We are collaborating with GIANT Gallery and artist Stuart Semple to retrofit Happyland, a 1930s bathing station and amusement arcade on Bournemouth’s seafront. The design creates a new centre for art, culture and wellbeing, while celebrating the building’s Art Deco character and Bournemouth’s seaside heritage.

The retrofit introduces two new gallery spaces at ground floor, free to visit year-round and visible from the beach through a new glass frontage. The upper floor will host a day spa and wellbeing programme run by The Retreat, with a rooftop restaurant and sunset bar overlooking Poole Bay. Working with Meyrick Estate, BCP Council, and the local community, the project reimagines a much-loved landmark by bringing the local community together to reimagine what it might become.

Described by the Bournemouth Echo as “bringing art and culture back to Bournemouth’s seafront,” Happyland reconnects local residents, visitors and tourists to the town’s origins as a place of health, creativity and joy - a public building that once again looks outwards to the sea.

Team: Madeleine Kessler, Phot Tongsuthi

Client: GIANT Gallery, Stuart Semple

Image Credit: Darcstudio