LONDON.- HENI Publishing presents Seaside Shelters, a wonderful collection of vibrant and detailed images of a bygone era, brought together in a beautiful new book and accompanying London exhibition.
Acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Will Scott has travelled throughout the UK to lovingly chronicle the definitive collection of these very British structures.
Once a testament to the popularity of British summer holidays and the country’s inclement weather, many of these architectural gems now stand deserted, decorously preserved in time. Dedicated to documenting their faded grandeur and intricate designs, Scott travelled the length and breadth of Britain for the project, from iconic seaside resorts to lesser-known sites along the coast, including Blackpool, Margate, the Isle of Wight, Frinton-on-Sea, Southsea, Colwyn Bay, Weymouth and Exmouth.
For so many these images evoke memories of childhood summers, when - not to be defeated by the undependable British weather - the seaside shelter meant that young and old could still enjoy the fresh air and fun of being on holiday even if that meant looking out to sea, eating ice cream or fish and chips and waiting impatiently for the sun to come out.
Scott’s captivating set of photographs features diverse styles of structure, colour and design from late Victorian, Art Deco to Bauhaus in all their faded glory. These iconic structures represent a small section of quintessentially British architecture and perfectly represent our love affair with the seaside holiday. The book includes an accompanying essay by Edwin Heathcote, architecture and design critic for the Financial Times.
Heathcote writes, “There is nothing, quite possibly, more British than the seaside shelter: the sense it embodies of a struggle against the elements; the loneliness of a small structure outlined against the vast horizon of the sea on a rainy day; the optimism of a day out at the seaside despite the weather; the municipal sense of a public good which is now mostly a memory. These small, intimate, curious works of micro-architecture are simultaneously reminders of a very particular world-view, nostalgia pods and wonderfully public places, perhaps the last architecture owned by us and open to all at any time of the day or the year.”
Will Scott is a photographer and filmmaker specialising in architectural subjects. Ongoing photographic projects include Seaside Shelters and The Architecture of the Underground. In 2016 he was shortlisted for the Arcaid Architectural Photographer of the Year Award. Scott’s photography has been featured in the Financial Times and on the BBC. He is based in London and Edinburgh. This is his first book.
