Birnbeck Island

Like a naval vessel, a curved basement embraces the diverse elements of Birnbeck Island. Constructed five metres beneath the main pier, the basement is accessible from a ramp near the gate of the island. Its sequence of spaces links all the buildings on the island from below. The vessel design counterpoints the new tall buildings, in plan oriented following the orthogonal reference system created through existing signs. The method of occupying the void synthesises diverse schemes: tower, linear, cantilever and gate. In each of their narrow frontages, at the top, a big window marks the seascape creating a panorama like multitude of lighthouses.

Data

• Time: Oct. 2007
• Place: Birnbeck Island, Weston‑Super‑Mare, Somerset, UK
• Area: 9,000 m² (eleven storeys)
• Typology: pier

Credits

• Architecture design: Antonino Cardillo
• Client: RIBA / Urban Splash

Publications

(selected)

• Stephen Hodge, ‘Bring life back to Birnbeck Island and Piers’ (pdf), in The Masterplan, Sternberg Press, London, Sept. 2012, fig. 13.
• Antonino Cardillo, ‘Taking a position’ (pdf), build Das Architekten-Magazin, no. 4/10, ed. Ralf Ferdinand Broekman and Olaf Winkler, Wuppertal, Aug. 2010, pp. 41.
• Antonino Cardillo, ‘Birnbeck Island’ (pdf), in New Concept Architecture, vol. II, ed. Xing Rihan, Rihan, Hong Kong, June 2010, pp. 230‑233.
• Antonino Cardillo, ‘定格于时间之中——Birnbeck岛建筑群’ (pdf), Landscape Design, no. 33, ed. LD, Dalian, May 2009, pp. 96‑99.
• World Architecture Community, ‘بوابة للعمارة’ (pdf), El Beit, Cairo, May 2008, p. 13.
• Antonino Cardillo, ‘Stratificazione di significati’ (pdf), L’Arca, no. 235, Milan, Apr. 2008, p. 99.
• Antonino Cardillo, ‘Birnbeck Island’, Architectural Dialog 08 [exhibition], Artindex, St-Petersburg, March–Nov. 2008.
• Antonino Cardillo, ‘Island living in Somerset’ , worldarchitecturenews.com, London, 22 Jan. 2008.