Bankside. For centuries, this area south of the Thames River had been synonymous with industry, entertainment (Rose and Globe theaters) and a brimming population living in poor conditions. Yet, once the theaters left and harbor activity moved east of the city, this once bustling district laid dormant. Years after the Great War, new infrastructure was needed and a baffling decision was made to build an oil-fired power station directly opposite St Paul's Cathedral, typical of the casual urbanism you would not find in many European countries except Britain. The outcome was a simply detailed functional brick shed, coined the 'cathedral of pure energy' by architect Giles Gilbert Scott to draw comparison to London's famous cathedral. Towering over the Thames, staring down the city of London, the power station soon became one of the city's most emblematic structures, active for more than thirty years until rising oil prices led it to shutdown in 1981, leaving the perceptible building vacant and slowly decaying. Bankside's urban fabric needed a new catalyst.
Interior of Turbine Hall
Coinciding with the power station shutdown, the Tate Gallery was working with architect James Stirling on a new master plan focusing on expansion of the overburdened facilities around their Millbank location. Following review of the proposal, the Tate trustees agreed the current site would not provide sufficient new exhibition space for present and anticipated needs of the gallery, concluding that a second site in London would have to be found. Luckily, Bankside had some available property. As Tate Trustee, Michael Craig-Martin explains, "The new site (the old power station) answered all the criteria governing the search: an unparalleled large-scale central London location, excellent transport facilities, the possibility of a riverboat connection with the gallery at Millbank, and immediate availability for development". An open international competition proceeded, particularly questioning how to deal with the existing building and it's position in the urban context. Nearly 150 architects entered the competition, but the eventual architect (H&dM) would have the only proposal that completely accepted the existing building - it's form, it's materials and it's industrial characteristics. By re-using the existing power station, the architects argued that the Tate was free from the need to create the memorable, signature form that is deemed essential in contemporary cultural design. They simply borrow it from the old building - with adaptations - and concentrate on the qualities and connections of public spaces.
Millennium Bridge and St Pauls Cathedral
Completed in 2000, the $208 million dollar project was the first new national museum built within Britain in the last hundred years and the first in London devoted solely to modern art. Tate Modern would be the cornerstone to an urban regeneration strategy, created by the Southwark Council, aimed at improving the accessibility of the area and its immediate environment as well as pulling investment into the area. Developments, such as the Bankside Pier (with ferry service) and Bankside Riverwalk manifested the area into an accessibility nexus, the center of a linear sweep along the Thames connecting destinations East (Tower Bridge, Tower of London) and West (South Bank, Westminster) of the site. Perhaps the most important connection would come months later, as the highly publicized Millennium Bridge (the first new central London river crossing in over a hundred years) opened, physically bringing together ideas of old and new, north and south, art and commerce, and the two visual landmarks of St. Paul's Cathedral in the city and Bankside's Tate Modern. Two days later, the steel suspension structure would shut down due to instability caused by heavy pedestrian traffic and not reopen for another year and a half.
Entry to Turbine Hall from the West, slipping below the building
Regardless of the bad news, Tate Modern surpassed expectations with more than five million visitors in the first year, making it one of the most visited modern art galleries in the world (note: museum offers free admission) and one of London's top destinations, basically overnight. However, a year later, attendance numbers would begin to slump after the initial first-year rush by 32%, despite popularity of the big-name temporary exhibits. A Tate spokeswoman would say the figures from 2002 signaled a "natural leveling-off", but it's coincidental those numbers coincided with the bridge closure, showing the significance of this crucial connection. After the bridge was reopened, visitor numbers would rebound to the current high levels the museum enjoys today. The key component in the project's success has been the potential of the redundant Turbine Hall itself, transformed into a covered street, like a city square, within the museum. I hesitate to use the phrase 'public space' to describe such a programmatic force, as it still is governed by Tate's rules and regulations. However, it is still an uniquely important urban space, drawing visitors in with the idea of an accessible place of refuge that can change character according to the time of day, the quality of light and the number of visitors. It's appeal is it's welcoming nature and easy access, offering the community a place for congregation and performance, including the popular Unilever Series, an annual commission to make interactive art specifically for the Turbine Hall. However, although hugely popular within the community, some critics would have reservations with the Turbine Hall embodying a place of art and performance:
“You feel very small in the face of the magnitude of this cathedral. It sends messages for miles: This is important, this is a sacred place, everything here is sacred. Things that are sacred aren’t questioned, and that’s the problem.”
