As part of the Townscape and VIA, Virtual Planit created the digital evidence of the impact of a proposed tower at the site of a multi-storey car park in Worthing, Sussex.
17 photomontages were created, and to aid the position of the building we employed the use of 65 metre cranes directly on the site. As are all our projects, the photographs were taken to meet Landscape Institute Guidelines, with correct focal length, and GPS data was collected for every shot.
Designed by Russ Drage Architects, the transparent tower, primarily residential, sits on a 18m glass plinth housing a swimming pool, cinema, bowling alley, public terraces, food court and retail outlets. Incorporated into the scheme are 600 car parking spaces, and roof gardens for those in the residential tower. Surrounding the site is a newly designed public realm by our sister company Planit EDC containing large specimen trees and water jets.
The site occupies an area of land of approximately 1.32 hectares, just to the north of Worthing town centre. Proposals include a swimming pool, sports and fitness complex, an eight to 10-screen multiplex cinema, shops, restaurants, bars and more than 250 new apartments.
Due to the low rise nature of the local context, the tower in the form of a curved fin projects up and runs north-south out towards the sea and is prominent in the surrounding landscape. The scheme has been presented to CABE and the local population with an application being submitted imminently.
In recognition of the site's unique setting and great potential, the developer is proposing a landmark building of the highest architectural design and quality.
Primary objectives have been to:
•Establish a unique new 'front door' to Worthing.
•Create a stunning public building to house the new Swimming Pool complex and leisure facilities.
•Unlock and integrate a lost area of Worthing.
•Enhance and reinforce the important route from the Town Centre to the Station.
•Create new public space with sitting areas, high quality landscape and tree planting.
•The design of the proposals has been influenced by Worthing's coastal heritage, the grain and structure of the Town, the surrounding uses together with the unique setting on the horizontal coastal plain between the sea and the backdrop of the South Downs.
The proposals respond to the regional status of the site and the local importance of the scheme with a distinctive landmark residential tower above a highly modelled leisure 'base' with a series of new public spaces around, about and within the proposals.
In carrying out the assessment, Virtual Planit undertook both desk-based and on-site studies aimed at fully understanding the site and its context and the extent and character of the likely views of the development. To assist in the understanding of the likely visual impacts, a total of 17 photomontage views were prepared in consultation with Worthing Borough Council.
