residents move into frank gehry-designed prospect place at london's battersea power station

PROSPECT PLACE – FRANK GEHRY’S FIRST RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN THE UK

Battersea Power Station, London’s new majestic destination, has welcomed its first residents to the Frank Gehry-designed Prospect Place buildings. The structures are Gehry’s first residential buildings in the UK and comprise 308 uniquely designed homes, double-height retail units at street level, and Prospect Park, which includes a newly opened playground.

After three decades of difficult planning, the Battersea Power Station project — London’s mixed-use sustainable development — is finally starting to come together. The renovation plans involved retaining the existing building’s overall sense of scale, as well as its chimneys and turbine halls. The mixed-use development’s Phase 2 was sensitively restored by lead architect WilkinsonEyre (read our interview on the project here), forming the centerpiece of a revitalized neighborhood. Phase 3 includes Foster + Partners and Gehry Partners in The Electric Boulevard, Battersea Roof Gardens and Prospect Place.

images by Taran Wilkhu

EACH APARTMENT IS UNIQUE, LIKE A ONE-OF-A-KIND WORK OF ART

Frank Gehry’s Prospect Place features studios, one, two and three-bedroom apartments, alongside four bedroom townhouses and penthouses. As the architect’s first residential building in the UK, the properties present a rare opportunity to purchase a starchitect-designed home. With no equal two apartments, the experience of purchasing an apartment here is similar to buying a one-of-a-kind work of art.

‘Frank Gehry and his team have gone above and beyond in the delivery of world-class buildings at Prospect Place,’ said Simon Murphy, Chief Executive Officer at Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC). ‘It is an honor that Frank’s first UK residential project is at Battersea Power Station and its completion marks an important milestone in the development. When we first designed the masterplan, we envisioned a thriving community where people can live, work and play, and with every milestone achieved, we are ever closer to making that vision a reality, particularly as we prepare to open the Power Station to the public from September.’

Many of the apartments offer views of the Power Station itself – one of the most iconic buildings in the UK – and every property comes with a spacious open-plan layout and access to either a winter garden or terrace. Gehry Partners have created two different color palettes for the homes, one referring London and the other LA. The London Palette reflects on the history of the structure, while the LA palette is warmer. Between the buildings is a residents’ garden designed by LDA Design, the landscape designers of the London Olympic Park.

At street level, double-height retail units from one half of the Electric Boulevard — the main pedestrian getaway. This high-street created an entry point to the new Battersea Power Station Zone 1 tube station – the first major extension to the London Underground network this century.

‘I love London,’ Frank Gehry said. ‘It has culture, history and diversity and the buildings we have created at Battersea Power Station are designed to stand artfully on their own amongst all of that, whilst also framing an internationally recognized icon. It is important we create social places for future generations and our goal from the start has been to create a neighborhood that connects into the historic fabric of the city of London but also has its own identity and integrity.’