dover esplanade
Designed by architect Tonkin Liu, the project, which was officially opened on 4 November, is in the form or three waves:
The Lifting Wave, a series of sculptural precast concrete ramps and stairs that rise and fall to connect the beach to the Esplanade; The Resting Wave, a sculptural precast concrete retaining wall providing sheltered spaces along the length of the Esplanade with weathered oak benches; and
The Light Wave, a line of white columns to improve lighting and safety. The lighting can be controlled to create a wave movement.
A strict budget and fast track programme drove the following innovations: The use of Rhino and Solid Works surface and solid modelling software has been exploited in the design and then manufacture of this scheme. These challenging shapes are designed to demonstrate the fluid nature of concrete. New computer aided CNC cutting techniques produced complex layered moulds for the resting wave. Cutting and stacking the rippled, convex, curved layers of an ‘a’ type unit leaning inwards create the off-cut that becomes the concave ‘aa’ unit leaning outwards.
One original formwork unit yields two mirrored units. Larger units b’s and c’s are constructed in the same way to standard heights but at different angles such that any unit can adjoin another to provide a variety of social spaces.
The design won a competition organised by the Landscape Institute on behalf of Dover Harbour Board, Dover District Council, Kent Country Council, SEEDA and English Heritage in Spring 2009, and the project has be partly funded by Sea Change, a DCMS programme managed by CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) to drive cultural creative regeneration in England’s Seaside resorts.
