Designing the Tate Modern

Two decades ago, the scene along London's South Bank was grim. Looming over the Thames River, the oil-fired Bankside Power Plant was a gargantuan expanse of ugly brown bricks and abandoned space. Designed in 1947 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the plant shut down in 1981. That space was transformed when Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, winners of the 2001 Pritzker Prize, created the new Gallery of Modern Art for the Tate Museum.

A number of architects submitted proposals for the new museum, but they planned to demolish much of the power house. Among the six finalists, Herzog & de Meuron was the only firm that suggested reusing a significant portion of the plant.