Demolition in Progress
I don’t think that there has been so much demolition happening in London since the Blitz in 1940. Within 10 minutes of any trip I make now, anywhere in town, there is a new hole in the ground & a new development taking place.
The London I grew up in is becoming unrecognisable. A good example of this is the office where we work in Battersea. We have demolition happening on three sides of our office & the only reason we are not completely surrounded is because the fourth side has already been developed. Of particular regret is the demolition of one of the last pre-war industrial, river warehouses just across the road. This building complex had been a wonderful artistic & social venue. Many different creative companies had their offices there. There were art galleries, exhibition spaces, a distillery, table tennis tables were set up for free use, Street Kitchen were based there, serving quality food & next door to this was The Doodle Bar (now near Tower Bridge), which was a wonderful creative bar, available for all sorts of different events, one of which was my own wedding reception.
Now the site is going to be luxury flats, some retail space & some ‘affordable’ housing (not affordable if you are one of the many homeless). Another whole community has been destroyed in the favour of investors.
is the tshirt/dress you wear in this post available to buy? and does its design link to the notion of how much demolition our country is facing?
if its not yet available will it be as its such a fantastic design
Comment by EMILY on 29/06/2018 at 9:15 pm
I must say this is worrying and sad. I used to live in Hackney Wick, in one-year time big part of the warehouses there have been demolished, giving space to luxury flats and retail chains.
Everything is becoming flat, boring, everyone wants the same things, we are all some kind of type-approved monsters of this society some multinational create for ourselves, sometimes we cannot even decide because choices are sneakily made for us served on a big silver plate, people are struggling to be themselves nowadays.
Comment by valeria pulici on 22/09/2018 at 4:07 pm
It’s the same in Manchester. One big building site. No quality of life. No class, no style, no compassion. Just business and pure, naked greed.
Comment by Steve on 19/10/2018 at 1:14 am
Oh I am so sad to hear that the Doodle Bar and Testbed1 have been demolished! it’s just unbelievable! It was a magical place where I’ve been lucky to be able to do an art installation in 2013 (see images of the place and the installation on my website, page Collaboration / Change of Signature http://www.eleonorepironneau.com)
I do remember the feeling of community, the ping-pong, the big black wall where you could draw.
Yesterday I saw that an art deco café with the stain windows etc. near the Opera Bastille in Paris has been converted in a tasteless bland looking café. They must be mad. ?
Comment by Eleonore on 03/01/2019 at 9:51 pm