Vox Pop

Plans are afoot for a new design venue at London’s Battersea Power Station (DW 14 July). What form should this take, given the failure of the Dome, the existence of the Design Museum and the success of the Tate Modern?

‘The Design Museum’s success (a 59 percent increase in visitors over the past five years) demonstrates the huge success and public interest in a design venue – and that’s been achieved without public funding. Imagine what we could create at Battersea with more space and a public subsidy.’

Paul Thompson, Director, Design Museum

‘The last thing we need is another museum-as-monument. We need a new “mongrel” place for: incubation – where new design graduates and companies can be given support; spectacle – where designers exhibit and sell – on a changing basis; education – each design school within Britain should be offered space and facilities on a rotating basis; and European design – to prevent Britain’s insularity congealing. It should have the feel of James Joyce’s Here Comes Everybody.’

Philip Dodd, Director, Institute of Contemporary Arts

‘My advice is don’t get involved with the politics and get the journalists on your side.’

Eva Jiricna, Eva Jiricna Architects

‘Design is a reflection of the contemporary world. In fact, the work of designers is the earliest concretisation of what the future will be. As London already has an abundance of design archives, the challenge must be to create a popular market for ideas – an Innovation Centre where work now coming to realisation is showcased. Alternatively, conscious of the scope and richness of reserve collections in our National Museums, is this an opportunity to illustrate the development of multicultural design to reflect ethnic diversity within the UK?’

Celestine Phelan,Research and Marketing Director, Event Communications

‘For me the Power Station is the icon of London, a cathedral of energy that once was. We seem in this country too eager to preserve everything. Let’s not fill it with themed zones like The Dome. I feel that we should celebrate its scale and volume and let that alone be the attraction.’

Alex Ritchie, Director, Blu