Rowan Moore and Raymund Ryan. Building Tate Modern: Herzog & de Meuron transforming Giles Gilbert

03. An ‘empty’ Bankside Power Station

The space left after the removal of the Turbine was an exceptional space that would be very tricky to produce from scratch with the budget that Tate had. The Turbine Hall would become the most important aspect of the gallery, yet there was such minimal alteration to it from the original form which was set up to merely house machinery. Another aspect which had minimal alterations was the exterior façade, Herzog & de Meuron kept elements that would not be needed in the new building but maintain its character, such as the chimney. “The chimney was primarily designed as an urban landmark that transcends exclusively functional purposes and enters into a dialogue with St. Paul’s on the opposite shore of the Thames.”7 Though the chimney does not play the same crucial role in the building as it once did, it instead maintains the recognisable silhouette of the building like a memorial to what came before.

The reinterpretation of the old Power Station is an excellent precedent for the adaptive reuse of buildings, it pushes the boundaries of what can be done with spaces that have lost their purpose. In the UK there is a large quantity of existing buildings which are obsolete, rapidly approaching disuse or facing demolition that could be viewed as a ‘mine’ of raw materials for new projects. These mines are simply awaiting for regeneration, which, is the responsible thing for architects to do. Building on brownfield sites, like that at Southwark can give areas a new purpose and increase the attraction of tourists to the area.

7 Richard C. Levene and Fernando Márquez Cecilia, “Herzog & de Meuron : 1981 – 2000.” Madrid: El Croquis.