First smoke rings, now lightning in the sky? During a lecture at London's Royal Academy last night, Bjarke Ingels revealed a speculative, very sci-fi scheme to turn the iconic smoke stacks of London's Battersea Power station into massive Tesla coils that would illuminate the sky and become a "celebration of human energy and human life." Ingels's firm, BIG, is one of the companies tasked with designing this massive redevelopment, and has already released plans for Malaysia Square, a public plaza inspired by the Southeast Asian country, the home of the project's developers. According to Dezeen, his Tesla concept for the 1933 building would layer piezoelectric pavement into the ground, which would draw a charge from pedestrians crossing the plaza to power the coils. He believes this public artwork could generate up to a kilowatt of energy.
Ingels added that they (surprisingly) haven't sold the client yet, but have a "rock-solid feasibility study" in the works and are collaborating with experts in Tesla coil technology. If approved, the plan would continue Battersea Power Stations's long tradition of being the home of trippy visuals, and could become a modern-day, sustainable symbol of the plant's power-generating heritage.
∙ Bjarke Ingels could turn Battersea Power Station's chimneys into sparking Tesla coils [Dezeen]
∙ A First Look at Bjarke Ingels' Public Square for Battersea [Curbed]
∙ The Final World Trade Center Tower's New Design, Revealed! [Curbed New York]
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