The design brief will be focussing on a permanent structure for the seafront, however its worth considering temporary shelters as part of the research. Temporary structures in a seaside location are often very temporary; a matter of days or weeks, in place for events or similar. The seaside and it’s changeable and damaging weather and the nature of temporary structures means they can easily be damaged in a summer storm or a high tide. Beach huts and takeaway huts that are only out during the summer months in my home town of Paignton often get damaged in unseasonal weather. Nonetheless, there have been a number of projects for these kinds of structures that result in exciting and interesting proposals. Every year in Toronto there is a ‘winter stations’ competition whereby entries for temporary beach stations are submitted. The structures need to be weather resilient due to the weather and in 2022 the designs were to “be able to be easily moved to alternative settings, while also interacting in some way with the existing lifeguard stands on the beach”. Two of my favourites from the Dezeen website are shown below:
The Hive, which was created by Kathleen Dogantzis and Will Cuthbert, is a domed installation based on the hexagonal structure of a bee colony. Its golden yellows and dull oranges are reflective of the colour variation of honey. (https://www.dezeen.com/2022/02/02/toronto-beach-winter-stations-2022-six-pavilions/)
This winged pavilion called S'winter Station was designed by students at Ryerson University. It acts as a shelter from harsh weather conditions whereby its wings mitigate strong winds, protecting visitors from snow and hail. (https://www.dezeen.com/2022/02/02/toronto-beach-winter-stations-2022-six-pavilions/)
There are many many more excellent temporary structures, as such I could fill several blog posts with images, but the structures above are the ones I've found that fulfil a difficult weather brief and therefore most like those that could be used at Southsea.
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