The Tate Modern and the Battle for London’s Soul

Reif Larsen’s article “The Tate Modern and the Battle for London’s Soul,” published on the New York Times, covers the opening of and the experience of a new wing of the Tate Modern in London called the Blavatnik Building.

The Blavatnik Building

Designed to offer a 360-degree of London’s skyline from its 10th floor viewing terrace, as museum buildings go the Blavatnik Building is rather special. Larsen’s experience from the 10th floor reveals a skyline brimming with adventure - cranes dipping and diving, Victorian roofs sitting low on the horizon dwarfed by high-rises. It all makes for a dynamic view, one few other cities in the world can match.

Bankside Power Station

Larsen goes on to discuss architecture in her article, or more specifically some of the buildings she could see - and the one she was in, Bankside Power Station, now home to the Tate Modern art museum and gallery.

Designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bankside Power Station generated electricity from 1891 to 1981, converting oil into electricity for London’s residents. It wasn’t one of Scott’s most ambitious designs, but it was one of the most prominent on London’s skyline.

The building was taken over for the new Tate Modern in 1992. A huge redevelopment project was undertaken at the cost of £134 million. The conversion was completed in 2000, and the building has been further modernised since with the Blavatnik Building being one of those updates. The Blavatnik Building was completed in 2016 at the cost of £260 million.

To find out more about the Tate Modern and the Blavatnik Building, we invite you to read Reif Larsen’s article on the New York Times.