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Tate Modern resolves viewing platform privacy dispute with Neo Bankside residents

2023-10-23T13:48:00-04:00

The Tate Modern in London has announced its compliance with the UK High Court’s February ruling regarding a privacy case that involved its 10th-floor viewing gallery and five residents of the adjacent Neo Bankside apartments.

The museum will now restrict visitors' access to the platform, which was constructed in 2016 as part of a Herzog & de Meuron-led $318 million Blavatnik Building expansion. The remedy will help the Tate avoid paying any monetary damages, as was the will of the plaintiffs. Their decision puts an end to a saga that has touched on Inner London’s class conflicts over housing and could potentially carry future ramifications in regards to design and the public realm, according to Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright and other observers.

Natasha Rees, a senior partner at the law firm Forsters, which represented the five Neo Bankside residents, said: “An award of damages was never our clients’ aim and they are grateful for the Tate’s recent willingness, instead, to agree t...

Esja Architecture’s Icelandic viewing platform draws inspiration from Viking traditions

2023-09-04T12:13:00-04:00

Copenhagen/Reykjavik-based Esja Architecture, in collaboration with Arkibygg Arkitektar, has unveiled plans for a ring-shaped viewing platform to be located 2,100 feet above sea level on the slopes of Mount Bjólfur, Iceland. Named the Ring of Bjólfur, the platform will overlook the scenic, artistic town of Seydisfjordur, as well as a fjord that houses the only ferry connection from Iceland to mainland Europe.

Photo credit: Render artists Alex Cetea & Andrei Ducu Predescu

The platform measures 105 feet in diameter and will offer visitors a continuous walkway and seating arrangement around its 330-foot circumference. The scheme is secured to the landscape using four anchoring points, while the slightly sloping structure remains entirely wheelchair accessible.

Photo credit: Design team

The three predominant materials to be used in the scheme’s construction are concrete for the primary form, local larch for the inner railing, and stainless steel for the outer railing. Chosen in part to re...

UK Supreme Court rules in favor of residents in Tate Modern viewing platform case

2023-02-02T17:04:00-05:00

The owners of luxury flats opposite Tate Modern’s viewing gallery face an unacceptable level of intrusion that prevents them enjoying their homes, the supreme court has ruled. In a majority judgment, the court determined that the flat owners faced a “constant visual intrusion” that interfered with the “ordinary use and enjoyment” of their properties, extending the law of privacy to include overlooking – albeit only in extreme cases.

The suit was initiated by a quintet of residents of the RSHP-designed apartment tower in 2017, offering Oliver Wainwright (another) chance to comment on the class tensions which lie at the heart of many high-profile Greater London housing kerfuffles. It was later dismissed by a lower court judge before heading to the UK’s Supreme Court in August 2021. This week’s ruling did not however provide a remedy to fix the headaches caused by the 2016 Herzog & de Meuron extension with either a partition or any other kind of privacy shield.

Some speculate that the court’s decision may preface a torrent of pro-tenant privacy cases. In issuing his opinion, Justice George Leggatt wrote: “It is not difficult to imagine how oppressive living in such circumstances would feel for any ordinary person — much like being on display in a zoo.”

Privacy lawsuit against Tate Modern's viewing platform goes to Supreme Court

2021-04-27T15:32:00-04:00

Residents of a luxury development on London’s South Bank who lost a legal battle to close part of the tenth-floor viewing platform at Tate Modern are now taking their case to the UK Supreme Court. Owners of four flats in the Neo Bankside block located alongside the gallery, previously claimed in court that “hundreds of thousands of visitors” to Tate Modern were looking into their homes from the viewing space located in its Blavatnik building.

After losing their legal case to close parts of the public viewing terrace at the neighboring Tate Modern extension, some residents of the luxurious Neo Bankside glass condo development in London are now taking their fight to the UK's Supreme Court, reports The Art Newspaper.

Previously on Archinect: Glass tower residents lose 'invasion of privacy' case against Tate Modern

Glass tower residents lose 'invasion of privacy' case against Tate Modern

2019-02-12T13:42:00-05:00

Residents of flats overlooked by the Tate Modern have lost their high court bid to stop “hundreds of thousands of visitors” looking into their homes from the art gallery’s viewing platform. [...] the board of trustees of the Tate Gallery said the platform provided “a unique, free, 360-degree view of London” and argue that the claimants could simply “draw the blinds”.

The judge presiding over the highly publicized case dismissed the residents' demands that parts of the 10th-floor public viewing terrace in the Tate Modern's Herzog & de Meuron-designed extension be closed off to prevent visitors from peeking through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the ritzy Neo Bankside apartments (planned by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners) next door.

Those who live in glass houses should have a sense of humor. Photo: zoer/Flickr

Recognizing the fact that the residents were “occupying a particularly sensitive property which they are operating in a way which has increased the sensitivity,” the judge recommended net curtains as a reasonable privacy solution.

A criticism of London's museum effect and the survival of everyday spaces

2018-08-31T14:39:00-04:00

London is pure object in these images and likewise in those taken from the other aforementioned viewing points. Like visitors to a museum, we wander the corridors atop the Switch House and observe the artefacts curated for our all-consuming gaze: a shard, a walkie-talkie, a gherkin, etc. Like Tower Bridge, the new Museum of London, Battersea Power Station and the Tate Modern, the skyline of the city is presented as a display – complete with its own exhibition gift shop.

George Kafka argues that London's trend in preservation and commemoration in the built environment is directly related to the decline of small-scale spaces and small businesses centered around everyday life.

Kafka cites recent developments in London's built environment over the past few years: the V&A preserving a of a section of Robin Hood Gardens, the Museum of London moving into Smithfield Market, and the Tate Modern's viewing platform extension.

