Save The Foundry! - action needed

I wouldn't go that far Tiswas :-/

I think they could something great with the existing as they did with Sanderson, ok so its full of footballers and wannabe's now but its a fine example of a contemporary interior in an existing modernist building

What the fuuuuuuuuck??? That looks fucking ridiculous, no wonder it attracts footballers and wannabes. Besides, the two buildings aren't comparable.

+1
a shit building and an interior designed by jordan and peter andre?
no way.
much better to have a crack at something new than that.

Honestly, that interior looks like a Kubrick set as interpreted by Lady Gaga.

you should go and have a look around and then make your mind up, it's a little dated now but it's designed by Phillipe Stark and full of some fascinating furniture. The two building are completely comparible, they are both simple concrete, probably both designed to be offices (i don't knoe the history of either) and designed around the same time by the looks of it.

some shots of the less gaudy parts of the hotel

Hmm.

Meh. I mean, yeah, that new design is pretty lame but the old one is just a scraggy pub, no?

like it or not interiors can be ripped out easily , gigantic cylindrical steaming turds have a tendancy to just sit there

The existing Foundry building is, of course, shall we say, undistinguished. I think the proposals are worse, and as usual with architects trying to do 'something special', don't fit the site at all.

On Philippe Starck, hm, as his name gets mentioned so much alongside pictures, I must admit that I have developed an active aversion to things presented in his name. For instance, I don't like that interior above at all. But I have very unsophisticated tastes. I like unshowy, simple, darkish wooden furniture, and that's it. :)

Phillipe Starck is a genius but not in the field of design. He is a masterful showman and a talker, a brand and a signature name. He is enigmatic and charismatic. He's the bloke you get in so that you can say that your new interior is designed by Phillipe Starck. I've no doubt that beneath the thick gloss of decadence he has actually done some really great work, but a lot of it is pure tosh labouring under the pretense of being subversive. Now that he has become the darling of every self-absorbed design rag, his output is about as edgy as a Banksy.

Furthermore, beyond a tired, regurgitated concept scrawled on the back of a napkin during a fat lunch, I very much doubt he had a great deal to do with the above project.

On the subject of The Foundry, the two similarities you mentioned are the only two there are. It's a pifflingly tiny and unremarkable building on largely vacant site that must be worth millions.

I don't know very much about PS, but the above sounds very much like what I'd think of him if I knew more. :)

I think my original point got lost somewhere which was that it is entirely possible to do something interesting with what exists rather than taking the lazy option of flattening and starting again. I do not personally particularly like Philipe Stark, however don't believe you can dismiss his contribution to late 2oth century design quite so easily, yes he has become fat on his fame but his passion and influence on the late nineties surpasses any other product / furniture / interior designer of that era and has possibly yet to be replaced? but he's certainly not the toast of design mags these days, 10 years ago maybe.

I don't know the Foundry site particulary well but I would think the land prices are similar or less than WC1. An 'Art Hotel' signals the swan song for everything the creativity of such an area stands for and it's reflected in the lack of insight thats gone into that rotunda.

Ah, so Philip Starck is really famous? He once designed a *mouse *for Microsoft! Let the image speak for itself:

Actually, no, let me speak for the image: It's fugly. But what do you expect from Microsoft...

Meh. I mean, yeah, that new design is pretty lame but the old one is just a scraggy pub, no?

That's the thing, it is a scraggy pub, but a scraggy pub which has a whole culture and subcultures which surrounds it, a history, and a welcome break from the increasingly gentrified area that it sits in.

Knocking it down seems to me, to be more about cleaning up an area and moving out 'undesirable elements' to increase the land value and profits to be made. Obviously this has been going on in the Hoxton/shoreditch area for over a decade now, so much so that the Foundry seems to be the last bastion of what used to exist there.

Re-generation of deprived urban areas is not some noble scheme by councils in order to improve the living conditions of the poor, quite the opposite. Millions and millions are poured into an area, in order to push out the poor (or compulsory purchase) then demolish or rebuild all the housing and sell it off to the highest bidder. Obviously some laws about affordable housing and community schemes are still in place, so developers include things like 20% houses for nurses or "arts centres" (as we have here). However make no mistake this is about maximising profit and definitely not about rebuilding community or improving the lives of people.

The foundry will probably be bulldozed, a shitty designer hotel will be built and the patrons of this scraggy pub will have to find somewhere further out of town to show their art, sing their songs and socialise. The council will claim it's a success with a new arts venue (that is probably never used and relies upon lottery funding) and the cycle will continue.

That's why it shouldn't be knocked down, because even though the Foundry is shit, it's a cherished place and it's what makes London, London.

well said, hopefully the Foundry will be able to succesfully relocate as the Dragon bar did

this is it http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3153041

Dude. This is fucking awful. There is absolutely no space on the pavement in that picture for drinking offie tins.

I'm imagining they will keep the Banksy rat wall at the back intact and have it as a shrine to the 'cool and happening' area.

yes as a gravestone

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/feb/03/foundry-gallery-set-to-close

I'm imagining they will keep the Banksy rat wall at the back intact and have it as a shrine to the 'cool and happening' area.

seems that the fight is lost and that JOL was right? sad day if it is true....

Another hotel!

When does it officially close, a last send off must be in order?

http://www.metamute.org/en/content/farewell_to_the_foundry

It is now shut.