River Walk along the Thames
Like all great modern successes, there is always a bigger, bolder sequel on the horizon. With a rocky world economy and ongoing government cutbacks in arts financing, the Tate Modern is ready to grow. What was once part of the museum's original plan in 2000, the extension realizes the further potential of the site and of the existing building itself. New plans (coined the Tate Modern Project) are being developed to take over the subterranean oil tanks of the former power station from which the new building will rise to the south of the Turbine Hall, as EDF Energy (operators of the electric substation) completed work to modernize the station's equipment, allowing them to use a smaller amount of space in the building and freeing up vital space for Tate Modern to expand. Breaking ground this past Spring, the 11-story addition will create new gallery and social spaces to relieve the overcrowded existing building and respond to the changing nature of art, with facilities for new media and raw spaces where special installations by artists and performances will take place. The proposal, putting all of the new development south of the original building, begins to structure a duality, defining the boundary of Tate's public center. To the north, the articulation of the landscape is much more expansive and public, with vast views of the city and river edge, occupied by movement of thousands of people from the bridge, ferry and riverwalk. To the south, a new development aimed at developing a dramatic change in scale and character, creating an 'external room' with a natural canopy and smaller, humanistic spaces to be shared between the surrounding local community.
“It is a cultural landmark and global icon and I’m delighted to support its much-needed expansion. Not only will it add to the excitement around the 2012 Games, it will extend the potential benefits of this great temple of art even further south into the Bankside area.”
Proposal for New Addition by H&dM
New Commercial Development and Pedestrian Access South of Tate Modern
With the redeployment of the power station as a modern museum and an eagerly-awaited significant addition, along with developing vital connections along and across the Thames, Bankside's office and residential developments have begun to transform, as evidence in the improvements to both the public and private developments immediately South of Tate Modern that have successfully considered architect Richard Roger's urban study schemes for the area. However, a broader plan was needed to determine a smart-growth strategy for the entire Bankside Triangle area. Commissioned by 'Better Bankside' in collaboration with other broad groups in the area, architects Witherford Watson Mann developed Bankside Urban Forest, a coordinated urban design framework consisting of an evolutionary and fragmentary process that resists over-inscription of public space and focuses on investment in pocket parks, cultivating good relations with small businesses, changing the balance between vehicles and pedestrians, bringing scale and humanity to harsh areas, and offering continuing discoveries in it's street patterns. Inspired by the strengths of Bankside's labyrinthine set of streets and built structures, the idea of 'Forest Space' has always had an association with a sense of freedom and permeability, a place that can be entered and exited at any point, offering a diverse set of paths and activities. Considered as 'clearing' in the forest, Tate Modern was the ideal location to plant the first seeds of the forest, already projecting influence on the planning of the new southern addition and surrounding area.
Witherford Watson Mann: `Urban Forest`
““It shows that among the botched public works, overruns and administrative failures, things can be made on time, to cost, and can be popular without being crass””
Tate Modern Museum / Site analysis of access, circulation, new development, and points of social engagement
Transformation of urban districts - from industry to culture - is a commonality in today’s city redevelopment strategies. However, Tate’s successful development and appeal has come from accepting past contextual assignments inherent in the Tate’s projection, appealing not to the eternity of the Ages, but to the continually shifting present. The architects and planners took the old power station site, recalling the fate of the grimy industrial area and - instead of throwing it away - enhanced crucial urban connectivity, embracing it as a past projection onto a modern city, organizing a region with meandering streets, clusters of diverse spaces, and overlapping development patterns. Now, with a proposed addition underway and focus on Urban Forest’s micro-development strategies, a new direct North/South route will develop from crossing the Millennium Bridge, through the Turbine Hall, and into the heart of Southwark. This improvement will assist in creating a spine of human experiences and connectivity – helping to link the South Bank region and the city beyond, providing a catalyst for the further regeneration of the entire area.