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Architect Frank Gehry unveils plans for his first buildings in England Architect Frank Gehry unveils plans for his first buildings in England
(about 2 hours later)
The first buildings in England by world-famous architect Frank Gehry are set to be a 700-unit apartment complex in London, without a single "affordable" home. With titanium facades swinging like jiving skirts and windows staggered like towers of toppling coins, the chaotic energy of the latest apartment designs for Battersea power station can only mean one thing: Frank Gehry is in town.
The 85-year-old designer of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao unveiled the designs for the project next to Battersea power station and said while he believed architects had a social responsibility, he had no power to insist on the inclusion of affordable homes in the development. As the 85-year-old visionary architect behind the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao outlined plans for 700 apartments in London – his first English buildings – he walked straight into a raging debate about the capital's affordable housing crisis.
Fewer than 8% of the 1,300 homes designed as part of the third phase of the Battersea power station redevelopment by Gehry and Lord Foster, the British architect, will be classed as affordable – for social rent or shared ownership. He promised "humanistic environments that feel good to live in", but it quickly emerged that none of the homes he plans to build behind Battersea power station will be "affordable" – in other words, for social rent or shared ownership. The prices of the Gehry flats have not yet been published but two-bedroom apartments in the converted power station have already gone on sale for over £1.5m each.
London is suffering from an acute shortage of affordable housing and Gehry was pressed on the issue at the launch, during which the developers said they intended to sell the homes in London in order to discourage "buy-to-leave" investors from abroad. The unusual situation where such a large scheme could be built with no affordable component has arisen because the developers of the power station have agreed with Wandsworth council that just 15% of the total 3,400 homes on the site will be affordable.
"As an architect, I have a social responsibility," Gehry said. "I could give you a litany of things I am doing pro bono in the world, including Maggie's Centre [a cancer care centre in Dundee]. I am in over my head on those things like education and science where I donate my services. I can't demand there will be social housing in the middle of this project. This will be a real people thing for the city. I can't tell London what to do. In LA we are doing a project that has affordable housing in it." Within that total number, a scheme for 600 apartments designed by Lord Foster directly opposite Gehry's project will contain 103 affordable homes and there will be more elsewhere – allowing all Gehry's apartments to be put on sale at market rates.
Rob Tincknell, chief executive of the Battersea power station development company, which is owned by Malaysian investors, said the percentage of affordable homes being offered in the Gehry and Foster buildings was lower than the 3,400-home scheme as a whole, which will deliver 517 units for social rent or shared ownership – the equivalent of 15%. This means that just 8% of the 1,300 apartments in the combined Gehry/Foster scheme will be affordable homes.
The move drew instant criticism from community groups who branded the 8% affordable component as "derisory" at a time when Boris Johnson has committed to building 13,200 extra affordable homes each year in a bid to help solve the affordability crisis in the capital's housing market. Gehry was forced on to the defensive.
"As an architect, I have a social responsibility," he told the Guardian. "I could give you a litany of things I am doing pro bono in the world, including Maggie's Centre [a cancer care centre in Dundee]. I am in over my head on those things like education and science where I donate my services. I can't demand there will be social housing in the middle of this project. This will be a real people thing for the city. I can't tell London what to do. In LA we are doing a project that has affordable housing in it."
Rob Tincknell, chief executive of the Battersea Power Station Development Company, which is owned by Malaysian investors, said the 15% proportion of homes for social housing was partly a result of the developer having to invest £200m in an extension of the Northern line to serve the development.
He added that he was committed to preventing homes being sold to foreign buy-to-let investors and buyers would have to come to London to sign papers.
Grant Brooker, design director of Foster and Partners, described the 8% affordable homes in the latest phase as "an inspiring level of commitment from the developer".Grant Brooker, design director of Foster and Partners, described the 8% affordable homes in the latest phase as "an inspiring level of commitment from the developer".
Gehry's scheme has been compared to Gaudi's apartment blocks in Barcelona. Gehry said his goal had been to "build a texture and break down the scale" to "humanise" the building. The designs are to be opened for public consultation on Wednesday, before a planning application is made. Gehry's design is for five apartment blocks rising as high as the power station roof, clustered around a central building he calls "the flower". The Gehry buildings form one side of a crescent-shaped street with restaurants and shops on the first two storeys, while a single snaking apartment block with a 250m-long roof garden is proposed by Foster.
"I don't know anything quite like it," he said of the 1,300 apartments he and Foster hope to build to the south of the listed power-station structure. "I think it will be lived in. Both teams [Gehry and Foster] have a good record of people wanting to be part of what we do." Gehry's scheme has been compared to Gaudi's apartment blocks in Barcelona. He said his goal had been to "build a texture and break down the scale" to "humanise the building".
Gehry's design is for five apartment blocks rising as high as the power station roof, clustered around a central building he calls "the flower". The Gehry buildings form one side of a crescent-shaped street, while a single snaking apartment block with a roof garden is proposed by Foster. "I don't know anything quite like it," he said of the 1,300 apartments he and Foster hope to build. "I think it will be lived in. Both teams [Gehry and Foster] have a good record of people wanting to be part of what we do."
Gehry, famous for his flamboyant designs, was asked if he was architecture's equivalent of Jimi Hendrix. Keith Garner, a local architect and member of the Battersea Power Station Community Group, claimed the flamboyant designs "fatally compromised the landmark status of the power station".
"I am not what people think I am," he replied. "There's a modesty to this project even though it is big. I am no Jimi Hendrix. I won't be breaking any guitars." He added: "It would be harder to criticise that if there were more affordable housing here but there is only 8% which is derisory."
The designs are set to be opened for public consultation on Wednesday, ahead of a planning application. The apartments will be offered for sale later this year. Gehry was asked if he was architecture's equivalent of Jimi Hendrix. "I am not what people think I am," he replied. "There's a modesty to this project even though it is big. I am no Jimi Hendrix. I am not going to be breaking any guitars."