He does not necessarily argue against cultural preservation and commemoration, but rather aims to draw attention to a trend in "objective gaze prioritized over subjective experience" and the effect this has on the survival of small, everyday spaces.

META-Project's triangular lookout offers breathtaking views of the Songhua Lake Resort

2018-02-28T19:24:00-05:00

Beijing-based practice META-Project designed this stage-like, triangular lookout built on a forest hillside at the Songhua Lake Resort in Ji Lin, China. Completed in 2017, the structure also functions as a flexible public space where exhibitions, meetings, workshops, and other events can take place.

Photo: Su Shengliang.

Adjacent to a Mongolian oak forest, the building is a “dark, free-floating monolith” that starkly contrasts against a snowy backdrop during the winter. In the summer, the building is surrounded by lush vegetation.

Photo: Su Shengliang.

META-Project came up with the lookout's triangular floating design to minimize its impact as much as possible to existing vegetation, while maximizing views of the beautiful landscape on the platform level. The structure shows off Shou-Sugi-Ban cladding (charred cedar shingles) that can appear silvery under certain angles of sunlight.

Photo: Su Shengliang.

Photo: Su Shengli...

Thyssenkrupp's rope-less, high-speed elevator opens to the public

2017-10-11T13:09:00-04:00

On 7 October 2017, almost exactly three years after the ground-breaking ceremony, the visitors‘ platform at the thyssenkrupp test tower in Rottweil will be open to the public for the first time. Located on the top floor of the artfully constructed building, it is Germany’s highest viewing platform.

Image courtesy of Thyssenkrupp

Engineers were using the Rottweil Test Tower to test the Thyssenkrupp elevator, a rope-less high-speed elevator, going up and down but also sideways. The tower was completed three years ago and is now open to the public. The viewing platform and elevator experience makes it the region's newest attraction.

New Rooftop Observatory launched at Bold Tendencies

2017-07-25T05:36:00-04:00

Peckham’s famous multi-storey car park has a new addition; a new viewing gallery created by Cooke Fawcett. The young practice, based in London’s creative Clerkenwell, was formed just two years ago, by directors Oliver Cooke and Francis Fawcett, after working on the Tate’s Switch House at Stirling-prize winning practice Herzog & de Meuron.

This project, a spectacular kiosk and viewing gallery for arts space Bold Tendencies, will not only provide breathtaking views of London but also act as an interactive setting for installations and specially commissioned art pieces. This arts-focused structure joins (and benefits from) Peckham’s famous rooftop hangout, Frank’s Bar. Over the past decade, the Peckham multi-storey car park has been slowly transformed by Bold Tendancies, through a programme of culture. Immersive public space and unique views have drawn over a million visitors south of the river, to this unlikely home of the arts.

Francis Fawcett: “For an avant garde cultural institut...

Will luxury apartment owners shut down the Tate's viewing platform?

2017-04-25T13:55:00-04:00

Good walls make good neighbours – but not, it seems, when they are made entirely of glass. Five residents of the multi-million-pound Neo Bankside towers, which loom behind Tate Modern like a crystalline bar chart of inflated land values, have filed a legal claim against the museum to have part of its viewing platform shut down. They claim that its 10th-floor public terrace has put their homes into a state of “near constant surveillance”.

In an apparent case of art interfering with life, the owners of the apartments next to the Tate Modern's viewing platform are trying to legally erect some kind of visual barrier between them and the visitors of the museum (although the exotic technology of curtains has apparently not yet made it to the U.K.). This attempt at transforming the viewing platform into just a platform is raising ire for several good reasons, chiefly because it places the comfort of a few above the aesthetic pleasure of potentially millions. On the plus side, it has also caused Oliver Wainwright to write a highly enjoyable piece delving into barely restrained class tension and London's swollen luxury real estate market.

Perforated "Sailing Tower" spotlights Denmark's commercial Aarhus harbor

2016-03-03T18:29:00-05:00

With bold geometric references to cargo sailing masts and portholes, the primary function of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter's Sailing Tower is to reference the considerable maritime history of the Danish harbor, which was founded in the 8th century and remains an active commercial port today. The tower, which was inaugurated in August 2015, incorporates two official viewing platforms, the upper one of which offers a 360 degree view of Aarhus. Sited on the docks, the tower is categorized as an urban sculpture, not only for its direct relationship with the harbor, but its visual orientation toward the city.

The staircase offers perforated panoramic views as visitors climb up (although a lift has been installed for those unable to climb stairs), while the steel-plate construction also recalls the feeling of being at sea. At night, the mast-like geometry of the Tower's exterior is illuminated by LEDs.

New York's getting a better view: One World Observatory to open May 29

2015-04-07T14:25:00-04:00

One World Observatory today announced that its official public opening date will be Friday, May 29, 2015. [...] Positioned on top of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere – on levels 100, 101, and 102 of the One World Trade Center building – One World Observatory will provide guests with unique, panoramic views of New York City, its most iconic sites, and surrounding waters from above 1,250 feet.

Visitors will board one of five dedicated elevators, termed Sky Pods, to ascend to the 102nd floor in under 60 seconds. Immersive, floor-to-ceiling LED technology in each cab invites guests to experience a virtual time-lapse that recreates the development of New York City’s skyline from the 1600s to present day.

Click on the panorama image above for the larger version. (Copyright: Evan Joseph Images)

Wutai Mountain Viewing Tower VII by Yaohua Wang Architecture

2013-07-09T16:22:00-04:00

LA-based architect Yaohua Wang - whose previous project submissions managed to polarize the audience like no one else - has sent us his latest project, a design proposal for a viewing tower at Wutai Mountain in China.

Previously featured Yaohua Wang works:

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