The Tricorn Centre was a shopping, nightclub and car park complex in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It was designed in the Brutalist style by Owen Luder and Rodney Gordon and took its name from the site's shape which from the air resembled a tricorn hat. Constructed in the mid-1960s, it was demolished in 2004. It was home to one of the first Virgin Megastores and housed the largest Laser Quest arena in Europe.
The Tricorn logo sign
The Tricorn Centre.
Demolition of the Tricorn Centre, July 2004
Harold Owen Luder was a British architect who designed a number of notable and sometimes controversial buildings in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s, many now demolished. He served as chairman of the Architects Registration Board and twice as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1981–1983 and 1995–1997. He established his own practice Owen Luder Partnership in 1957, and left in 1987 to form the consultancy Communication In Construction.
The now-demolished Tricorn Centre in Portsmouth. It was described by Prince Charles as "a mildewed lump of elephant droppings".
16 Grand Avenue, Hove. Designed by the Owen Luder Partnership in 1965