Giles Gilbert Scott designed Battersea Power Station in London in the 1920s to address concerns about air pollution from smaller power stations. The massive brick building with its four tall chimneys became an architectural landmark. After closing in 1983, many proposals were made for redeveloping the site. The latest involves transforming the top floors into the Upperworld Hotel designed by Ron Arad, with a spiraling red ramp connecting levels. The redevelopment aims to complete the project by 2019 while preserving the building's historic character.

1. London, History in the Making
Synoptic- Contextual Study
Giles Gilbert Scott was born in 1880 in Hampstead, London. He was the third son of
George Gilbert Scott Junior and grandson of Sir George Gilbert Scott, both architects. Giles
followed the family tradition and trained as an architect, becoming one of the most famous
architects in the country. He created a modern twist to his work, by applying contemporary
styles to industrial structures. His most famous designs are Battersea and Bankside power
stations in London, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, and the red K2 telephone kiosk.
Scott was hired by the London Power Company in 1927, to create the first of a new
generation of power stations to produce power for the capital. With grand dimensions of
160m x 170m, the roof of the boiler house at 50m tall, and its four 103m tall, tapering
chimneys, it is a truly massive structure. It is one of the most eye-catching buildings in
Sir Giles Gilbert
Scott
K2 Telephone Box
Bankside Power station

2. Battersea, South West London, creating an unusual silhouette on the London skyline. The
initial construction provided a large portion of the Capital’s electricity, generating power
for 30 years.
Another phenomenal architect and product designer who is having an impact on the
London architectural scene is Ron Arad. Born in Tel Aviv, he moved to London in 1973 to
study architecture and made his name in the early 1980s as a self-taught designer-maker of
sculptural furniture. From 1994 to 1999 he established the Ron Arad Studio Design and
Production unit in Como, Italy. He currently works from his studio in Chalk Farm,
London. Alongside his limited edition, studio work, Arad designs for many leading
international companies, including Kartell, Vitra, Moroso,Alessi, Cappellini, Cassina,
WMF, Magis and many others. He combines playful forms with advanced technologies to
create original curved designs. His design excellence was acknowledged when awarded the
2011 London Design Week Medal.
Battersea Power station
Ron Arad Cappellini

3. Ron Arad has designed a number of public art pieces, most recently the Vortext in Seoul,
Korea, and the Kesher Sculpture at Tel Aviv University. He’s also taking part in re-
developing Battersea Power Station to the Upperworld Hotel. Ron Arad was employed to
come up with a hotel of unparalleled luxury that would span between the chimneys on the
roof. Eight billion pounds of investment is creating a thriving, diverse neighbourhood in
Battersea, a place where homes, workspaces, shops, restaurants, cafés and cultural venues
combine with 18 acres of new public space. Arad’s art deco style was incorporated in the
new vision of Battersea, using curves, shapes and primary colours, all shown in his
artworks. Arad’s scheme was dropped in 2005 and then brought up again by the architects,
Victor Hwang and Neven Sidor. Hwang then asked Arad to come up with a sculptural
piece to fill the central void; a spiralling ramp in bright red that would link the many
separate levels. The transformation of this historical site should be completed by 2019.
The Battersea Power Station design came about in response to concerns of air pollution,
which was a serious problem in the early 1900’s. Until the late 1930s, London’s electricity
was supplied by municipal undertakings. These were small power companies that built
power stations dedicated to a single industry or group of factories, and sold any excess
Upperworld Hotel

4. electricity to the public. There were worries about the pollution from power generation
damaging London’s buildings and the engineers turned to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, one of the
foremost church and public building architects of the day, to find a solution. Scott came up
with a design of audacious grandeur – a vast cathedral of power, framed by four thrusting
castle towers, out of which would rise four concrete chimneys, like giant classical temple
columns, each 337ft tall which would lift the polluting smoke to a higher level.
The feeling of the government at the time was that the station would be the largest brick
building in the world and in time would be considered an architectural masterpiece. It was
not always as popular as it is today. The first phase began in March 1929 which involved
the construction of ‘Station A’. After six years of planning and building, the station’s
turbines came to life in 1933 and Battersea Power Station began to generate electricity for
London. During its first twenty five years of operation, the power station doubled in size
and in 1955, ‘Station B’, the fourth and final chimney was completed after surviving the
Blitz. Over the course of it’s life, Battersea Power Station has been instilled in the public
consciousness, not least when Pink Floyd famously adopted it for their Animals album
cover and launch in 1977. As a result of its popularity, a great deal of energy has been
expended in protecting this national landmark.
Sir Gilbert Scott lifted power stations from the prosaic into the sublime by incorporating
lavish touches such as the building’s majestic bronze doors and impressive wrought-iron
staircase leading to the art deco control room. Here, amongst the controls which are still in-
situ today, those in charge of London’s electricity supply could enjoy the marble-lined walls
and polished parquet flooring. Down in the turbine hall, the station’s giant walls of
polished marble would later prompt observers to liken the building to a Greek temple
devoted to energy. Alongside Battersea in 1947, Giles Gilbert Scott designed Bankside
power station that used oil to provide power to the South Bank. For this, Scott used the
same patterns, materials and structure used to construct Battersea Power Station.
Constructed of a brick shell, supported by an interior steel structure, its striking
monumental design with its single central chimney had often led it to be referred to as an
Battersea Power ‘Station A’

5. industrial cathedral. In 1994 the Tate Gallery announced that Bankside would be the new
home to the Tate modern.
Following the decommissioning of ‘station A’ in 1975, the whole structure was listed as a
Grade II building in 1980. The ‘B station’ was closed in 1983. The whole building was
upgraded to Grade II* status in 2007. Battersea Power Station has become almost as
famous for its future, as for its past. Now 70 years old, Battersea Power Station has lost
none of its power to astonish. Not just in its scale, but in the boldness of its design- it feels
strikingly contemporary. Numerous proposals were discussed with visions to redevelop the
site and architects such as John Outram, Nicholas Grimshaw, Ron Arad and Terry Farrell
have been consulted. In the end, the Ron Arad proposal of creating an ‘Upperworld’ Hotel,
is set to be the new vision of Battersea, a Luxury 44 room hotel occupying the top 3 levels.
The four chimneys will be painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt to ensure that they remain a
London landmark for generations to come. Each new chimney will be visually identical to
the original, the only difference being that the new chimneys will use a more modern pattern
of steel reinforcement within the concrete.
For my project, ‘London in the Making’, I decided to focus on Battersea Power Station as
it is an interesting building to look at, with a wonderful history behind it. I am interested
in it as it was a functional building which was made into a work of art. I have also been
inspired by work of Ron Arad and his influences that will be revealed Upperworld Hotel. I
have chosen to design an interior for the building- the entrance lobby, and will present a 3D
outcome.