring regeneration project for the Battersea Power Station redevelopment.

โ€œIt has a vision which will transform this area and create a vibrant new district for South London that we can all be proud of.

โ€œAlong with our colleagues at Gehry Partners, we are joining a great team of designers and we will work closely with them to create a new high street and our part of this exciting new community.โ€

More on architecture and design:

The other architect behind the Gherkin

Nine Elms and Chelsea to be connected by new ยฃ30m bridge

From Picasso to Kate Moss, how EasyArt is filling 22,000 billboards with British art

ย 

Leave a Comment

CLOSE AD