Yorkshire Post – 13 August 2007
By Fiona Evans
£26m building will give Hepworth items new and bigger home
Work is due to start in October on the £26m Hepworth Wakefield which should be the jewel in the crown of the city's waterfront transformation.
Throughout this month a model of the gallery's concrete facade is being tested on site, in order to see how the material will react to the conditions on the site.
Work was scheduled to start this summer but was delayed as adjustments were made to the design of the new gallery and centre for creative arts by David Chipperfield Architects.
In the same month the firm will begin to see its vision take shape in Wakefield it will also learn if it has scooped the Royal Institute of British Architects' (RIBA) Stirling Prize.
Two of the company's projects have been shortlisted for the UK's most prestigious architecture award.
The America's Cup building Veles e Vents in Valencia and the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, Germany, join four other projects on the six-strong shortlist for the award. Both projects have already won RIBA European awards.
The winner will be announced in a ceremony in London on October 6 that will be broadcast live on Channel 4 TV.
Gordon Watson, project leader for the Hepworth Wakefield, said: "We are really pleased that Chipperfield's has been shortlisted twice for these prestigious awards and we are really proud to be working with such acclaimed architects.
"We are looking forward to the start on site and to its completion in late 2009."
Sited at the conservation area at the headland of the River Calder, the Hepworth Wakefield will provide a new and bigger home for the city's existing art gallery.
Commissioned by Wakefield Council, the gallery is named after the Wakefield-born international sculptor, Dame Barbara Hepworth.
The museum will feature Wakefield Art Gallery's outstanding collection of works by Dame Barbara and other major 20th century British artists.
At its centre will be a collection of 30 original plasters used by the sculptor when casting her bronze sculptures, donated by the Hepworth family trust.
The project also includes a footbridge across the River Calder and a link between the Hepworth Wakefield and the waterfront to the city centre.
The gallery building will be formed from a conglomeration of differently sized blocks, responding to the scale and roof lines of the surrounding industrial buildings.
With water on two sides and visible from all directions, the site and therefore the building has no front or back elevation and the blocks will form the rooms of the building.
The galleries on the upper floor will be sized according to the scale of the works, with smaller rooms for earlier works and larger rooms for contemporary works. At the lower level the rooms will contain a performance space, educational workshops, public facilities and the administration areas.
Following the gallery's opening, Wakefield Council is planning a year of culture in 2010 featuring an international sculpture festival.
The Hepworth Wakefield is a key part in the £100m regeneration of Wakefield's historic waterfront, which when completed will also feature offices, residential buildings, space for cafes, bars, restaurants and shops.
The development will cover about 10 acres.
