A rooftop infinity pool boasting views over Battersea Power Station has been unveiled for the Foster + Partners-designed building proposed beside the historic London structure (+ movie).
The outdoor swimming pool will form part of a 160-room hotel that will be housed within The Skyline – a large mixed-use block designed by Foster + Partners as part of the third phase of development for the 17-hectare Battersea Power Station development site.
Billed as "the jewel" in the hotel's crown, the pool will be located at the southernmost end of the building, right beside one of the old power station's four iconic chimneys.
It will be set within a 250-square-metre roof garden designed by New York landscape firm James Corner Field Operations, which was also behind the High Line.
Plans for phase three of the Battersea Power Station site redevelopment were first revealed in April 2014. Designed by London-based Foster + Partners with Frank Gehry, it also includes five residential buildings and a pedestrianised street named Electric Boulevard.
Located on the eastern side of the site, The Skyline is designed as an undulating volume containing shops, affordable housing, a medical centre and the hotel – which will be operated by boutique brand Art'otel, a subsidiary of PPHE Hotel Group.
Art'otel plans to also create an elevated bar and restaurant offering panoramic views of the city skyline, as well as a public art gallery accompanied by a lounge and cafe.
The interiors will be created a yet-to-be-named "signature artist", similar to the brand's Amsterdam hotel designed by Dutch studio Atelier Van Lieshout.
Another vertiginous swimming pool is also planned nearby – a glass "sky pool" that will be suspended between apartment blocks in the new Nine Elms quarter.
The 1930s Giles Gilbert Scott-designed Battersea Power Station has been out of use since 1983 and was subject to a number of unsuccessful development proposals over the last 30 years, including a stadium for Chelsea Football Club, a public garden and a theme park.
The current masterplan by New York architect Rafael Viñoly includes the construction of 3,400 new homes, a major new shopping centre, and a new London Underground station around the original building, which is being refurbished.
Earlier this year, Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, whose firm BIG is creating a public square beside Battersea Power Station, unveiled plans to turn its 100-metre-high chimneys into giant sparking Tesla coils. The coils would be powered by the footfall of pedestrians passing through the square.
Speaking at the Royal Academy's annual architecture lecture, for which Dezeen was media partner, Ingels said: "We're working with experts in Tesla coils, looking into how to incorporate it into the chimneys so essentially we might celebrate the transformation from carbon footprint to human footprint."