Birnbeck Island

, [project], Weston‑Super‑Mare, 


Scenario

The project is born out of the existing piers and buildings. 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.


Antonino Cardillo, Birnbeck Island, RIBA, Weston-Super-Mare, 2007. CGI: Antonino Cardillo

The vessel design counterpoints the new tall buildings, in plan oriented following the orthogonal reference system created through existing signs. Two different materials divide these building surfaces: concrete at the bottom and planking at the top.


Antonino Cardillo, Birnbeck Island, RIBA, Weston-Super-Mare, 2007. CGI: Antonino Cardillo

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.


Antonino Cardillo, Birnbeck Island, RIBA, Weston-Super-Mare, 2007. CGI: Antonino Cardillo

Antonino Cardillo, Birnbeck Island , Weston‑Super‑Mare, RIBA, Urban Splash, 2007. CGI: Antonino Cardillo


1890


Eugenius Birch, Birnbeck Island, Weston-Super-Mare, 1866. Photography: Anonymous, 1890

Eugenius Birch, Birnbeck Island, Weston‑Super‑Mare, 1866. Photography: Anonymous, 1890


Masterplan


Antonino Cardillo, Birnbeck Island, [masterplan], Weston-Super-Mare, 2007.

Antonino Cardillo, Birnbeck Island, masterplan, Weston‑Super‑Mare, 2007.


Data

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


Credits

Client: Urban Splash

Architecture design: Antonino Cardillo
Computer-generated imagery: Antonino Cardillo
Text: Antonino Cardillo
English translation: Charles Searson


References

Stephen Hodge, ‘Bring life back to Birnbeck Island and Piers’, in The Masterplan, Sternberg Press, London, Sept. 2012, fig. 13.

Antonino Cardillo, ‘Taking a position’, build Das Architekten-Magazin, no. 4/10, ed. Ralf Ferdinand Broekman and Olaf Winkler, Wuppertal, Aug. 2010, pp. 41.

Antonino Cardillo, ‘Birnbeck Island’, 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’, Landscape Design, no. 33, ed. LD, Dalian, May 2009, pp. 96‑99.

Anonymous, ‘بوابة للعمارة’, El Beit, Cairo, May 2008, p. 13.

Antonino Cardillo, ‘Stratificazione di significati’, L’Arca, no. 235, Milan, Apr. 2008, p. 99.

Antonino Cardillo, Architectural Dialog 08 [exhibition], Artindex, St-Petersburg, March‑Nov. 2008.

Antonino Cardillo, ‘Island living in Somerset’, worldarchitecturenews.com, London, 22 Jan. 2008.