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Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

batterseapowerstation.co.uk

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Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#61

Post by doovd »

camtarn wrote: post #51
samizdis wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Victorians had a similarly grand take on public utility buildings, especially pump houses for water/sewage works. Probably the best example is Crossness Pumping Station [1]. The interior is stunning; this [2] is one image from the Wikipedia page/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossness_Pumping_Station [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crossness_Pumping_Station...

Wow! Absolutely gorgeous. I wonder what the motivation was for such over-the-top decoration? Lots of money sloshing around and a desire to make things beautiful for beauty's sake? Individual or governmental prestige?

Reminds me of metro stations in Moscow: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2015/oct/31...

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#62

Post by klelatti »

robocat wrote: post #55

Here’s some 2015 photos from an urban explorer: https://adamxphotos.com/2016/03/20/explore-134-battersea-pow...

These are great - thanks for sharing.

One nugget is the amount of water boiled each day - 160 million gallons - an incredible number!

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#63

Post by dayofthedaleks »

The photographer Will Pearson documented Control Room A several years ago with a 360 camera [0]. Click 'Launch Project' for panorama.

Control Room B is basically made of Cybermen [1].

[0] https://www.willpearson.co.uk/battersea-power-station-contro...

[1] https://www.flickr.com/photos/liamch/4222346877

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#64

Post by flir »

detritus wrote: post #7
ccity88 wrote: post #6

I grew up and live a short 5 minute walk from Battersea Power Station - I have some fond memories of playing in the (admittedly quite unsafe) industrial estate around that area. It's quite sad to see what it's become now; as much as I support the development of the local area, they had to add a bunch of shopping outlets, restaurants, and very expensive boutique outlets. It's completely antithetical to the local ident…

This seems to be the case across much of London, sadly. 'Synthetic' is the word that comes to mind whenever I see these developments. Frankly, as much as the effort impresses me from a technical point, I'm content enough only ever seeing it from afar when I pass vaguely nearby on a train going south. I suspect I'll never actually walk through it. Having 'argued' with people on HN about this sort of thing beforehand,…

It's cold comfort, but gentrification isn't an end-state it's a process. Large parts of London have reached their soulless peak, and are going to start sliding down the other side of the slope. In a couple of generations they'll be filled with the marginalised again, and the cycle will start over.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#65

Post by OhyeahIfrgot »

ccity88 wrote: post #6

I grew up and live a short 5 minute walk from Battersea Power Station - I have some fond memories of playing in the (admittedly quite unsafe) industrial estate around that area. It's quite sad to see what it's become now; as much as I support the development of the local area, they had to add a bunch of shopping outlets, restaurants, and very expensive boutique outlets. It's completely antithetical to the local ident…

My grandfather grew up in Battersea - just off Park Road - in the 1920s, and he told me that his first 'proper' job after leaving school was as a 'telegram boy' and that one of his first deliveries was to the base of the 'rear left' tower (as you look at it from the river) while it was still only about half way finished, to one of the stone masons. I have photos of him in his uniform and cap and its lovely to imagine him climbing up the scaffold to deliver the telegram.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#66

Post by InCityDreams »

brandall10 wrote: post #37
TylerE wrote: post #22

For non UK readers, Battersea Power Station is the building on the cover of Pink Floyd's album Animals

Funny thing, this is the only reason I'm aware of this building, as a non-UK reader.

...an awful lot of non-London people aren't aware/ still don't care. The discussions on gentrification resound throughout the country, though. Andcthe world, too, it would appear.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#67

Post by myself248 »

mortenjorck wrote: post #36
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a (IMO quite funny) conspiracy theory that there was a massive disaster at a leading architecture and design conference some time in the 1930s, such that almost everyone who knew how to make beautiful things died, and nowadays we actually can't design and build beautiful buildings anymore, it's all ugly modernist stuff.

The funny thing is, there are still plenty of beautiful modernist buildings from the 1940s and beyond (look at some of Mies' 1960s office towers, for instance), and yet the idea that a power plant could or should have that level of care and quality put into it somehow fell (far) out of favor. Imagine a modern power plant control room with a look somewhere between an Apple store and the Parks' home in Parasite. This i…

I've been watching a lot of Proper People urbex videos on YouTube, and they go out of their way to recognize the design that went into ordinary places, back when those places were somewhat extraordinary.

You see, in the 1930s, electric power _was_ glamorous, even its generation. The idea of a municipal utility _serving the public_ was a big deal. All the modern miracles that enabled dense cities to grow upward, electric water pumps and elevators and inter-office telephones, were shiny and new and worth celebrating.

So, celebrate they did. Telephone central offices built in the 1920s and 30s are cathedrals to the tamed electron, with ornate Art-Deco carvings and stone arches and tile inlay adorning their entrances. I've had the privilege (yes!) of working in quite a number of them, and while the asbestos precautions are a hassle sometimes, there is a palpable feeling, even a century later, of showing up to work somewhere respectable. Proud. Exalted.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#68

Post by astrange »

flir wrote: post #64
detritus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be the case across much of London, sadly. 'Synthetic' is the word that comes to mind whenever I see these developments. Frankly, as much as the effort impresses me from a technical point, I'm content enough only ever seeing it from afar when I pass vaguely nearby on a train going south. I suspect I'll never actually walk through it. Having 'argued' with people on HN about this sort of thing beforehand,…

It's cold comfort, but gentrification isn't an end-state it's a process. Large parts of London have reached their soulless peak, and are going to start sliding down the other side of the slope. In a couple of generations they'll be filled with the marginalised again, and the cycle will start over.

The counterfactual to gentrification (no investment) wouldn’t help anyone; you’d just have some rotting empty buildings.

Though, what people call gentrification is often just younger people moving into an area replacing older people. So maybe you could fight it by building senior housing and whatever it is old British people like. Model trains maybe.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#69

Post by myself248 »

londons_explore wrote: post #38

The circuit diagrams above the control panels appear to be nonsensical... Do they use some notation I'm unfamiliar with, or are they some 'artists impression' by a non-technical artist? If the latter, I'm really disappointed. 80 year old steam systems and generators are understandable by anyone doing high school physics, and we really shouldn't be making museum pieces that have made-up nonsense to try and make things…

"Single line diagram" is common in utility power, because the electricity itself is 3-phase so drawing individual conductors and components would clutter the diagram with information not needed at a high level.

Many discrete components are omitted as well; the idea is to give the operators an immediately-comprehensible sense of how much power is flowing where, and where the measurement and interruption points are. Little more is needed at that stage.

Re: Battersea Power Station in London unveils the newly restored Control Room A

#70

Post by stuaxo »

mmarq wrote: post #52
jonwinstanley wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately this is the way of the world. This is a major redevelopment and has cost hundreds of millions of pounds. To do it they take on huge investment, the investors expect a return so obviously they’ve built fancy shops, restaurants etc. I understand that there are places where redevelopment has been handled more sensitivity but this area in particular has needed an enormous outlay to convert it such a primate…

> Unfortunately this is the way of the world. This is a major redevelopment and has cost hundreds of millions of pounds. To do it they take on huge investment, the investors expect a return so obviously they’ve built fancy shops, restaurants etc. I always wonder what’s the alternative to fancy shops. Is it the usual English high street with store signs made of rotten wood? Cheap minicab companies? > I understand that…

The template for most British town centres is terrible.
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