Is it the end of the pole for Brighton's i360 attraction?

2024-12-02T17:58:00-05:00

UK media outlets report that Brighton's i360 tourist attraction has filed for administration. Initially launched as "British Airways i360," the seaside 531-foot moving observation tower had great expectations of attracting huge crowds pinned on it when it opened in August 2016 as a "vertical pier." (Critic Oliver Wainwright mocked it as a "great throbbing shaft" in his opening review.) The structure was designed by Marks Barfield, the architects behind the famed London Eye attraction.

Operator Brighton i360 Ltd has reportedly accrued £51 million ($65 million USD) in debt.

Previously on Archinect: A "great throbbing shaft": Oliver Wainwright on Brighton's British Airways i360 tower. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons user Hassocks5489 (Public Domain)

A "great throbbing shaft": Oliver Wainwright on Brighton's British Airways i360 tower

2016-08-04T14:23:00-04:00

To some it’s the Brighton Pole, to others it is Sussex’s supersized lollipop. Naughtier minds have dubbed it “the cock and ring”. Before it has even opened, the south coast’s new observation tower has gathered a gaggle of nicknames – and you can see why, when its creators insist on calling it the British Airways i360. To opponents, it may still be the iSore, a Chernobyl chimney despoiling the beach. It could have been designed to feel less like a corporate entertainment lounge on a stick.

But by night, when it glows like a sword plunging down from the heavens, it is hard to resist. Come the Pride festival this weekend, when the i360’s programmable LED lights will form a dazzling rainbow, there might prove to be no better symbol for the city than this great throbbing shaft.

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Is it the end of the pole for Brighton's i360 attraction?

A "great throbbing shaft": Oliver Wainwright on Brighton's British Airways i360 tower