One of the competitions for the design of a new seaside shelter that helped inspire this project was set in Bexhill on Sea in East Sussex. Bexhill on Sea already holds some of my favourite shelters, the shelters being of a more post modern design, so the prospect of a new shelter here was interesting. The competition brief isn’t available for public viewing, but the project was funded by the local council's Next Wave Seafront Improvement Project that has received £1 million of funding from CABE under the SeaChange Programme. The project cost for the shelters was £220,000.
The competition was won by Michael Tite and Tom Ebdon and was one of ten shortlisted designs out of 140 entries. The design seen in the image below was a ‘Y’ shape that created a windbreak but also a place for people to enjoy the views. The jury described it as being both aesthetic and functional. Chair of the Jury Panel Niall McLaughlin said:
"The challenge here is to design shelters that keep out driving rain and gales on an exposed waterfront while creating a lively presence on the promenade. The winning scheme allowed its form to emerge from the requirement for shelter, providing a beautiful scheme that is best captured with a lovely view from a sheltered seat out to the horizon"
(akichiatlas.com, 2020).
The Winning Design (akichiatlas.com, 2020)
However, this shelter never made it to Bexhill on Sea because the architects said Rother District Council had ‘made it impossible for them to satisfy the appointment conditions’, which had been imposed following their victory in the high-profile RIBA competition last December (AJ 03.12.09). This is a shame, and the reasons Rother District Council imposed is beyond the scope of this project, but the outcome was that the runners up Duggan Morris Architects and their design became the replacement project.
Their design was a steel structure clad in aluminium and a sustainable Kebony Scots Pine cladding and Kebony Southern Yellow Pine bench furniture. The structure won the Guardian's 'Beautiful building in architecture photography prize' and is seen in the image below.
Duggan and Morris Runner up and then Winning Design (HTA.co.uk, 2020)
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