2013 Benjamin von PidollBenjamin von Pidoll - BATTERSEA POWER STATION
EXPOSURE TO A BUILT UTOPIA

Sublime, self-confident, well balanced proportions and ornaments, but also a foreign body. A ruin guarded like a dungeon. A building like a never dying Utopia from the past till today.
At the back of my mind the burning desire to experience the way the sculpture worked as a power station.
See the hierarchies, the workmen which pursued the enginge of the city, who where controled by a hand full of engineers, overviewing the lively activities in their monumental control rooms.
I remember the movie Metropolis, draw conclusions and made my own story out of it.
In my first visit in october 2012 I was fascinated by these associations. At this moment I felt like beeing in the middle of a science fiction movie.
With these impressions I was sure. BPS has to revive...

A THIN LINE BEETWEEN EXHIBIT AND EXHIBITION

The kensington science museum in London bursts at the seams. Less than 10 percent of the exhibits are part of the exhibition. The power station should accommodate the missing space in future and can be regarded as a exhibit itself.
In addition to the designated measures in the station, I propose a extension of the battersea park. The buildings in the south are continued after the mark built by the roadway.
The old wharves with the coal cranes are revitalised for public transportation.
After crossing the threshold trough a small portal the visitor arrives in a forum. Entering the most public space of the building. Two draconic, archaic bars are croped in the former boiler house to form the new core. A slim cone-shaped staircase guides the recipient. Arrived in the Exhibition the visitor can choose a route through different exhibitions. New and old structures compose a unit and raise the awareness of the visitors.

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