Eric Robert Kuhne was an American-born British architect based in London. With major projects around the world, Kuhne's assignments included the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent completed in 1999, the largest shopping mall in Europe, and the Titanic Belfast visitor attraction in Northern Ireland which opened to the public in 2012.
Eric Kuhne in April 2007
Rose Gallery, Bluewater Mall, Kent
Bluewater Shopping Centre
Bluewater Shopping Centre is an out-of-town shopping centre in Stone, Kent, England, just outside the M25 motorway ring, 17.8 miles (28.6 km) east south east of London's centre. Opened on 16 March 1999 in a former chalk quarry after ten years of building works, the site occupies 240 acres (97 ha) and has a sales floor area of 154,000 m2 (1,600,000 ft2) over three levels, making it the fifth-largest shopping centre in the UK. Elsewhere in Europe only Istanbul's Cevahir Mall and Vienna's (Vösendorf) Shopping City Süd are bigger. The floor plan is a triangular shape with 210 stores, including 3 anchors, 50 cafés and restaurants, and a 17-screen cinema. The centre employs 7,000 people and serves over 27 million visitors a year. A main rival is the Lakeside Shopping Centre and its two retail parks in West Thurrock, Essex, just across the River Thames, 8 miles (13 km) away by road or 3.2 miles (5.1 km) as the crow flies.
Bluewater Shopping Centre
A panoramic view of Bluewater Shopping Centre at dusk
Bluewater "Thames Walk"