SEP

Dropped in: Cultural centre, Southend pier, UK by White Arkitekter and Sprunt.

Building lifted into position.

Photos: Tim Lucas, Price + Myers.

Southend, in the UK, is a seaside resort that thrived by providing inexpensive holidays to London’s industrial workers. When those workers started going to Spain for their holidays in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Southend, and countless resorts like it, declined steeply.

More recently however, there has been a reinvention and consequent renaissance of the English seaside resort. The drive has generally been to take the resorts more upmarket and in particular to introduce more sophisticated cultural activities such as art galleries and art related venues to revitalize the town and to attract new visitors.

It is in this context that we introduce this cultural Centre designed by White Arkitekter and Sprunt, located on the end of Southend Pier, the worlds longest and still the town’s claim to fame! The building is now open to the public. Read more

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MAY

Brave in the face of history: Maidstone Museum extension by Hugh Broughton Architects.

front elevation

Photos: Hufton + Crow

A Tudor manor house from 1561 is at the heart of the Maidstone Museum. Established as a museum in 1858 by the local council, it has had a number of extensions and alterations over the years resulting in an eclectic architectural basket of styles and ideas reflecting the collection itself. That tradition is continued and celebrated with Hugh Broughton Architects‘ East Wing extension that resulted from an RIBA competition win. Read more

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