Dramatic plans by Frank Gehry for the redevelopment of the King Alfred Leisure Centre on the seafront at Hove, East Sussex, strongly divided opinion. In 2003, Gehry launched the £290m project featuring a cluster of four towers – the tallest of them rising to 38 floors – next to a swimming pool, sports hall and a winter garden. The eccentric design was intended to evoke crumpled Victorian dresses.
Five years later, the plan was abandoned, a victim of the financial crash. Gehry told the Guardian journalist Jonathan Glancey: “Don’t go there! I guess I never did understand your planning system. I put it down to ‘scared of Frank’ syndrome.”
