Architect behind King Alfred plans defends "wow-factor" towers

5:00pm Friday 18th December 2009 in News By Emily-Ann Elliott

The architect whose controversial designs for the redevelopment of Hove seafront were dumped says he believes there is still a place for extravagant buildings.

Frank Gehry’s £290 million designs for a scheme to replace the King Alfred leisure centre fell through after being hit by the recession.

The plans, which included two bold towers up to 98 metres high, would have been Mr Gehry’s first major building in England.

The development was given planning permission in March 2007 and included 751 homes spread over 11 buildings.

An £80 million sports centre, small shops, a police office, a GP surgery, cafes, restaurants and public spaces were also part of the plans.

Despite the project being cancelled Mr Gehry told a national newspaper there is still a future for extravagant “wow-factor” buildings.

He said: “If you try to stop progress you can’t - even though some people don’t seem to want it.”

The Los Angeles-based designer is best-known for his titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

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Comments(8)

stan bailey says...
6:54pm Fri 18 Dec 09

Unfortunately it wasn't one of his best designs, the majority I like; this one looked like litter

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lisaoutthere says...
7:03pm Fri 18 Dec 09

Actually, in this case, size did matter and much more than wow factor. The design looked great. But the size of the buildings was scarily out of place.

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TheInsider says...
7:16pm Fri 18 Dec 09

It was like a school fifth form design project. Utter rubbish.

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Christophe Hawtree says...
7:17pm Fri 18 Dec 09

"Wow" is a temporary reaction. Good architecture, of whatever sort, brings something more contemplative. There is a great difference between the bolt on framework of Gehry's King Alfred proposals and the wonderful upward, ever heart stopping sweep of the Rockefeller Building off Fifth Avenue.

What I never understood is why Gehry's original proposal for four towers suddenly disappeared and was replaced by two truncated ones and those godawful surrounding blocks.

While I doubt that the difficult site could have taken those four towers, that proposal made more sense than the second one.

More imaginative use needs to be made of availabe sites, and the key consideration is a check upon population growth.

The planet is a bus, only room for so many standing. To give away a neat phrase.

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Fight Back says...
8:02pm Fri 18 Dec 09

It only got planning permission due to corrupt Labour councillors but thankfully it's been thrown in the bin now. Let's just have a sports centre with excellent facilities without all the razzmatazz of a so called leading architect !!!!

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TheInsider says...
9:18pm Fri 18 Dec 09

Exactly Fight Back, Hove.
The people of Brighton own that plot and it wont be up to councillors to flog it off for some shabby housing project.
Just give us the sports centre.

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Big Nasty says...
11:57am Sat 19 Dec 09

TheInsider wrote:
Exactly Fight Back, Hove.
The people of Brighton own that plot and it wont be up to councillors to flog it off for some shabby housing project.
Just give us the sports centre.
Exactly, I go to the K2 in Crawley, what a brilliant sports centre!, and cheap prices to.

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yorkie44 says...
4:12pm Sat 19 Dec 09

The design made me go "wow", but not in a good way! We should used UK architects for UK buildings.

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