Designers tackle the British beach hut

The London gallery will be showing a series of miniature bathing hut models in the Bathing Beauties show opening next week, with works from 240 designers, architects and artists from 15 countries.  

The Bathing Beauties project was initially born as a competition for designers to build their huts on the Lincolnshire coast.

Michael Trainor, Bathing Beauties lead artist and project curator, says, ‘The beach hut is one of the few building forms which has been seriously overlooked by contemporary architects the world over.

‘They are perceived as a treasured feature of our coastal landscape, as quintessentially British as fish and chips and the knotted hanky, but in reality are usually little more than a painted shed’

Well, in the hands of these designers, the painted sheds look rather splendid.

The entries show a vast and imaginative response to the competition. Structures boast accoutrements such as wind turbines, saunas, viewing platforms and space-age materials; with many celebrating ‘the idea of happening upon something by chance when strolling along the beach’ according to the gallery.

Among the highlights are Thurgood Hobson Design’s Lazy Susan hut, designed to rotate to follow the sun; and Lionel T Dean of Future Factories’ The Wizard of Oz, which twists to reference the idea of being boarded up for the winter.

London’s i-am associates created ‘21st century cave’ Jabba, an organic-looking form made of laminated wood and glass; while Christian Uhl’s Cheese 42 does exactly as it says on the proverbial tin, taking the form of a massive block of cheese.

Trainor will also deliver a talk at the gallery on 18 September exploring the visual and social culture of the British seaside,  and how the beach hut came to be re-invented for the 21^st century.

Bathing Beauties runs from 13 – 26 September at Great Western Studios, 65 Alfred Road, London, W2