The Hepworth Wakefield: Yorkshire's major new art gallery

Artist’s impression of the Waterfront Wakefield development
The relationship between the spatial internal experience of a building, the building
form, and the context surrounding the building is fundamental to our work. We
believe that architectural decisions cannot be made in isolation, and we rely on a
reading of context to inform our design proposals.
The headland setting at Wakefield – highly prominent with no front or back – was
of particular interest. The surrounding industrial buildings, their scale and form
and position on the river’s edge, offered a solution for the gallery’s massing and
location. Organising the building in a series of smaller blocks of varying heights
and roof pitches will complement the scale of the existing buildings and enable the
gallery to present a number of frontages to the river and the adjacent buildings.
The gallery’s location on the river’s edge will also allow it to apply new forms of
renewable energy by sourcing the majority of its heating and cooling from the flow
of the River Calder.
The gallery façade will be constructed of pigmented, in-situ concrete. The intention
is to create a smooth, continuous finish that allows the natural material qualities
to give character to the overall appearance. Concrete is an inherently strong,
robust material, which has associations with solidity and permanence. Casting the
concrete on site means that it is possible to create walls and roofs that emphasise
the sculptural quality of the building. Adding pigment creates an unfamiliar
appearance, which seeks to make the façade equally interesting whether it is viewed
from close up or from a distance.
In conclusion, it is David Chipperfield Architects’ belief that architecture should be
both familiar and unfamiliar – we must develop new architecture which also carries
formal ideas that respond to memory and experience.