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148 - 150 Curtain Road
Back Building
London EC2A 3AT

 

© Glowacka Rennie Ltd  

Glowacka Rennie were one of four practices selected from 82 Expressions of Interest, to produce a design for a new café at the end of Deal Pier in Kent.

"It is night time.  The Deal Pier Festival is in full swing.  Out at sea the 'West Goodwin Light Vessel' makes its journey from where it was fabricated to its final destination - the top tier of Deal Pier.  Hundreds of people throng the Pier and Deal foreshore to watch the vessel, radiating golden light as it floats up to the pier head and then is hoisted into position.  The ribbon is cut and the doors to the new café are opened allowing people into its glittering interior.  The Deal Pier Café begins its life as the 4th Goodwin Light Vessel."

Off the coast of Deal lie the Goodwin Sands, treacherous shifting sand banks known as the 'Shyppe Swallower,' named for their well deserved reputation for swallowing up hundreds of ships, driven onto the sands over the centuries.  These hazardous sands are marked by three lightships, the North, South and East Goodwin.

As the conceptual 4th lightship, The 'West Goodwin' Café would be illuminated internally and externally to create a beacon clearly visible from the waterfront.

The new Café dining space is elevated above deck level providing 360 degree views.  By lifting the café accomodation the buildings footprint at deck level is greatly reduced, creating space for a new south facing civic square for Deal.

DEAL PIER CAFE, KENT, UK

Client: Dover District Council

Architect: Glowacka Rennie

Structural Engineer: Martin Stockley Associates

Quantity Surveyor: Savant International

Environmental Engineer: XC02

Catering Consultant: Winton
Nightingale

Building Control: MLM