Architect unveils high hopes

The architect behind the most adventurous of the three bids for the rundown stretch of seafront spoke to The Argus.

Frank Gehry is a charming and gently-spoken man in his 70s, with the look and manner of a favourite grandfather.

The world-renowned architect behind the extraordinary Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

And now, Mr Gehry, 74, has turned his fantastic imagination to Hove, with similarly spectacular plans for the King Alfred leisure centre site.

His vision for the seafront, which forms the bid by the Karis Developments and ING consortium, rivals his work in Spain.

While some will undoubtedly describe it as ground-breaking and breathtaking, there will be others for whom it is an outrage.

At 38 storeys and almost 450ft, the tallest of the four towers would be higher than any other building in Brighton and Hove, dominating the skyline.

Mr Gehry, who lives in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, believes it would become a focal point within its mostly Regency surroundings.

Despite this being only his second visit to Brighton and Hove, he has been helped and advised by Brighton-based architect Piers Gough and says he drew inspiration from the city's elegant squares and crescents.

He said: "Where I live has a quasi-Victorian feel to it.

"This town is ten times better but there is a human quality to it that I like. I thought that should be somehow interpreted in these buildings.

"As I started the first meetings I kept referring to these billowing Victorian dresses.

"At first we had five buildings and they would have been lower but the five created a wall so we decided we could build a little higher on the two outside buildings and create a little more space.

"How do you make a building that looks like a Victorian woman's dress?

"It's not a sexist thing, it's more about the delicacy that it represents, the dress and the feeling about it.

"I guess I just read too much Jane Austen."

There will undoubtedly be a wave of criticism in the coming weeks about the height of the towers.

But Mr Gehry is confident his vision would not only result in an architectural masterpiece but also retain views across the sea for those whose homes fell behind them.

He said: "I'm sensitive to that and I'm worried about it.

"It's something we will grapple with more as we continue.

"But as I drove around Brighton and looked at some of the buildings here there are these huge blocks. That's not what we are doing.

"We are trying to pull off the finesse of the Victorian ladies.

"We tried to make the buildings slender so the views came through and we agonised about the height.

"What we gained by going higher was more openness and porosity.

"You make them lower and you make a wall that blocks everything or you make some of it higher and more slender and make it more open.

"The idea is to make it a significant sculptural place for the city."

Mr Gehry, who was born in 1929, changed his surname from Goldberg and settled in Los Angeles as a young man.

He worked as a truck driver before enrolling in an art class and being told by his teacher he might as well have a stab at being an architect.

Little did the young Gehry know he would one day be widely regarded as the world's foremost building designer after receiving critical acclaim for the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Prague's Rasin building and the American Centre in Paris.

But while the Guggenheim has brought tourists flocking to Bilbao, resulting in an increase in tourism of more than 400 per cent, it is a matter for speculation what Gehry's design could do for Brighton and Hove.

He said: "I never presume that that making a tourist attraction is what I am going to do.

"I didn't presume that in Bilbao. For the developers it was a desired effect and we are going to give it a shot here too.

"The presumption here is these buildings will be beautiful objects in themselves."

Mr Gehry described how he had also taken inspiration from Greek and Indian statues, looking at how they managed to create the appearance of folds in stone.

But at this stage the King Alfred plans are just sketches which will be refined and redrawn.

The sketches will generate several hundred models.

Asked whether he was concerned about the criticism his design might receive from conservation groups, Mr Gehry refused to be drawn.

He said: "I don't think about it that way.

"I think the best thing for anyone like me is to just respond to the budget and the locality and make as good a response to it as possible and that's crucial here.

"Some people here might think we are not respectful to neighbours by building so high but I think we can make a building that will fit there and that will be a respected in the end."

One of Mr Gehry's biggest fans is the man behind Karis Developments, Josh Arghiros.

Although he has his critics, Mr Arghiros, 39, is passionate about bringing the best buildings to Brighton and Hove and refuses to build anywhere else in the country.

The King Alfred site is his company's biggest project yet but he is confident it is the best contender and could bring something truly spectacular to Sussex.

Mr Arghiros is no stranger to controversy, having already faced a barrage of criticism for proposals for the old Endeavour Garage site in Brighton. But he is bullish that those against him will see the light.

He said: "When people come to Brighton they will go away saying 'What a city, there is nowhere else on earth like it' and Frank is integral to that.

"I think our scheme is by far the best and it will win on merit.

"We don't need to be humble because we are not the people designing it - Frank and Piers are.

"There are some really nice schemes there but ours is the nicest.

"Everything we do causes a bit of controversy but when they're built people like them.

"People already come to Brighton but we want them to go away thinking: 'That's brilliant, what a city, what a place.'"

The other two consortiums who have responded to the brief by Brighton and Hove City Council are:

Barratt Southern Counties and Brunswick Development Group who have hired architects Wilkinson Eyre and propose a Sydney Opera House-style wave-like string of blocks.

Countryside Properties, whose design team led by the Richard Rogers Partnership has gone for a more traditional look, featuring open spaces between the flats and a transparent sports centre.

The winner of the competition will be announced in late May or early June.

The designs are on show at the existing King Alfred Leisure Centre from Saturday.

View the designs and vote for your favourite at thisisbrightonandhove.co.uk/alfred