Electric Boulevard

Why is it significant?

Electric Boulevard in London is a pedestrian walkway showcasing the first side-by-side residential developments by architects Frank Gehry and Sir Norman Foster. Gehry's Prospect Place contains 308 uniquely sculpted apartments inspired by Thames ship sails. Opposite, Foster's Battersea Roof Gardens features a 12,000-square-foot sky garden. The boulevard frames views of Giles Gilbert Scott's 1930s power station, which historically generated one-fifth of London's electricity.

Key Facts

What to look for?

• Frank Gehry designed 308 uniquely shaped apartments at Prospect Place along Electric Boulevard.
• Sir Norman Foster created Battersea Roof Gardens on Electric Boulevard, featuring a 12,000-square-foot residential sky garden.
• Electric Boulevard honors the adjacent 1930s Battersea Power Station, which once supplied one-fifth of London's electricity.
• Architect Giles Gilbert Scott designed the classic 1930s brick power station located near Electric Boulevard.

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Which architects designed the residential developments along Electric Boulevard in London?

Look around you at this pedestrian avenue, where two of the world's most celebrated modern architects built side by side for the very first time. Electric Boulevard gets its name as a direct tribute to the historic power station standing ahead, which once supplied a fifth of all London's electricity. But today, instead of coal smoke and massive steel machinery, this walkway generates a completely different kind of high-tension energy. On your right stand the striking, rippled white buildings of Prospect Place. This is the first residential project ever built in the United Kingdom by Canadian American architect Frank Gehry, the visionary behind the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Gehry took inspiration from the billowing canvas sails of ships that used to navigate the Thames. Notice how the facades twist and bulge, catching the light at unusual angles. Because of this complex, sculpted geometry, no two apartments out of the three hundred and eight inside are exactly identical. Even the interior decor was split into two contrasting themes, one inspired by London's gritty industrial heritage, and the other by the sunlit warmth of Los Angeles. Look to the opposite side of the street, and you will see the long, fluid curves created by Sir Norman Foster's studio! Foster designed an undulating glass structure known as Battersea Roof Gardens, topped by one of the longest residential sky gardens in the entire city, spanning over twelve thousand square feet. Together, these two architectural giants were brought in to solve a formidable challenge: how do you build brand new high-rise housing right next to an iconic industrial monument without being completely swallowed by its shadow? Their answer was to create a dramatic contrast. Where the classic power station built by Giles Gilbert Scott in the nineteen thirties is heavy, rigid, and dark brick, Electric Boulevard is light, flowing, and unpredictable. As you stroll down the boulevard, notice how the white metal and sweeping glass frame your view, drawing your eyes forward toward the famous four white chimneys rising in the distance.