Horsebridge Development, Whitstable, Kent
Canterbury City Council's motivation for redeveloping Horsebridge and Brownings Yard in Whitstable, Kent, was to achieve economic regeneration of the area. The development includes a community centre, a restaurant and shops and residential units.
An extensive public art programme was an essential element of the redevelopment with the support of a major award from Arts and Business. The building of a website www.horsebridge.org was the first of ten projects to be launched. [The site is now offline]. It included information on all aspects of the redevelopment including architecture, archaeology, a forum and announcements, as well as information on the public art programme.
Two public art projects were completed:-
History Wall by Andrew Sabin, Richard Bradbury, Stefan Shankland and Doug Brown
History Wall by Andrew Sabin, Richard Bradbury, Stefan Shankland and Doug Brown
Horsebridge, Whitstable, Kent. 2002
The History Wall was a steel mesh housing filled with carefully layered and tightly packed materials which had been rescued for a short while from the demolition crew. For three months from July to September 2002, it formed part of the perimeter wall of the construction site.
RGB Screens by Stefan Shankland with Andrew Sabin
RGB Screens by Stefan Shankland with Andrew Sabin
Horsebridge, Whitestable, Kent. July 2002 to end of construction phase.
This temporary onsite construction was an intervention in the hoardings around the site and continued until the end of the construction phase. It aimed to encourage interest in the building process by opening up a set of strategic views of the development site. Hard-wearing Perspex windows in green, red and blue, protected by steel mesh, turn the day to day view of the site into a spectacle, and were lit behind so that at night they appeared as coloured windows hanging in space through which the site could be seen.
