Tuesday 27 March 2012

Battersea Power Station: All Beauty, No Beast

Yesterday I managed to go somewhere that I have been wanting to go for a long time. It was beautiful and sunny so I decided that the day had come for me to go and explore Battersea. Whilst I have wanted to see the park for a while, the real reason for my visit was for one particular building and I think you can guess exactly which one it is. You hear on a yearly basis about the Battersea power station redevelopment plans and nothing ever seems to come from it. Either the companies involved seem to go bust or the project just gets so expensive that no one can cope with it. What fascinates me with the power station is exactly that of what I find fascinating with the West Pier in Brighton. It has a sense of love about it yet it is starting to decay and fall down. What would usually be classed as an ugly building just doe not even come into the picture with this power station. For some reason I find it so beautiful. I think to myself that it is an old dilapidated brown brick factory with four decaying chimneys on top but I just can not see its ugliness. This is another building that I really feel sorry for. It stands there year after year just screaming for help, looking sad for everyone to see yet no one can do anything about it. Many people want to as you can see for the support for this structure but I can understand what people mean when they say it is just simply too big. I mean if this place was converted into anything it would be massive beyond belief. Just walking down one side of the building was like walking down about for our five blocks in New York. Street after street pass and the building just continues. To imagine how many apartments and shops could fit in it would be crazy. I really hope that in my lifetime I see this building restored into something greater than it was originally. I do not want to wake up one day and hear that one of the chimneys has fallen down or that they just have to knock the whole thing down, it would break so many peoples hearts. Now that the building has finally gone onto the open market for no less than a small 500million pounds! I will be interested to see who or what will be willing to take on such a catastrophic project. I would like to see the project completed in three stages. (I am no architect or building planner of this scale so I have no idea even if it would be possible) I think that firstly the exterior should be restored and repaired with the chimneys painted a new gleaming white colour. After this I think that work should start on extending the London Underground to Battersea. It is not like people will not use the tube there as there are still so many people that live around that area. Finally I think that they should then start to build around the station to fill up the area and get the space lived in with works on converting (or adding as there is not much station left) flats and shops to the actual station nearer the end of the project. As we all sit here though I am sure we all know that we have no control over the project whatsoever unless one of us has a spare 500million to throw around. Go and enjoy this beautiful landmark and let your curiosity take control because sadly, one day it may not be there for us to admire anymore. 







signing out, Thatmfeeling

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