In Bluewater, the project for which we know him best, there are hints of the oast house; the Wintergarden is based on Decimus Burton’s Palm House at Kew; and the handkerchief roofs are drawn from Sir John Soane’s Bank of England trading rooms. “It is good to have a skyline silhouette that a child can draw. It becomes part of the cognitive map.”It occurs to me that this American, regarded as too commercial by some and ignored by architectural writers, has become rather good at selling England back to the English. The waterfront at the moment is insidious, full of busted concrete, ugly as sin. And you can’t eat alfresco.” Kuhne throws up his hands in horror.There is no doubt that Jersey is facing an identity crisis, as tax exiles are attracted elsewhere and tourism tempts the binge drinkers, but to put high-rise buildings on an island that is so emphatically low rise? Kuhne starts to wax lyrical about church spires, castles and palaces. That’s like Gotham City – all locked carparks and security entrances,” he says. “The ground plan in Jersey belongs to the citizens – hotel lobbies, restaurants, gardens, galleries, museums, assembly rooms It is Jersey’s only long-term hope.
A television poll in early July showed 459 residents in favour and 836 against. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, and the Soci? Jersiaise, which promotes Jersey’s heritage and culture, raised serious objections. And now the developer Dandara has withdrawn the plans for the towers. A new design will be presented in the New Year.Had Kuhne wanted to turn sweet little Jersey, home of Bergerac, into another London Docklands? “God, no. A new hotel, a new business district, parks dubbed “a string of pearls” were all in the wrap But Kuhne’s towers were a step too far.
The ideas came thick and fast – 500 flats, a dozen restaurants for alfresco dining, little shops and chandleries.
It was to be part of a £350m scheme to make Jersey’s harbour the largest waterfront scheme in Europe. So three priapic towers were conceived, like the diaphanous sails of three ships lined up at a regatta, fa?es of frosted white glass billowing out of the red bases of the buildings. When the DLR was extended, the channel was opened and this section of the river was liberated James Johnston: 020-8858 9986; John Payne: 020-8858 9911.. Eric Kuhne is more like a movie mogul than an architect He thinks big He is big.
He brought us the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, he is the masterplanner of Ebbsfleet, which will put 10,000 houses on the doorstep of the Eurostar station, and now he has stirred up something of a hornets’ nest in Jersey. “I was in a boat with the director of the Waterfront Enterprise Board, and a yacht passed in front of the red granite cliffs. I turned to him and said: ‘We need to capture the image of that gossamer sail against the red granite,’” says Kuhne. And one for the pub quiz Why is the River Ravensbourne once again part of St John’s? The St John’s section of the Ravensbourne had been isolated by a concrete channel. What about recreation? Long, narrow Brookmill Park runs the length of several roads along the northern end of St John’s. The park contains an ornamental garden, refurbished lake, play area and nature reserve. The River Ravensbourne, a tributary of the Thames, runs alongside.
