Gasholder No. 8

 

Last June I went to the Estates Gazette's London Tomorrow conference in the German Gym at King's Cross. You can read all about it here if you like. What I fail to mention however, are the gasholders. A total of 4 of these Victorian giants are to be retained. At the moment the whole lot are off-site being renovated. Three of them will be converted into flats. This is what architects Wilkinson Eyre have in mind for the Gasholder Triplet as they're calling them:

This is not an altogether new concept, have a look here and here  for more gasholder inspired stuff. But if four are being retained what are the plans for the final gasholder, gasholder no.8? No one, not even the developer Argent, knows the answer to that one. Not yet.

  
 A few months ago the Gasholder No.8 competition was set up. Out of the 80 designers who submitted plans, only 5 remain. These are my personal favourites:

• Hakes Associates - stick a big shiny ball in it. Nice.

• Feix & Merlin - stick a big trampoline in it...and cinema...and how about a helter skelter on the outside? This needs to be built...now!

...and at night...