Bankside 3 90 100 Southwark Street London Se1 0Sw
Southwark Street itself is a secret weapon of London culture. You’ve got the Tate Modern just a block away—that’s the big museum that looks like an old power station. But Bankside 3? It’s the quiet friend who doesn’t brag. It hosts Tate Exchange spaces, where you can watch artists do weird, wonderful things like build a sculpture out of dried pasta and regret.
Here’s a surprising fact: the building was designed by the same architectural firm that worked on the Millennium Dome. Yes, that gargantuan white tent that looks like a giant marshmallow boiled and blown up. If you look at Bankside 3 and the Dome, you’ll notice they share a love for clean lines and mild panic about large crowds.
What Happens Inside? (A Play-by-Play)
Walk through the main entrance, and you’re greeted by a cavernous atrium that echoes like a cathedral for construction workers. There are exposed pipes, concrete floors, and a total lack of any attempt to look “homey.” It’s aggressively industrial, like a warehouse that went to a corporate retreat and never came back.
Upstairs, you’ll find offices for architecture firms, design agencies, and a secret garden terrace on the roof. Yes, a real one, with plants that don't care about your opinion. On a sunny day, employees sit up there, pretending they’re not being paid to stare at the Shard. The view includes the iconic tower, the Thames, and the constant reminder that London is both ancient and aggressively new.
90-100 Southwark St, London, SE1 0SW - Bankside 2 & 3 | LoopNet
And let’s not forget the café. It’s tiny, serves coffee that tastes like ambition, and has a clientele of architects who argue about the best angle for a chair. If you listen closely, you can hear them mutter, “That wall is begging for a vertical garden.” You’ll nod politely and silently wonder if they’re okay.