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Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 3:01 am
by Mori
Looks like end of the road for this establishment, cant see the cooncil bailing them out again. :|

Sunday Herald

THE LIGHTHOUSE, Scotland's flagship centre for architecture and design, will close this week, The Sunday Herald has learned. Unless a last-minute solution is presented at tomorrow evening's board meeting the Glasgow institution will go into administration.
A senior source close to the board confirmed that The Lighthouse's demise was imminent, brought about by several financially mismanaged projects and what was described as "an inherently flawed business model".
It is understood that its debts of £220,000 will be covered by Glasgow City Council and the Scottish government. The Lighthouse, based in an A-listed Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed building in the centre of the city, currently employs 57 people
Earlier this month it was rumoured that the board would ratify a streamlined version of the organisation, retaining 13 staff, to save it from closure. But it appears this is no longer the case and it is set to shut its doors.
Currently celebrating its 10th birthday, The Lighthouse was conceived to nurture and promote Scotland's architecture and design. But last year Glasgow City Council had to save it from closure with a £250,000 rescue package after two mishaps: it went over budget on staging Scotland's contribution at the Venice Biennale and it failed to convince the government to run a second Six Cities design festival.

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:46 am
by wee minxy
Ah well. i'm not surprised, I pretty much bypassed all the guff and straight up to the tower, and just enjoyed some of the building itself, they should make it £1 to get in...I'd go much more often :wink:

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:58 am
by onyirtodd
I confess I was surprised to discover you had to pay to get in. Hiring rooms there is very expensive too.

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:55 pm
by Alongtheroad
Struck me as a big empty space when I was in. Spose the council has decided it has other things it would like to spend its money on.

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:22 pm
by govanboay
went for the Thomson exhibition in 1999, but bypassed all the other stuff for the tower on subsequent visits.

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 11:48 pm
by groovyclown
I have to agree with the above posts that it should have been good but something about the 'flow' or rather lack of in the building didn't work.
Introducing a charge and having the shop and cafe upstairs for years wouldn't have helped either - who wants to pay to go into a cafe - although I know if you said you were going there you didn't need to pay the entrance fee.
I did this a few times when showing people around - naughty.

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:43 am
by Sharon
Handed over to the administrators: http://www.thedrum.co.uk/news/2009/08/2 ... nistrators

The Lighthouse renewed
http://lighthouserenewed.ning.com/
This blog was set up to see whether the Design, Architecture and Art communities (and others with an active interest in the activities of the Lighthouse) could, (using some collective thinking and web 2.0 technology), come up with a range of constructive suggestions for the future of the Lighthouse.

Disclaimer: This site is not run buy the Lighthouse. It is an independent initiative by a loose group of interested designers, architects and others.

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:59 pm
by JayKay
Can we suggest 'Hidden Glasgow HQ' as a possible use?

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:01 pm
by John
Bagsy the tower.

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 5:19 pm
by fourbytwo
8O remembering the building when I worked there, serving my apprenticeship, I always felt that it
was a strange choice to hold exhibitions, apart from its central location, it had very little going for it.
It was expecially difficult to access when elderly/disabled, so entry fees added to the decision not to
go very often.
I note with interest that the potential audience for specialist art shows and other 'highbrow' activities,
is more than likely to be heading for the new customised areas down at King Street, when it opens in
September 2009.
Looks as if we are about to inherit yet another set of luxury flats aimed at the wealthy, so the buildings
will not be left vacant for too long....I feel :idea:

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 10:28 am
by ibtg
I visited for the first time recently and enjoyed the films of the Clyde and shipping. I went on consecutive Saturdays, so didn't have to pay. I think the entry prices were too expensive.

I appreciated the CRM design, the tower and the CRM exhibition, but the rest just didn't interest me personally. The architects displays of buildings in a landscape were just so many different coloured and shaped wee bits of wood on a board. I didn't even retain what the exhibition was all about - that was how interesting it was.

The way the building had been extended was cleverly thought out, but it made for a big empty space in the middle, where only the escalators were.

What sort of new use would it lend itself to, other than offices?

Re: Lights out for The Lighthouse

PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:06 pm
by fourbytwo
8) converted to luxury flats, backing on to Buchanan Street, in a red sandstone building, with secured access.......people will be in open war to get their hands on one....money no object, of course...! :roll: