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www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1569836,00.html
Guggenheim architect tones down Hove blueprint
Matt Weaver
Wednesday September 14, 2005
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
One of the world's most flamboyant and best-known architects, Frank Gehry, has toned down his futuristic plans for the Hove seafront in East Sussex.
The 76-year-old California-based architect, who is working on the scheme with the actor Brad Pitt, won a competition in 2003 to build four amorphous tower blocks on a new housing and leisure complex. The idea prompted a widespread criticism in the town.
Yesterday the developers of the £290m scheme unveiled scaled backed final plans for approval by Brighton and Hove council.
In place of the original four blocks there are now just two. The highest is 25 storeys, instead of 38.
But in style and shape, the towers still resemble the original proposal. And Gehry still claims they are a reference to "Victorian women in flowing dresses promenading along the seafront". Critics described the initial proposal as "transvestites caught in a gale".
The revised plan is unlikely to satisfy the concern of the main objectors, the Brighton Society and the Regency Society, who claim that the scale of project is inappropriate.
It is unclear whether Pitt played any part in the redesigns. He is understood to be involved in designing a restaurant and penthouse for the scheme.
Gehry, who is best-known for the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain, is a friend of Pitt's and agreed to take him on as architectural apprentice on the Hove project.
The design team also includes Brighton-born architect Piers Gough and the sculptor Anthony Gormley.
If the scheme gets approved it will provide 754 homes, including 282 affordable homes managed by Southern Housing Group. It also includes a sports complex.
Siep Hoeksma, joint managing director of one of the developers, ING Real Estate, said: "This is a truly landmark project for Brighton which will have international status. We have been thrilled to have worked again with Frank Gehry, undoubtedly the world's most inventive architect."
Guggenheim architect tones down Hove blueprint
Matt Weaver
Wednesday September 14, 2005
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
One of the world's most flamboyant and best-known architects, Frank Gehry, has toned down his futuristic plans for the Hove seafront in East Sussex.
The 76-year-old California-based architect, who is working on the scheme with the actor Brad Pitt, won a competition in 2003 to build four amorphous tower blocks on a new housing and leisure complex. The idea prompted a widespread criticism in the town.
Yesterday the developers of the £290m scheme unveiled scaled backed final plans for approval by Brighton and Hove council.
In place of the original four blocks there are now just two. The highest is 25 storeys, instead of 38.
But in style and shape, the towers still resemble the original proposal. And Gehry still claims they are a reference to "Victorian women in flowing dresses promenading along the seafront". Critics described the initial proposal as "transvestites caught in a gale".
The revised plan is unlikely to satisfy the concern of the main objectors, the Brighton Society and the Regency Society, who claim that the scale of project is inappropriate.
It is unclear whether Pitt played any part in the redesigns. He is understood to be involved in designing a restaurant and penthouse for the scheme.
Gehry, who is best-known for the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain, is a friend of Pitt's and agreed to take him on as architectural apprentice on the Hove project.
The design team also includes Brighton-born architect Piers Gough and the sculptor Anthony Gormley.
If the scheme gets approved it will provide 754 homes, including 282 affordable homes managed by Southern Housing Group. It also includes a sports complex.
Siep Hoeksma, joint managing director of one of the developers, ING Real Estate, said: "This is a truly landmark project for Brighton which will have international status. We have been thrilled to have worked again with Frank Gehry, undoubtedly the world's most inventive architect."