Thinking about our British cousins "across the pond," architects and engineers have been working on a revitalization project named Battersea. Not without controversy, this is an enormous project spanning 42 acres on the River Thames in London. When complete, the mixed use project will house almost 4,000 apartments, more than 250 shops and restaurants in addition to recreational facilities and a riverside park. 

Artist rendering of Battersea when complete

Battersea was originally an electric power station opulently built in the 1930s by the London Power Company. The London Power Company hired the most talented architects and engineers and no expense was spared including walls lined with enormous slabs of the highest grade Italian marble and an Art Deco ceiling that shimmered and glowed in up-lighting in the existing main hall. Exquisite parquet floors remain and are being included in the design. It was last used for its original purpose in 1983 with the advent of cleaner and cheaper energy sources.

For those students of history, one may wonder why the powers-that-be at the London Power Company spent so lavishly on a power station project-especially in the 1930s during a global economic depression. First, they wanted to allay Londoners' fears that this four chimney (each 338 ft. tall), coal-fired plant would not be a blemish on the City of London's landscape. (Special wash-towers were designed beside each chimney tower to rinse sulphur from coal-fire emissions before they were belched out into London's fog.) Second, Battersea provided one fifth of London's electricity and The London Power Company wanted it to be symbolic of Britain's strength and ambition.

Battersea under reconstruction (Ghetty Images)

 As the revitalization moves along, today, Battersea architects and engineers are preserving as much of the past as they can while incorporating leading-edge materials and design techniques to transform the site into a thriving live, work, and play destination for Londoners and others around the globe. Adjacent to Battersea's monolithic structure, American architect, Frank Ghery was commissioned to design two apartment building reflecting one of his signature futuristic designs. What would the Puritans think?

Ghery-designed apartment buildings at Battersea (Ghery Partners LLP)