David Chipperfield: The Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield
Iwan Baan
Barbara Hepworth’s sculptures are at home in a building that, like her, is interested in inducing repose and generating movement, says MJ Long.
site
the scale of the building by fragmenting it into a number of separate volumes corresponding to gallery rooms on the interior. The design development then addressed the detailed issues raised by the relationship between interior volume and exterior sculptural shape, working within minimum and maximum gallery heights that vary by only 1.5 metres. It is a carefully modulated game, which leaves the external volumes clearly articulated, and the interior galleries subtly differentiated.
Photo: Iwan Baan
Photo: Iwan Baan
Interior details and materials perhaps require more description. At gallery level, the grey polished screed works well with the simple planes of the white plasterboard walls. The air supply slot at floor level separates floor and wall and helps avoid the ‘Mrs Mop’ line risked by the fashion for skirting-less gallery walls. The workmanship at the junction between this floor-level slot and the solid planes at door openings is a bit ragged.
Photo: Iwan Baan
It seems to me that he could have taken on the challenge of accommodating the social activities in this building with another layer of detail which in some way could provide opportunites for tactile pleasure and easier access to its visual principles. My enjoyment of his detailing at the Neues Museum in Berlin was partly due to the juxtaposition of his coolth with the occasional rolled moulding or groin vault or stretch of coloured tile from the original building..
First floor
Ground floor
MJ Long is a director of Long & Kentish Architects, whose projects include the Jewish Museum in North London, the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth and the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. She has designed studios for artists including Frank Auerbach, RB Kitaj and Peter Blake, as detailed in her book Artists’ Studios (Black Dog).
Project team
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects; design team: David Chipperfield, Oliver Ulmer, Nick Hill, Kelvin Jones, Demian Erbar, Julie Bauer, Yael Brosilovski, Katrin Bruenjes, Jesús Donaire, Corina Ebeling, John Puttick, Claudia Faust, Jason Good, David Gutman, Victoria Jessen-Pike, Ilona Klockenbusch, Daniel Koo, Laurent Masmonteil, Hau Ming Tse, Stephen Molloy, Hiroshi Nagata, Anna Naumann, Sabine Piechotta, Dean Pike, Billy Prendergast, Declan Scullion, Pierre Swanepoel, Korinna Thielen, Steffi Wedde, Jose Bergua; landscape architect: Gross Max; structural, services and bridge engineer: Ramboll UK; lighting consultant: Arup; theatre consultant: Charcoalblue; acoustic consultant: Paul Gillieron Acoustic Design; fire consultant: Safe Consulting; security consultant: Arup; access consultant: Jane Toplis Associates; project management, qs: Turner & Townsend; main contractor: Laing O’Rourke Northern; fit-out contractor: Realm Projects; exhibition contractor: Wood Mitchell, Museums Technik; client: Wakefield Council.