Hepworth Wakefield

Very pleased to hear on LookNorth last night that The Hepworth Wakefield has been nominated, and is currently bookies choice to win, the RIBA Stirling Prize! Once again I am thrilled that one of my favourite buildings is getting the praise I think it deserves, the prior being Broadcasting Place Leeds [I see another blogpost emerging] which is similar in its chunky block forms, both almost a throwback to Brutalism and independent explorations of their materiality.

This building has everything. It occupies its setting perfectly by the way it actively interacts with the waterfront allowing the river to sweep and swirl around its submerged base whilst its strong forms and scale works well with the industrial heritage of the area and urban landscape it neighbours. The external finish is beautifully smooth yet has a visual texture produced by the concrete's casting formwork and a quality that can be admired from afar by the way it adds a roughness more suited to the area whilst providing a measure of scale as you approach and an interesting detail of a sculptural up-close. The crisp finish of the corners and openings accentuates mass and solidity of the series of elements giving them a bunker like aesthetic.

Internally the spaces are finished simply to give prominence to the sculptures [which are also brilliant] yet each block form you enter is a fresh space through the differing geometries and consequential altered treatment of the natural lighting. Each room is a continuation of sharp forms and with the unique sense of space and light being the main constant as you make the transition from one room to the next.

Again I'm not really sure about copyright...images 2 and 3 belong to me whilst 1 can be found on the galleries own site [below], as for 4...well, I'm sure a quick Google would find the owner.

The Website of The Hepworth Gallery has really good images of the construction as well as information on the architecture and an interview with David Chipperfield the Architect. [www.hepworthwakefield.org/about/architecture/]

The RIBA website also has information and images of the building [www.architecture.com/Awards/RIBAAwards/2012/Yorkshire/TheHepworthWakefield/TheHepworthWakefield.aspx]

There will be loads of coverage about the Stirling Prize online in the coming weeks but to start you off with the short-listed buildings [www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18883208].

Henry Moore Institute

For this post I'm re-looking at a building that I've always known but possibly overlooked. 
The simple façade is extremely well executed and is prominent yet low key, not in competition with the neighbouring grandeur of the Library and Town Hall but a stand alone example of quality architecture. The architects have succeeded at creating something from nothing and something very special at that.

One approach to the site would have been to replace or completely hide the existing gable and build a new façade which I'm sure would have been perfectly adequate, however, what they have done is something much more interesting by interacting with the gable wall. The highly polished marble has the same quality of workmanship and quality as the red brick façade of the original building yet works well in contrast to the rough and unrefined gable wall. The tall entranceway which cuts into the block of marble has the same exaggerated proportions of the doorways on the redbrick face, the teeth-like indents of the small upper windows give a greater scale to the wall slab and entrance way and again replicate the forms seen on the main building.


The form of the building is also very apt for its purpose of a gallery, sculpting itself to the gable wall, framed against the blank render and displayed upon a raised plinth. Though the building is very low-key the glittering and shining marble sets it apart from the other stone and brick buildings along the row, defining itself in a different way to surroundings but with equal weight and importance. In a more literal sense, the buildings façade draws on the clean simple lines and use of marble seen in Henry Moores own work which the building houses.


I'm really not sure about copyright...all the images on this page are from leodis.net [a fantastic website I may have to do my next post on] or from google maps street view.
The architects website [www.dixonjones.co.uk/www/dixon_jones.html] has an eight frame summary of the project. Some information on the development of the site leading up to the present facade visit [www.leodis.net/discovery/discovery.asp?page=20031028_930446804&topic=2003114_561367214&subsection=2003114_579372585] also the institutes web address [www.henry-moore.org/hmi]