On the south bank of the river Thames stands a landmark building, a giant brick cathedral that used to provide electricity for a large chunk of London and now contains a crumbling Art Deco interior. It’s a celebrity in its own right, having appeared iconically on Pink Floyd’s album cover for Animals. It’s Battersea Power Station and it’s been lying derelict since the 1980s.Redevelopment plans have come and gone. The latest plan which, sadly, seems to have stuck is to turn the site into (boring!) luxury flats and offices. But, a far more exciting plan has been proposed by Parisian achitects Atelier Zündel Cristea as part of the ArchTriumph Museum of Architecture competition, which they took first prize in. The competition asked for designs which would preserve the space as a museum, but Atelier Zündel Cristea added a little something extra: a rollercoaster that would orbit the station and give visitors a new way of seeing this spectacular building while also giving them some theme park ride thrills.
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Here’s what they say:Our project puts the power station on centre stage, the structure itself enhancing the site through its impressive scale, its architecture, and its unique brick material. Our created pathway links together a number of spaces for discovery: the square in front of the museum, clearings, footpaths outside and above and inside, footpaths traversing courtyards and exhibition rooms. The angles and perspectives created by the rail's pathway, through the movement within and outside of the structure, place visitors in a position where they can perceive simultaneously the container and its contents, the work and nature.So, flats or rollercoaster? It’s an easy choice, it’s just a shame it’s not going to happen. It’s not the first leftfield idea the studio has come up with either, they previously trumped all other ways to cross a river by proposing trampoline bridge as a crossing on the Seine in Paris.
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