Tate Modern Crystallizes

The British art-museum, the Tate Modern, that was opened only a few years ago in a redeveloped Power Station along the Thames is to have a dramatic extension by Herzog & de Meuron. The extension will help the museum accommodate the influx of visitors for the 2012 Olympics in London. Tropolism describes the new extension:

It will be a crystalline, brutalist structure, worthy heir of the Crystal Chain (or Mies’s early skyscrapers), iconic to the south (which is admittedly Tate Modern’s least interesting side) yet a quiet background mountain from the Millenium Bridge approach from the north, over the Thames.
Also of interest is the planning for the project: an entirely new approach and entry sequence from the south; restructuring of a powerstation; the use of the expansion as a way to link the museum with the neighborhoods to the south; the new pedestrian links in a ‘hood with some not-pedestrian-friendly roadways.

Tate Modern
Tropolism: Tate Modern Expands