In September, 40,000 people queued to take a final look at the station before construction began

One of the world’s greatest architects, Frank Gehry, is to work alongside Lord Foster to design a new eight-acre phase of the Battersea power station redevelopment.

In what seems a remarkable coup for London architecture, one of the city’s most loved landmarks will be the site of Mr Gehry’s first big project in Britain.

His buildings are recognisable, often controversial and never less than fascinating. His most famous design was the extraordinary Guggenheim Bilbao – a sculptural art museum clad in titanium, which reflected the city’s steely industrial heritage back to itself along the river. The building was credited with almost single-handedly transforming Bilbao from a depressed, post-industrial backwater into a desirable destination.

Lord Foster’s exquisitely designed subway system for Bilbao, which was completed at the same time, was also pivotal in the revitalisation of the city. So it is apposite that Mr Gehry has been appointed to work with Lord Foster on the new phase of the Battersea redevelopment – a strip of retail and residential accommodation on the south side of the site.

“I love the power station,” Mr Gehry told the FT over the phone from his Santa Monica office. “Every time I came to London I kept asking ‘what are they going to do with that?’ It’s so well positioned it was inevitable that something would happen.”

Referred to as the “High Street”, the area will spread either side of a proposed new Underground station, a spur of the Northern Line. “I don’t believe a residential building should rise to the ‘iconicity’ of a concert hall or a museum but we’re going to explore the façade and how it can give character,” Mr Gehry says.

“London has a great streetscape,” he adds, “and to reflect it we need to break down the scale, so it becomes a place people can feel at home.”

At the centre of his design is a strikingly sculptural form, which has not yet been fully revealed. “The developers said the [potential] renters loved the view of the power station, so I said why don’t we put a more sculptural object, we call it a ‘flower’, in the middle, as a secondary sculpture for Battersea – it gives something for everybody.”

Both architects will be working within a master plan by New York-based architect Rafael Viñoly, who hit the London headlines last month with the furore over the “Walkie Scorchie” , his bulging tower on Eastcheap which amplified and reflected the sun back on to the street and caused a silly season media event.

''London has a great streetscape, and to reflect it we need to break down the scale, so it becomes a place people can feel at home''

- Frank Gehry, architect

Mr Viñoly’s plan for the power station has provoked some criticism but Rob Tincknell, chief executive of the Battersea Power Station Development Company, says: “The mistake was that everyone saw the renderings and assumed those would be the finished buildings.”

During phase two of the £8bn redevelopment, the power station and its chimneys, which conservationists had feared might be lost, will be rebuilt. The new structure – designed by Wilkinson Eyre – will be “filled with 1.8m sq ft of everything, bringing real life and excitement” to the development, says Mr Tincknell.

This has been a troubled project. Since being closed in 1983, there have been a number of failed proposals, including ideas to turn it into a theme park and a new home for Chelsea Football Club . The last of these, by then owners Treasury Holdings, collapsed with the bursting of the Irish property bubble.

But last month’s Open House event testifies to the enduring popularity of the site. The queues to see into London’s most impressive ruin stretched all the way along the river Thames through Battersea Park, as 40,000 people came for a last look before construction begins.

The ambitious plans have been made possible with the backing of a consortium of government-backed Malaysian investors who have pledged enough money to drive the development forward, up to £1bn.

They offer hope that, with the redevelopment of neighbouring Nine Elms (where the new US embassy is currently under construction), this long closed-off part of the industrial city might yet be woven back into its fabric.

> via FT