The scheme has been designed by Swiss architectural duo Herzog & De Meuron, and includes new galleries, learning spaces and other areas. For the museum, three unused industrial chambers, located at Bankside power station, were retrofitted and outfitted.
The new museum includes an art work created by Korean artist Sung Hwan Kim, which reveals an interaction between personal history, fantasy, rumor, politics and culture. The company has used clover-shaped dramatic subterranean oil tanks as the foundation of the building. The remaining building develops and rises out of the structure below.
A subsequent phase, also designed by Herzog &de Meuron, will add 60% more exhibition space to the Tank. The new building will be built adjoining Tate Modern to the south, and will offer a diverse collection of public spaces for relaxation and reflection, making and doing, group learning and private study.
The public spaces in the new building will be connected by means of public circulation system rising through the building. The entire scheme has been designed in a way that it integrates with the existing building of the power station. However, the individuality of the new build is not compromised in regards to the iconic stature of the power station.
The building will feature brick screen through which light will filter in the day and will make the building glow in the night. The façade changes in appearance depending on the point of view of the observer. It changes from transparent to opaque. Its pattern and orientation also changes. The brickwork is likely to have several horizontal cuts, which brings in natural light into the inner space of the building, and also offers natural ventilation.
