A typical beach hut on Mudeford sand banks, Dorset, will set you back £90,000, even following the credit crunch. One sign that the British seaside is back in fashion.
As part of the nostalgic wave and with a more universal note, the Boscombe Sea Change scheme is launching an artists’ competition to ‘design and build innovative new beach huts specifically for disabled beach users in Bournemouth.’ The competition calls upon professional artist, architects and designers to submit ‘bold and dramatic’ proposals that will reinvent a row of beach huts specifically tailored for disabled users.
Originally used in the early 20th century, beach huts had started out as bathing machines during the Victorian era where bathing was a cumbersome and expensive affair. The luxuries of the beach were stifled by the notion of Victorian modesty, and men and women bathed on separate beaches. To hide the indecent act, bathing machines, which were essentially sentry boxes carted out to sea, were 6ft high wooden boxes where mainly women would change into their swim-dresses. Uncomfortable and dark, they gave the Victorians the privacy society demanded to bathe in peace, as it was deemed unacceptable to see the opposite gender in bathing clothes.
Once mixed gender bathing became socially acceptable, during the Edwardian era and First World War, the days of the bathing machine were numbered. Changing in public however was still considered indecent and would often result in a fine. It was then that people would use the abandoned bathing machines, take off their wheels and turn them into the beginnings of the beach huts we know today. From then on, beach huts were available to rent for the day or week, and even contained a boiling stove and kettle for the all-important English afternoon tea.
The new beach huts in Bournemouth will also be part of other projects that include a seasonal beach access trackway made from recycled pier timbers, and improvements to accessible parking in front of the new huts. The intention for the new huts will be to replace the standard beach huts located next to Coasters restaurant, and are due to take place in the summer of 2009.
For copies of the design brief please contact Andrew Emery, Boscombe Sea Change Project Manager at Andrew.emery@bournemouth.gov.uk or call on 01202 451782.
The deadline for submission of written questions is Friday 29th May 2009, with submission of models to arrive by Friday 26th June 2009.
