Wing span: revival of an apparently long-dead building type with light-heartedness appropriate to the seaside.Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, on the south coast of England, is being brought to life again after decades the doldrums doldrums (dŏl`drəmz) or equatorial belt of calms, area around the earth centered slightly north of the equator between the two belts of trade winds. , caused by a high proportion of British holiday markers taking vacations in warmer climates. One of the main regenerative re·gen·er·a·tive adj. 1. Of, relating to, or marked by regeneration. 2. Tending to regenerate. re·gen forces is the restoration (by John McAslan & Partners) of the fine De La Warr De La Warr , Baron Title of Thomas West. 1577-1618. English-born American colonial administrator chosen as the first governor of the Virginia Company colony. Pavilion, a light-hearted '30s demonstration of the pleasures of healthy leisure by Mendelsohn and Chermayeff. An even more jolly contribution to seaside holidays is Niall McLaughlin's bandstand, a nineteenth-century building type scarcely built anywhere since the Second World War. The clients wanted a bandstand that could be moved round the south terrace of the Pavilion for different kinds of performance and times of day. McLaughlin responded by making a shelter like an abstracted seagull seagull a noisy, gregarious bird that frequents the seashore. Web-footed, hook-billed, white with gray wings. Member of the family Laridae and of the genus Larus. , with two wings hovering over performers to project sound towards the audience. * The shape was not arbitrary. but evolved through discussions with consultants, with the public and in particular with schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school . A computer program normally used by engineers was used to realize the resulting complex form. The skin is fibreglass fibreglass or glass fibre Fibrous form of glass, developed in the 1930s. Liquid glass issues in fine streams through hundreds of fine nozzles, and the solidifying streams are gathered into a single strand and wound onto a spool. over a thin layer of plywood, which is itself supported by a skeleton of thicker ply, stiffened by a steel structure. The latter gives the stand enough weight to avoid it being blown over, and it carries loads down to the small wheels that allow the canopy to be moved quite easily. The architects say that 'we look forward to enjoying the choreography of deck chairs, tea dancers and the bandstand on summer afternoons'. So did all members of the jury. * A more detailed account of the structure given in AR April 2002 RELATED ARTICLE: Architect Niall McLaughlin Architects Niall McLaughlin Architects is a London, England company that designs modern architecture. They put a strong emphasis on the inventive use of building materials, the qualities of light and the relationship between the building and its surroundings. . London Project architects Niall McLaughlin, Sandra Coppin, Gus Lewis Structural engineers Price & Myers Acoustic engineers Paul Gilleron Photographs Nicholas Kane |
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