Assignment 3

Buildings in use - Tate Modern

Last time I was at Tate Modern, I found myself looking around the building  in a different way i.e. from the point of view of  my current Buildings in use assignment.

Tate Modern is another refurbishment - I’m told  an example of adaptive reuse.

Its galleries are located in the former Bankside Power Station designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and built between 1947 and 1963. The Station  closed in 1981. Then Herzog and de Meuron won a competition to build a new building for modern art with a simple design to reinvent the current building rather than demolishing it.

The design converted  three large underground oil tanks  into accessible display spaces and facilities areas connecting spaces and side rooms

The end result is a building that still resembles the 20th century factory on the outside echoed inside by the use of steel girders and concrete floor on the inside. Thin vertical windows create a dramatic lighting effect inside.While I didn't have my usual camera to hand, I thought the play of light coming in to the Turbine Hall attractively emphasised the structure in an interesting way. So using my IPhone I decided to include Tate Modern in this project.

The four images I've chosen for this assignment are all internal to show how the space is being used although I appreciate that the spread of the ground floor cafe to the outside outside is another practical and popular use of the footprint.The choice of what to capture necessarily reflected the Tate's total ban on any kind of photography within the exhibition rooms housed in two wings of the building.That said, these rooms are uniform interconnected boxes, rectangular or square where the interest necessarily comes from the work displayed on the walls or presented within the floor space.

Using an IPhone did have a noticeable and expected impact on the quality of the images.Technically they are not as good as I would have wished.But I feel they do give an impression of how the available space within the building is being used currently and therefore worth including.



 

P921: F2.2 @ 1/340  4.15mm  ISO 32

 Taken from above P921 looks towards the main entrance..

 

P918: F2.2 @1/30  4.15mm  ISO 100

P922: F2.2 @1/30  4.15mm  ISO 50

P922 Looking back from the large exhibition area above to show how the underground space has been adapted.

P923: F2.2 @ 1/30  4.15mm  ISO 160

There are a number of spaces given over tof bookshops within Tate Modern...this one is located at the side entrance is the most attractive one in my view.

So, how well does the building work?

The competition to find a design for a new building for modern art looked for a building that would help with the ever expanding collection of modern and contemporary art. The winning design uses four wings and the Turbine Hall to incorporate a number of functions including, major exhibition space, a performance area, collection exhibition space, cafes and restaurant space,  numerous rooms providing educational facilities. It is a very effective use of space within the existing footprint, well matched to the design brief and the public's continuing use of the gallery.

P917: F2.2 @ 1/1500  4.15mm  ISO 32

Postscript : 
A new western block is currently being built on the former EDF Energy site designed again by the original architects – originally designed as a glass stepped pyramid but amended to incorporate a sloping façade in brick latticework to match the original power-station building.The jury is out as to whether the design will blend with, enhance or compliment the original...