Royal Victoria Hotel.

Look up at Hastings’ unseen architectural gems

When was the last time you stopped and looked up at the buildings around you in Hastings? That’s the aim of ‘Hastings Look-Up’, an architecture and photography project that wants to get people to look up and see what is around them, writes HOT’s Chris Cormack.

White Rock Theatre facade.

The idea of Look-Up is to notice what is around you – we do it when we go somewhere as a tourist, but perhaps less so in the place we call home. Sometimes you can forget the nice little quirks of the place you’re living in, too busy trying to get from A to B in your day. Look-Up challenges you to experience your town as if it were your first visit, so instead of looking at the pavement and thinking about your destination, look up and take in the architecture.

Pirate above Dolphin pub.

Started in Brighton by Cara Courage, where she has found a Look-Up in the city for every day of this year, Hastings Look-Up has begun to spot and photograph features of Hastings buildings, heritage or contemporary, permanent or temporary, but that are all one storey or more up. The images are then posted online to the Look-Up Project Facebook page and Twitter to share with others, and this where people can add their own Look-Ups or post any stories of facts about the buildings featured.

Sea-front post.

Cara comments: “When I was last in Hastings I really did start to look up and around me more and was stunned by the variety of the architecture I saw – the seafront alone has buildings of all ages and scales and some really lovely detailing. It’s a beautiful place and I started Hastings Look-Up as one way to celebrate that.” Cara continues: “I love coming to Hastings and I’d love my next visit to be going around the town with its locals to spot more Look-Ups so if you’re interested in joining me on this ‘urban wander’ do get in touch.”

Hastings Look-Up images can be found on the Facebook page and this is also where people can post their own Hastings Look-Up images. Look-Up has also featured Brighton and Hove, Cardiff, Margate, Dublin, Belfast, Liverpool and Prague, with more cities being added all the time.

Cara is a co-founder and director of architecture collective Threshold. To contact Cara: cara@caracourage.net

Also in: Visual Arts