BIG

Malaysia Square . London

BIG . + Battersea Power Station

Malaysia Square will link the southern entrance of the restored Grade II* listed Power Station that has been re-imagined by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and the top of the new Electric Boulevard high street that runs between Foster + Partners’ ‘Battersea Roof Gardens’ and Gehry Partners’ ‘Prospect Place’. BIG won the world-wide design competition that was launched in June 2014 by Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC) on behalf of the shareholders. Other contributors to BIG’s winning design team include structural engineers AKT II, lighting specialists Speirs + Major and the artist Jeppe Hein.

The design for Malaysia Square centres on a two-level urban canyon with integrated bridges and stairways that are inspired by Malaysia’s landscape and geology. The spaces will be clad with limestone, granite, marble, sandstone, gravel and dolomite striations that will lead people through the square. The different types of cladding are all found in Malaysia’s geology and the sculptured form they would give the square is reminiscent of the stunning caves found in Gunung Mulu National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage site) in Sarawak, East Malaysia. One further cladding finish that will be included to symbolise the links between Malaysia and the United Kingdom is the use of reclaimed Power Station chimney material that would be sourced from the rebuild programme that is currently underway.