The Wind Tower

The project was the result of an open competition organised by Arts NK and Lincolnshire County Council in 2011.

The competition continued the ‘Bathing Beauties’ project where artists and designers had been invited to develop landmark structures along the Lincolnshire coast between Chapel Six Marshes and Mablethorpe to encourage greater public use of the beach and to make further connections to this unique landscape.

The project explores the nature of the extreme environment of the site: the point at which land, sea and air interface in a shifting and ever changing marine landscape.

The viewing tower amplifies the wind on the site and makes connections to critical parts of the landscape (the moving sands, tide line and emergent offshore wind-farm). By elevating the viewer within this flat landscape and controlling what they see and sense, a new relationship to the site is created.

The project was inspired by the childhood memories of leaning into the wind on the beach and the critical moment of trust in the force of the oncoming wind.

Viewers approach the tower to find an internal yellow vessel with no view. As users enter, the whole interior chamber lowers to engage a controlled view of the horizon.

This is accompanied by a resonant sound created by a striking ‘gong’ that announces the towers use to people on the beach, thereby attracting and encouraging further use.

Furthermore the lowering chamber engages a wind channel that allows the whole tower to act as a wind funnel that amplifies the natural conditions of the site.

The steel and painted structure was prefabricated off site and erected in Spring 2014.