Case Studies

 

Tate Modern, rehabilitation of the Former
Bankside Power Station in London, UK.

 

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Notable Features
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bullet Reuse of the existing building structure, avoiding total demolition of the building and minimizing the generation of demolition waste.
bullet Rehabilitation of industrial building, and therefore revitalization of the district.
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Basic Information
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bullet Location: Situated on the south side of the River Thames, opposite St Paul's Cathedral.
bullet Architects: Herzog & de Meuron, Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Harry Gugger and Christine Binswanger.
bullet Construction Manager: Schal, a division of Carillion plc.
bullet Conservation cost: 134 million pounds.
bullet Date of original building construction: Built in two phases, 1947 and 1963.
bullet Project and construction date: 1995/2000.
bullet Architect of origin: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
bullet Site Area: 3.43 Ha
bullet Total floor area: 34,500 m2 including:
- Gallery suites for display and exhibition of 7,827 m2.
- The former turbine hall as a "covered street" of 3,300 m2, where works of art may be shown.
- A special exhibition suite of 1,300 m2.
- A 240 seats auditorium.
- 2 cafes.
- 3 shops of 500, 300 and 150 m2.
- An educational area of 390 m2.
- A member room of 150 m2.
- 1,350 m2 of offices.
- A support services/art handling area of 1,500 m2.
- 9 passenger lifts of which 4 are for public use.
- 6 escalators.
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History of the Building
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Sir Giles Gilbert Scott designed the original bank power station. The building was built in two phases between 1947 and 1963. The western half of the structure, which included the chimney, replaced an earlier coal-fired power station, in 1952. The eastern half of the building was brought into commission in 1963. In 1981, the bankside power station closed. Between 1981 and 1994 the building remained unoccupied apart from an operational London Electricity sub-station that still remains.

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Description of the Building
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The building consists of a brick-clad steel structure, constructed from more than 4.2 million bricks. The height of the central chimney was limited to 99 m (in order to be lower than the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral), and the northern frontage of the building is over 200 m long.
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Overview of the new Building
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The architect team, Herzog & de Meuron, have respected the integrity of the original design of the building, keeping the existing structure and adding bridges, balconies, new floors and wall systems and a two-storey glass structure and light beam spanning the length of the roof. The architects strategy was to accept the physical power of Bankside’s massive mountain-like brick building and to even enhance it rather than breaking it or trying to diminish it. New volumes and surfaces have been created to fit in with the new function of the building avoiding major demolition of the building structure. A dialogue has been created between old and new architecture and materials enhancing the image of the building.

The transformation of the building began in 1995 with the removal of all the power station machinery. Other works included the removal of the roofs of both the old Boiler House and the Turbine Hall, the demolition of a number of out buildings and sandblasting and repainting of the remaining steelwork. Work on the first piece of construction, a vast concrete raft, forming a foundation on which the museum sits, commenced during October 1997. This was followed by the fabrication of the structural steel framework in the former boiler house, creating the seven floors and effectively forming a new building within the walls of the old. This was followed by the creation of the seven gallery floors. During this process the original boiler house trusses were removed, allowing the new floors to fully support the existing brick façade. In May 1998, the steelwork for the new two-storey glass roof structure began, and in autumn the roof of the turbine hall was replaced allowed fitting out to commence. The construction ended in January 2000, and Tate Modern opened to the public on 12 May 2000.
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References
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bullet Hinge Volume 73, 2000.
bullet Detail No. 7, Refurbishment, 2000.
bullet Tate Modern Website:
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
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Site Plan
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Sections
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External view with extension
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