BBC TV Centre - Birth of a building - part 1

The home of BBC Television and BBC News. BBC Television Centre opened on 29th June 1960, as the BBC's first purpose-built centre for television production. It is located four miles outside central London on Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush. The site was once used for the Franco-British exhibition of 1908. Wood Lane is also where the BBC White City and BBC Woodlands buildings can be found. The architect for Television Centre was Graham Dawbarn. He was given a 50 page brief and looking for inspiration went to a local pub. He pulled out an old envelope and drew the triangular shape of the site on the back. He then drew a question mark in the middle of the triangle. How could he design a centre with eight studios, production galleries, dressing rooms, camera workshops, recording areas and offices to support them? The centre also needed an area to bring in trucks with sets and a separate area to bring in audiences and guests. He looked at the question mark and in a flash of inspiration realised that it would make the perfect design. TV Centre features a distinctive circular main block - grouped around this circular building are the studios, linked by a covered carriage way to a scenery block which allows swift movement of scenery in and out of the studios. The sculpture in the central garden of the building depicts Helios, the Greek god of the sun. Designed by TB Huxley-Jones, and erected in 1960 on the opening of the building, it represents the radiation of television light around ...