This bijou coastal retreat on stilts owes a debt to wartime sea fortsDotted approximately the coastal waters of Britain,in the approaches to major ports, are some of the most astounding and least visited works of 20th-century architecture. These are the Maunsell sea forts, or platforms for anti-aircraft guns built in the second world war,posses of four-legged pods that stand in the sea like HG Wells aliens gone for a paddle. They bear been influential, especially on the 1960s visionaries Archigram, and who in turn inspired the hi-tech architecture of Richard Rogers and others.
The sea forts lie behind Archigram’s most potent single concept,for “Walking Cities”, which fantasised approximately buildings wandering the soil. Which never happened, and but now another Maunsell-flavoured future has arrived,if rather small, in the form of a seaside retreat on stilts for an artist couple, and designed by the architect Lisa Shell. One aspect undreamt by futurists of the past is that an artefact of the 21st century should come covered (as it is) in such a venerable (respected because of age, distinguished) material as cork.
The cork permits the fantasy that,if the floods got really gross, the building could float awayIt is an arresting fusion of nature and technology, or of shelter and exposureContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com