Architect Frank Gehry's first completed building in Britain is a world away from his next big project, the controversial King Alfred towers in Hove.

The cancer centre in Dundee was designed by Mr Gehry as a tribute to Scots architect Maggie Jencks, who died of cancer eight years ago.

The project, on which he worked free of charge, is tiny compared to the King Alfred scheme, which will involve four towers up to 38 storeys high with 438 flats on the leisure centre site.

The Dundee building, at Ninewells Hospital, is one of several around the country being designed by leading architects in memory of Jencks.

The design by Canadian-born Mr Gehry, who now lives in California, includes a steel roof which changes colour as it reflects the sky above.

No wall in the £1.43 million building is straight and it also has a central tower resembling a lighthouse.

Mr Gehry, now 74, won worldwide acclaim when he designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

He is also making his name in Brighton and Hove, as he is one of several architects commissioned by the Karis/ING consortium to design the new King Alfred scheme on Hove seafront. Others include Piers Gough and sports specialists HOK.

The idea is to have a new leisure centre on one level, with four towers of housing.

They are known officially as the four maidens but some local people have dubbed them the tin can towers.

It is likely the Hove project will be more than 100 times dearer than the Dundee scheme, with a price tag of about £200 million.

Karis managing director Josh Arghiros said: "It is minor in scale compared with the King Alfred scheme. We are going to have one of his major works on Hove seafront. It is something he has always wanted to do."

Mr Arghiros said the whole scheme was being carefully designed and would be something special, provided it gained planning permission.

Karis/ING has been selected by Brighton and Hove City Council as its preferred partner and is working up a planning application to be submitted next year.