Let's draw: January 2021 - Regeneration (Battersea Power Station)

Happy New Year and welcome to 2021.

As we mentioned at the end of the year, until we are able to meet in person, we are going to propose a monthly theme to be explored. We are suggesting a date and time to share the sketches on Facebook and other platforms but if you wish to do it before or after the date please keep them coming. 

We are treating this virtual meeting as it would be for real, only that you can choose to: sketch on the suggested London location, sketch in a different location nearer to your home but exploring the same theme or even sketch within your home, still from reality, exploring the theme.  

January's theme is Regeneration and the location is close to my heart, Battersea Power Station.  

Alternatives: Changes that you notice in your local area, Changes in your home: redecoration, DIY

Sketching Theme Date: Saturday 16 January 2021  

Suggested Times: 11am to 3pm

Post your sketches in Facebook or Flickr with the # suggested below or in the event post itself.

Suggested # are: #urbansketcherslondon #UskLondonJan2021 #UskLondonRegeneration.

Remember: to tell us the story behind the sketch, why you chose to do it, how did you do it, anything you'd like to share that completes the sketch and makes it more personal.

Battersea Power Station (sketches by Isabel Carmona, 2018 and 2019)

As an architect I worked on one of the teams that worked on the early projects (in the 2000s) that were looking to convert the power station and surrounding area into a media and post production area, as well as including retail and theatre in the mix, a few hundred dwellings and loads of open space all towered by the 20th century power station. That was one of the early projects that due to its cost never got realised.

It is good to see the area coming together now and the sketches that follow were done in 2018 and 2019 in two separate trips to London.

The first (above) is a very quick  sketch indeed, probably 15 min maximum as we walked by and I got inspired to do it when we found out we could get this close to the front and see what was going on, the feeling was cranes everywhere, a flurry of activity.

The second (below) probably a year later (in March 2019) looking from the other side of the Thames with the cranes appearing behind the glass building (apartments) and the Power Station chimneys amongst the cranes, barely recognisable from this angle. 

After the watercolour sketch, I walked closer to Battersea, where you could sit in the warmth of the coffee shop (it was not too warm that March) and get a closer sketch of the front chimneys and the construction elevators.

This area will continue changing for some time, gentrifying perhaps but the site is open to walk through and one can get closer to the Power Station than ever before, one day we'll go in and get to appreciate its size - inside (when it was empty) one could have fitted St Paul's.  It is enormous.

 

Let's draw: January 2021 - Regeneration (Battersea Power Station)

Fun in the sun in E3

[Evelyn Rowland]
Lovely afternoon near Bow flyover. I gravitated to the familiar sight of a clock tower rather than attack the algae and foliage. Tried a different method of working this time, more paint, less pencil. If I had got there earlier in the day, I probably could have managed another one.

Fun in the sun in E3

Buildings under Urban Regeneration

Just lately I have been documenting places that are under threat, or in the procedure of redevelopment. Over the last few weeks I have sketched at two locations in London that are going through this process Battersea Park Power Station located at the South bank of the river Thames, Nine Elms and the Aylesbury Estate in Walworth, South East London.  

The Battersea Power station was built in the 30’s and has been inactive since the early 80’s. It was also on the front cover of Pink Floyd’s Animal album. When I was in my late teens I frequently used the train line that passed Battersea Power Station and it was always an iconic landmark for me as the train approached London.I sketched the power station from across the river.I thought that drawing with torn Paper was an appropriate medium to capture the regeneration-taking place.  

The notorious Aylesbury housing estate is the largest in London built between 1963 and 1977 and accommodates about 7600 people. Protests are taking place to save the estate. Residents are being moved off the estate, block by block, re-homed and split up all over the country.

I have used torn paper again in the sketch below, representing its looming future. I couldn’t believe the size of the estate. My sketches don’t quite capture its scale. I was captivated by the walkways leading up to the floors. I liked the cylindrical structure of this one. An interesting thought provoking location.

I have been documenting a forgotten place that has been subject to planning for many years in Norwich. If you want to see more… here is a link to my blog.http://juliebolus.blogspot.co.uk

Buildings under Urban Regeneration