Britain’s new i360 tower is a ‘pier in the sky’
BRIGHTON (Britain): The world’s tallest moving observation tower, the British Airways i360, opens to the public today, a futuristic landmark that has transformed the historic seafront in the English tourist resort of Brighton.
A 162m-high steel tower is ringed by a doughnut-shaped glass observation pod that gently glides up and down.
The design is meant to be a 21st-century take on the Victorian pleasure piers that characterise British seaside towns: this time, a vertical pier in the sky, according to project chiefs.
It is hoped that the attraction will further boost tourism in the southeastern resort of Brighton, a gem of 1700s and 1800s architectural grandeur.
Designed by David Marks and Julia Barfield, the tower is the sequel to their London Eye observation wheel, which opened in the British capital in 2000 and is one of its most popular visitor attractions.
Several places wanted a copy of the giant wheel, but the husband-and-wife team felt the concept wasn’t viable in smaller cities.
Instead they took the chance to recalibrate it for Brighton, already Britain’s most popular seaside destination for foreign tourists, in this project that has taken 13 years of work to come to fruition.
“The key ingredient, as with the London Eye, is moving very slowly to a great height for a fantastic view,” said Barfield.
The i360 sits at the entrance to the 1866-built West Pier, which burnt down in 2003.
With a height to diameter ratio of 40 to one, it is the world’s slenderest tall tower, according to Guinness World Records.
“This is very much in the spirit of the West Pier, whose purpose was to delight, entertain and inspire people,” Marks said, standing at the top of the tower. “Just as it invited Victorian society to go out and walk on water, the i360 turns that concept vertically and invites people to walk on air and get a new perspective on the city.
“Everybody seems to love a great view,” he added.
“It’s a pleasure both to the eyes and the intellect not only to gaze at the horizons but to look beyond them.”