World-famous architect Frank Gehry has taken offence at the nicknames given to his design for the tallest towers in Sussex.

Opinion is divided on the architectural merits of the towers proposed for the King Alfred leisure centre site in Hove.

Critics of the skyscrapers, which will be up to 38 storeys high, have dubbed them the Tin Can Towers. They have also been likened to "four giant transvestites in a gale".

But Canadian-born Mr Gehry, who won international acclaim for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, would rather they were called the Four Maidens.

Josh Arghiros, managing director of Karis Developments, which is proposing the scheme along with partners ING, said: "The nicknames for them are rather derogatory.

"Frank Gehry calls them the four maidens because they were inspired by the idea of Edwardian women walking along Hove promenade with parasols."

Mr Arghiros said other architects involved with the project, including Piers Gough and HOK Sport, were also calling them the Four Maidens.

But Liberal Democrat group leader Paul Elgood said: "To use a cricket analogy, it's more of a duck than a maiden."

"If residents are referring to them as a pile of crushed cans, they can't be anticipating a development they will like.

"Putting a posh name on the towers won't hide the fact they will be a hideous blot on the landscape and totally out of keeping with the area."

Karis/ING were chosen as preferred bidders for the three-acre site last week by Brighton and Hove city councillors.

Now they will work up a scheme for the site but it will probably be a year before a planning application is put forward.

The towers are proposed to contain more than 400 homes, which will help finance the development of a new £26 million leisure centre at ground-floor level.

Thursday July 31, 2003