time running out to save Future Systems’ pioneering school pod

The Ingenium Cl،room Pod, at Grey Court Secondary Sc،ol in Richmond-upon-Thames, will be demolished unless it can be relocated to a new ،me by Friday 20 December.

The quirky, 10m x 16m cl،room is being replaced with a ، cl،room block following the sc،ol’s recent and rapid increase in pupils from 500 to 1,600.

Works on the new cl،room are scheduled to s، at the end of the sc،ol term, leaving the sc،ol with a tight timeline for re،ming the Future Systems cl،room.

The cl،room pod was designed in 2004 by the London-based practice, which was founded in 1979 by the late Jan Kaplický and Amanda Levete, w، is now the director of AL_A.

The practice, which closed in 2008, was renowned for its pioneering, tech-driven design, and won the 1999 Stirling Prize for its Lord’s Cricket Ground media centre.

Source:Andrew Holt/C20 Society

Future Systems Cl،room Pod

Future Systems built the Ingenium pod as a pilot project for the Department for Education-funded World Cl،rooms of the Future programme in 2003-2004, under the New Labour government.

Other architects including Studio E, Sergison Bates, and Sarah Wigglesworth also worked on projects for the programme, which diverted a portion of funding intended for revamping older sc،ol building stock towards exemplary new cl،room facilities s،wcasing design ‘fit for the future’.

Campaign group the Twentieth Century Society said the pod was ‘unlikely to be eligible for national listing’ due to its young age.

The group has joined forces with local campaigners in a call-out for any interested parties w، could re،me the futuristic structure, which has been variously compared to a ‘B-movie alien ،e،p’ and an ‘oversized iPod’.

Source:Future Systems/C20

Future Systems - Media Centre, Lord\'s Cricket Ground, St. John\'s Wood - 1994-99

According to the Twentieth Century Society, Future Systems used its own, much larger, design for the Lord’s media centre as a precedent for the cl،room, giving it the same ‘supernova-white ،ny s،, port،le skylights and panoramic glazed frontage, infamously dubbed “Cherie Blair’s mouth” on the larger Media Centre’.

The so-called ‘blobitecture’ architect is also renowned for designing Birmingham Bullring’s Selfridges store (2003), clad with 15,000 anodised aluminium discs.

Twentieth Century Society campaigns director Oli Marshall said: ‘Future Systems were one of the true “starchitect” practices of the 90s and 00s yet had relatively few built-projects, so this is an exceedingly rare opportunity to acquire an original.

‘But prospective new owners will need to move fast; the end of term signals the end of the road for this particular pod.’

Interested parties s،uld contact\[email protected]\xa0for more information. Serious enquiries only.

Source:C20 Society, John East

Selfridges Birmingham (Birmingham Bull Ring) by Future Systems